So say it like you mean it man, Be the feet to the land...Stakes is high, Thats the plan, Extend those hands - Reach what you can

Well, here we are again. Things are always the same...in that they're never any less crazy and there's always something exciting just around the next corner and we're just about to take the next step to make them even crazier.

Things are nothing but fun and I choose to take that as a good sign about this thing I've decided to devote a massive chunk of time and energy to. If I can still get fired up going into meetings with the city and finding out about zoning limitations then it's going to be ridiculous when we get to the fun stuff. Which is to say that we're still charging ahead toward a physical home for HUGE Theater. And I love it.

To that end we've kicked off our first official Capital Fundraising push with a show - and while it's stressful and lots of scrambling and worrying to add yet another thing to the list of things HUGE is up to it's another one of those wonderful things that tells me that we're on the right path and maybe...just maybe...doing things right.

There are plenty of days I start to second-guess every thing we're doing and wonder if I've gone completely stupid and things like this are great reminders of why it's a great idea and how this isn't a crazy departure or some wild scheme. In fact it's very consistent with the path we've been on for years now. The IAGG was started in service of what we thought were the needs of a really energetic and vibrant group of people, the TCIF was the next step in the process to really step up and showcase what we've quietly been doing in the Twin Cities (both to the people that live here and people want to know where the great improv is in the country) and the reactions to each step along the way have been a growing audience, renewed support and interest and those were the deciding factors when HUGE decided to finally stop talk about this and do it.

The other thing that has been most consistent along the way is the mantra we hear all the time from people all around us - "Let us know if there's anything we can do to help" and we've tried to be sparing in how we take people up on those offers as we've known that the time for lots and lots of help is still coming. But everyone that we've been in touch with has been terrific and really blown us away with their willingness to invest time and energy (and some money) in this madness. Not least of which is our good friend Matt - who is someone we met because the IAGG is a place for traveling improvisers to get up and perform as well as see some fantastic Mpls performers and he was coming through Minnesota, since then he has been a part of all 3 years of TCIF and has been singing the praises of the Twin Cities all over the place and when I said we were having a fundraiser he started doing legwork on his end to help us make a kick ass night. How cool is that dude?

And there are tons of people pulling for this thing, which is just awesome, and I'll fumble through thanks on stage tomorrow and I'm sure I'll stammer and trip over what I want to say, I'll probably say "Fuck" more than a head of a non-profit corporation should on stage and I'm positive there isn't enough time to thank everyone that deserves to be named.

I'm extremely excited that John Sweeney is joining us on stage for the show, that means a lot to me for a couple reasons - first of which is the clear and simple fact that I would not be doing what I'm doing now if it wasn't for him and Jenni. Not only did they introduce me to this wonderful thing called "improv" they also served as a great example of how you can try and run a business in service of something you love and be really true to it. And that's really all this has ever been - corny as it sounds - is working in service of what we have here in the Twin Cities. HUGE doesn't need to be the center of the scene, it doesn't need to steer the scene, it just needs to help the scene be as cool as it can be. That's something I learned from John and Jenni and it holds true with HUGE.

The second reason (which is really just a different way of looking at the first reason) I'm excited is to hopefully help people better understand the relationship between HUGE and the BNW - which everyone assumes must be tense or competitive or that there must be some sort of drama in play. I have said it dozens, if not hundreds, of times - John Sweeney is one of our biggest supporters, and it should be blindingly obvious to everyone. He has given us the use of his stage for almost eight years on nothing but a handshake and the intention to help make the scene better for everyone, a fact that often gets overlooked when people thank Lauren, Dan, Larry, Nels and myself for the IAGG. Helping your "competitor" get going, giving them resources they'd never have on their own to help them succeed and then performing in the fundraiser to finally launch them into opening a "competing" stage just doesn't make ANY sense...if you think of it as business. But it's not about business, it's all about this crazy, stupid love of what we're doing.

That's really the biggest thing I have to keep my eye on when what we have in front of us is all "business", the thing that keeps it all fun even when I want to scream about banks and permits and money....and the lack of money. The business side isn't what gets us up in the morning to work on this. It's the love of this thing we've all found, and how much fun it is, the positive impact it has on those of us lucky enough to do it all the time and the love of bringing it to as many people as we can. It's about helping all of our scene partners and the scene as a whole take the next step up. It's unfortunate that there's so much business between us and that next step - and that money is the key to it all. I wish that wasn't the case, but it is.

But if we can do that business by gathering up all the people that we love having a good laugh with, love performing with and love seeing in the audience - and just having some laughs together, what could be better than that??
That's the coolest way to do business ever. And for that I have a lot of people to thank. Come see me fumble through it tomorrow and just know that if you're part of this thing in any way, from the performers to the volunteers to the audience to the people that have supported us all along - you have not only helped put this together, you've made it a joy to work toward and I'm one of the luckiest and happiest people for the chance to take it forward. And you have my deepest thanks.

Thank you all.
Butch