Shoshinz was here. They were great. We made fast friends with two fantastic women from Tokyo. Kuronatsu (left) and Yanomi (right)
.We then opened our new sketch show this past Friday to an audience of 6
(boo, but good to use it as the first time we ran through the complete running order - and all 6 of them were great, so thanks!) The Saturday night show saw an audience of 45 or so, which felt good. It's too bad we were all a little tired and didn't give 100% in the show. We had rehearsal yesterday and cleaned/edited everything that needed it - so this coming weekend should see a pretty solid show. Hopefully there will be an audience!
Saturday night (Valentines Day) we had a stand up showcase booked (I don't know why) - which started out really well, but quickly turned into torture. Stand up seems to bring more people to our theater (I have no idea why) and 9 out of 10 times ends terribly. The two stand up that volunteer time at the theater and are taking our improv classes are actually funny and very good stand ups. Everyone else that has come through makes me want to cut off my own hands. Ugh.
Sunday night saw another fun cagematch between the level 2 class I'm teaching (they call themselves SCHOOL BUS CARNAGE) and the longform team I'm coaching BROWN CHICKEN BROWN COW. It was a fun/experimental night - and SBC won for the second time! they will be coming back to defend their title a week from Sunday - as I'm pretty sure we'll be hosting some sort of Oscar Viewing Party this Sunday (unconfirmed).
Our good friend Asaf Ronen is visiting us from Austin Texas - and he and I did the Two-Person Tango show on Sunday night. He told me about a new form using chairs as inspiration and we had a blast. I've really been enjoying the two-person Tango shows lately. If you have the time, stop by the Curious Comedy Theater some Sunday night and check them out. You'll be impressed.
Stacey and I began painting our new apartment and will be moving in over the course of the rest of the month. We're going from a huge, two bedroom duplex 3 miles from the theater, to a small, one bedroom apartment 10 blocks from the theater. It will cut our living costs in half, which will be GREAT.
I've been working fulltime for a few weeks now, which hasn't been as bad as it could be. I get to spend my time in two different stores, so that helps smother any monotony that could come up. The problem I'll be facing is - once we move, I'll be a little over two miles further away from both places... so it may take me a week or two to get comfortable with that commute. (I generally ride my bike to work).
All in all, things are going really well. I'm very happy (and proud!) of the new Sketch show. Stacey has done a great job putting it together. It's funny and borderline offensive (which is something Portland needs... this city is too safe and doesn't like any envelopes to get pushed) - so we'll see what people think.
More pictures soon. I promise.
