Don't Feed the Actors

Make it stop. Make the litany of profiles stop.

What makes your team unique?

DFtA was founded by mostly Syracuse area community theater actors.  Since its initial beginnings we have had a large group ranging anywhere from 10-14 area actors.  Our large size has also allowed us to keep up a very active schedule as we bring 5 actors to every gig while also keeping it fresh.  Our focus is on short form improv and audience participation.  We strive to have shout outs, written suggestions, or direct audience participation in every game and we have altered many traditional short form games to achieve that.  It also makes it easier for preparation for each gig since we are lazy and don't like to think ahead.

What games will you bring?

We have a couple of musical games in mind as well as some audience participation games and some guessing games, some shout out games, perhaps some games about the meaning of life, but probably not. 

ComedyFLOPs

This seems like more than 20 right? So tired. So very tired.

What makes your team unique?

ComedyFLOPs, Finger Lakes Original Pranksters started out as a local group of barely-talented, liquored-up wise-asses pranking obnoxious college kids downtown. We've developed into Ithaca's only community improv performance troupe, and have a had a weekend residency at a pleasant downtown boozery for over a year. Music is one of our strengths....three of us can play at least three instruments and we infuse it into our shows whenever possible. We are also the originators of No Form - a raw and open style that involves authentic interaction between audience members and the cast.

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?

Expect something along the lines of either our Rock Opera or a Nano/Macro/Micro/one-minute musical. We'll probably end up doing Helping Hands for 25 minutes due to a nagging case of GR.

Thumbs UPstate video!

We're excited for the festival coming up in less than two weeks. So raise a thumb (or two), clap your hands and get ready for some comedy action.

2013 Thumbs UPstate Improv Festival from Joe Blum on Vimeo.

1matchfire

1matchfire has been a favorite guest of the SIC Bank Shows. Learn more about them here.

What makes your team unique? 

We have more than 30 years of common history from which to draw.  We met when we both worked for the same department in IBM Tucson. In the early days of a somewhat rocky courtship, the games we played with each other had nothing to do with improv. But eventually we learned to love and live happily together. We’ve been married since December 1, 1985. 

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?

The format we chose for Thumbs Up is called Letters from Alan. Roger plays Quill and Jeri, Quinn, a couple of beatniks and close friends of Alan Ginsburg. A randomly selected line out of a book of Ginsburg letters kicks off the scene.  

Sheer Idiocy

Did you know that Troy is a city in New York with a population of 50,000 people and also Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute? We didn't. Sheer Idiocy may have.

What makes your team unique?
We're a college troupe and we're younger than most other teams at the festival. We can provide a different style to our comedy.

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?
We have a very large selection of short and long form games and always love mixing
it up.


How long has your team been working together?
We have been performing together for four years, but the troupe has been around for much longer.

What life lessons do you think there are to be learned from improv?
Improv has taught us quick-thinking, thinking outside the box, and to laugh at ourselves.

Sheer Idiocy will perform on Saturday, April 6. Check em out on Facebook.

Zamboni Revolution

The profiles... they keep coming. Up next is Syracuse Univeristy's Zamboni Revolution.

What makes your team unique?
Zamboni Revolution is unique because we're a college improv team. This means that we always have people graduating and new people coming on. Our group changes every semester which is both challenging and exciting.

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?
We will be doing long form improv.

Meet the MC - Michael John Heagerty

Meet our emcee for the Friday improv performances, Michael John Heagerty. Make sure to Like us on Facebook to keep up with the profiles on all of our performers.

Michael John Heagerty
"ToTs" aka crispyonthemic

Michael John Heagerty is a man about town who splits his time between various projects while also working at Kitty Hoynes. As a highly social dude with a wide network of contacts, Mike has found himself planning underground events, curating art shows, collaborating musically and now he's working on a project that is the culmination of all these things. NOexcusesSYR is a unique project and business in which Michael John becomes the ultimate tour guide, bringing locals and visitors alike along on distinctive tours that will focus on the exciting new developments and great people that make Syracuse tick.

Oh yeah, he also raps about potatoes.

D & D

This is the  567th in a twenty part series highlighting the improv teams performing in the 2013 Festival. Keep checking here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to learn all about our intrepid performers.

What makes your team unique?

We are two different guys coming from two different nerdy origins…Derrick is well rounded in D&D, Comics, and Role Playing whereas Dan knows much in the realm of Video Games, specifically Nintendo. With both of us combined, interesting formats, references, and ideas are created.

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?
We have 2 different forms that we could do depending on how long of a set we get..one i.es entitled "Scene Genie" in which it is a "stream of consciousness" kind of scene flurries… while the other is an Adventure Story Arch that carries over attributes from each performance.

Satan's Closet

This is part of a series highlighting the improv teams performing in the 2013 Festival. Keep checking here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to learn all about our intrepid performers.

1) What makes your team unique?

We don't know what we're doing until the minute we walk on stage and some times not until about five minutes after. We don't recognize boundaries of stage or time or decorum. We don't break the fourth wall because we don't even acknowledge its existence. We barely acknowledge physical walls, why would we make time for metaphorical ones?

2) Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?
See above. You'll find out when we figure it out.

Left For Dead

Learn more about the only all-senior based team at this year's festival: Left for Dead.

What makes your team unique?  
Left for Dead is a Rochester-based comedy group of seven performers, ages 50 and up. We are believed to be one of the only improv troupes for seniors in America. We are all stunningly good-looking and extremely hip. We were all alive when Elvis was drafted into the army, the Beatles were guests on the Ed Sullivan Show, and Neal Armstrong walked on the moon. These common life experiences give us a unique perspective, and we draw from them in our scene work. Our group performs at assisted living centers, cafes, and theaters around Upstate New York.

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?

We will be debuting our new long form format, which has a lot to do with dead people!

Dumb Kids in the Back

This is part of a series highlighting the improv teams performing in the 2013 Festival. Keep checking here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to learn all about our upcoming performers.

What makes your team unique?
The Dumb Kids In The Back are unique because of their non-stop energy and their fearless approach to improv. The Dumb Kids are comprised of 4 mutli-talented performers who also perform stand-up comedy, act and write. The Dumb Kids pride themselves on their ability to create an interactive experience using the audience's suggestions...and sometimes using the audience themselves!

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?
The Dumb Kids plan on playing some of their staple games: Sportscasters; the Dating Game; Sound Effects; and a DKITB original game Foreign Love Letter.

Gentlemen, to Bed!

This is the part of an increasingly interminable series highlighting the improv teams performing in the 2013 Festival. Keep checking here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to learn all about our intrepid performers.

What makes your team unique?
We have no problem with sleeping with each other. Any time, any bed. And 1/3 of our group is a published author (Jeremy DeBottis, "One More").

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?

We will be performing a form called Twitterprov, in which we have the audience pick a trending topic on Twitter and then randomly choose a tweet from that topic. We then make up a story based off of that tweet.

Mary Tyler Mortality

Mary Tyler Mortality made their debut at the Syracuse Improv Collective Bank Show in January. They return, triumphantly, to the Festival in April.

What makes your team unique?
We're just two best friends who like to play pretend on stage sometimes.

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?It's been described (by us) as "free form" or "armando on chill pills" but when it comes down to it we kind of just end up doing whatever works for the set.

Meet the MC - Anna Hall

This year, each evening of the Festival will be hosted by a special, very talented, guest. The Mistress of Ceremonies for the full slate of improv performance on Saturday, April 6 is the hysterical Anna Hall.

Anna Hall is Rochester's own funny lady. She is a comic and emcee based in Rochester, NY. She is the host and producer of Rochester’s only variety show, Big Vaudeville Hook Comedy Hour and the host of the Fall Back Comedy Festival. She’s performed sketch with Armistice Day Sketch Comedy and Long-Form Improv with SEI presents:  MONSSSSTROCITY. In Chicago she performed stand-up at the Lincoln Lodge, Feminine Comique, and Entertaining Julia. Anna is exclusively responsible for the Barbury Castle crop circles.

You really should like her page on Facebook. Or check out what she's up to at Anna Hall Comedy. Or heck, follow her on Twitter.

Uncle Lina

This is part of a series highlighting the improv teams performing in the 2013 Festival. Keep checking here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to learn all about our upcoming performers.

What makes your team unique?
Uncle Lina is an all-female sketch and improv troupe whose comedy is a unique blend of satire, sincerity, and silliness. We explore the hilarity of the everyday through versatile characters that span the test of time.

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?
We will perform sketches, ask the audience for suggestions loosely-based off of those sketches, and then do long form scenes.

John Mayer Bloomberg

This is part of a series highlighting the improv teams performing in the 2013 Festival. Keep checking here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to learn all about our upcoming performers.

1) What makes your team unique?
Our founding fathers, John Mayer and Michael Bloomberg, had a vision for an improv group that would bring together cool vibes and a fierce, kinetic spirit, and then regulate both so as to limit the amount that the general populace could intake at one time—with the idea that, in the grand scheme of things, this would be better for everyone involved. In sum, we would like to think that we draw on a rich tradition of big city governance and playful, no-nonsense riffs—soothing and familiar, while at the same time off-putting and unsettling. But, honestly, we’re just here to have fun and make this world a better place for our children and our children’s children. Beyond that, we would say that the next round of children should probably start figuring stuff out for themselves. After all, we can only reasonably be asked to be responsible for two generations of self-entitled, do-nothing teenagers.

 2) Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?
 Long form based on your musical tastes. Mocking of your iPod playlists will be minimal, but only due to a time constraint.

Flower City Improv

This is the first in a twenty part series (twenty parts... holy crap) highlighting the improv teams performing in the 2013 Festival. Keep checking here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to learn all about our intrepid performers.

Flower City Improv

What makes your team unique?

We're a rag-tag group of individuals that enjoy comedy and laughing. We didn't see any other troupes in Rochester that offered free improv and lessons when we were formed so we decided to create our own.
Our team is comprised of both improv veterans who take it seriously and those who are looking to try something new and have fun!

Do you know what games / forms you plan on doing for the festival?
We plan on doing some short form games. Haven't nailed down completely which ones yet.

Registration is STOP (sort of)

Well, kind of. Within a few hours of the close of registration one of our 19 teams had to, regretfully, cancel out on us. It happens. Heck, it may happen again. If you'd like to be put on the Thumbs UP Wait List, go ahead and fill out that there Registration Form and we'll see if we can squeeze you in, first come first serve.

Until then, we are STACKED. Seven teams and the return of 20 Scenes in 20 Minutes on Friday night. Eleven teams and a full slate of workshops on Saturday. It's enough to make a brave man weep.

Keep an eye out for info on all the teams, a detailed schedule, and other stuff in the coming weeks. And we'll see you in April!