well after the two day show I did Thursday and Friday I was all set to relax and enjoy the weekend and not look at anymore close up medical photos and was pretty successful on most counts.
Friday night was a really fun show - and pretty poorly attended, which was too bad.
Vaudeville With A Pig did some fun stuff but were no match for the singing weightlifters known as the Gay/Straight Alliance and the show was a really solid one that totally falls into the 'your loss if you missed it' category.
Afterward everyone loves to discuss why there's less audience in the house, and there are lots of good reasons as well as lots of reasons that make us feel good, people pointed out to me a few times that we lost a lot of the Six Ring people since they were downstairs getting ready for their midnight show as well as people that were at Last Laugh that night. Great.
That only accounts for people we already know and (for the most part) have sold on improv as entertainment. We shouldn't be trying to sell shows to those people unless this is all the bigger we want the local improv world to be and we're happy at this point with the number of shows we have to choose from. Some people might be. I think we can do better.
If we want it to grow we can't just ask the same people that already see our shows for ten more bucks a week, we have to find new people and let them know we've got something cool they need to see and I'm far more interested in finding ways to get them to the shows. That's one of the strangest and most frustrating things about improv in Minneapolis, knowing that the shows you can see here are some of the best in the country (and people in other parts of the country knowing it as well) and the people that live here don't even realize it and many of them haven't heard anything about it and would probably love to see it if they did. It feels surreal, like if the people in Minneapolis didn't realize the Guthrie was here. Maybe we need an ugly building with a huge, lighted phallus sticking into the air. I'll work on it.
To be fair, Punch Out hasn't been set up the best to let those people know there's a kick ass show happening and I take the blame on that one - we have no poster yet, no website, no press, etc etc etc so we HAVE been selling just to the people that are already in the doors seeing improv already and we need to go further.
So I'm trying to improve our efforts where I can (getting posters and print materials made finally. If I didn't have this stupid job I would be all over this stuff all the time) and feel like I should extend an apology to the performers so far, they've put their energy into getting the show off the ground and did their part and did it very well.
this week is going to be massive, btw - if you miss Adorable vs Drum Machine you will be put on suicide watch because your life will be devoid of meaning and joy over what could have been the best night of bloodthirsty improv comedy you will ever see. Seriously, the beating we are going to lay down on Jill is going to be something worthy of a Frank Miller graphic novel.
I hope whoever they get to play me in the movie version is comfortable with the sheer volume of blood they're going to have to work with.
Friday. 11pm. $10.
You should show up.
Don't back down like Jill is likely to.
you're better than that
***
TCIF junk
on the other side of things - things are going well on the Twin Cities Improv Festival production.
Plane tickets have been booked, hotel sponsorships are signed, the new site is launched, press releases went out and gotten got response so far and we're generally getting into place to do exactly what I'm bitching about above. There are only so many hours. To increase those hours Jill sent me a TCIF coffee mug to caffeinate myself out of. Hooray!
we have shifted from preparation on the production side to fielding requests and questions from performers for the time being, having just posted the schedule and booked peoples' travel and so far so good. We have to tone down our eager-to-please Minnesotan instincts as we are quickly turning into the Fantasy Island Improv Festival*
***
Total Bullshit - tomorrow night at 8pm at the Beat
Mike, Dan and I are going to freak. people. out.
* side note - "Actual Island" was a far less popular spinoff and took years to catch on in the form of Survivor. I would like to go back to having fantasies, thank you.
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