OTRimprov presents the 2nd Annual Improv Festival of Cincinnati (IF Cincy)
Features headliner Kevin McDonald of ‘Kids in the Hall’
Kevin McDonald
Cincinnati based OTRimprov is proud to present the 2ndAnnual Improv Festival of Cincinnati (IF Cincy). The 2nd year will feature improv talent from Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland (OR), Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and special guest headliner Kevin McDonald from the hit sketch comedy group Kids in the Hall. The festival takes place September 10-13, 2015 at Know Theatre of Cincinnati in Over-the-Rhine.
Produced in partnership with Know Theatre of Cincinnati’s Jackson Street Market, IF Cincy makes its home at Know Theatre of Cincinnati. IF Cincy will take place around the five-year anniversary of the founding of OTRimprov, a group of experienced improvisers who set out to create a strong improv community in Cincinnati.
In its second year, IF Cincy has added a night of performances, focusing one evening on improv perfomers from right here in Cincinnati. Local troupes performing are The Basement Dwellers, Highly Improvable, and Ain’t No Mango. National groups traveling to perform are Dudesical (Indianapolis, IN), B&B (Portland, OR), Human Amusements (Detroit, MI), Mission: IMPROVable (Los Angeles, CA), ManBaby (Chicago, IL), BillyHawk (Los Angeles, CA), and Kevin McDonald, headline performer.
“We’re so excited to welcome some incredible improv talent to Cincinnati,” said Kat Smith, OTRimrpov’s Managing Director. “Last year’s festival was not only hugely successful for us, but we think it really got our audiences excited about improv in general. Many cities have thriving improv communities, and we want to be one of them. This year, IF Cincy features more public workshops where you can learn the craft of improv from some world-class performers and instructors, and we added one more evening to the festival to accommodate demand for performances. It’s going to be an incredible weekend to explore improv right here in Cincinnati!”
Many of the performers taking the stage in the evening will also be hosting workshops over the weekend, giving Cincinnatians a rare opportunity to take classes from the impressive visiting national talent. Workshops will be offered by Kevin McDonald, Aaron Krebs (Mission: IMPROVable), Jon Colby (Dudesical), Brian James O’Connell (BillyHawk), and Mike Betette (Mission: IMPROVable) and range from beginner to intermediate skill level.
Passes are available for taking in multiple evenings of improve, whether you want one, two, or three evenings! The All Access Pass allows entry to all three evenings of performances Thursday – Saturday for $75, the Weekend Pass allows entry on Friday and Saturday evening’s performances for $65, and a One Night Pass is available for entry on either Friday or Saturday evening for $35.
Single tickets are $15 each for the locals night performances and $20 each for all performances on Friday and Saturday night. The Basics:
- Who: OTRimprov presents
- What: Improv Festival of Cincinnati (IF Cincy)
- Where: Know Theatre of Cincinnati, 1120 Jackson Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202
- Featuring: improv talent from Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland (OR), Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and special guest headliner Kevin McDonald from the hit sketch comedy group Kids in the Hall.
- Tickets: http://www.ifcincy.com
- How Much: Single tickets (Thursday): $15, Single Tickets (Friday & Saturday) $20, All Access Pass:$75, Weekend Pass: $65, One Night Pass: $35 (Friday & Saturday).
Performance Schedule
Thursday September 10
7pm – Know Theatre Underground LOCALS NIGHT featuring:
The Basement Dwellers
Highly Improvable Ain’t No Mango
Friday September 11
7pm – Know Theatre Underground
Dudesical (Indianapolis) B&B (Portland)
9pm – Know Theatre Mainstage
Human Amusements (Detroit)
Mission: IMPROVable (Los Angeles)
Saturday September 12
7pm – Know Theatre Underground
ComedySportz National All Stars
ManBaby (Chicago)
BillyHawk (Los Angeles)
9pm – Know Theatre Mainstage
Kevin McDonald (of Kids in the Hall)
The Sketch Show
OTRimprov
Star Jam featuring our headlining troupes
Workshop Schedule
Let the Scene Find You with Aaron Krebs
Saturday September 12th
10am – 1pm
This workshop is about playing the organic truth of the scene that you are naturally creating versus forcing the scene you want it to be. Using exercises in Listening and Observation, you will learn to follow the organic path of the scene. We’ll focus on keeping these scenes real and grounded and spending less time worrying about who thinks you’re funny. This workshop is about getting to the heart of what’s going on honestly and efficiently, thus allowing us more time to play with each other in the scene.
Level: Intermediate – improv experience required
Telling a Story in 4 Minutes or Less with Jon Colby
Saturday September 12
10am – 1pm
Do you remember the six points of plot structure from your 8th grade English class? It’s okay. Most people don’t. If you’ve never done improv before or if you’ve ever been in a scene that felt like it had nowhere to go, this workshop will help! In two hours, you’ll be refreshed on what makes a good story and how to “write” one on the fly in a short form improv scene. Level: Beginner – some improv experience recommended, but not required
Improv Sketch Writing with Kevin McDonald
Saturday September 12
10am – 5pm
Join Kevin McDonald from “The Kids in the Hall” for his one day master class in improv and sketch writing, the “Kids in the Hall” way. After warming up with a period of improvisation, McDonald will guide students into writing scenes from their improvised work, with the goal being to workshop their pieces throughout the day for performance that night on Know Theatre’s Mainstage. McDonald will work with each group to create their final stage-ready pieces, helping students learn how valuable strong improv skills can become nuanced sketch writing.
Class size is limited, and some improv and writing experience is highly recommended.
Don’t miss your chance to study with one of the greatest sketch writers of our time!
Position Play with Brian James O’Connell
Saturday September 12
1:30pm – 4:30pm
There are four primary scene types that all scenes can be broken down into – this workshop will help you with nailing your scene quicker so you can then play. Most scenes that unfold poorly start to go bad in the first ten seconds, this workshop will help prevent that.
Level: Beginner – some improv experience recommended, but not required
Full schedule, tickets, workshops, and more are available at www.ifcincy.com
About the Artists
Dudesical (Indianapolis, IN)
Jon Colby and Will Pfaffenberger have a combined 30 years of improv experience and a passion for music that can’t be measured in years. With Chris Dobbs providing accompaniment, these two dudes will weave scenes and songs together in a delightful manner which is guaranteed to include at least a few harmonies alone the way. Every performance is the opening and closing night of a new Dudesical!
B&B (Portland, OR)
Betse Green and Bill Cernansky are longtime veterans of the Portland improv scene, but they’ve been married even longer–since 1989. They are both members of Portland ComedySportz as well as long form supergroup Peachy Chicken. They have played at festivals around the country with several improv troupes. Bill and Betse are patient improvisers who trust each other completely, and it shows. Playing as a duo, B&B focus on what they know best: relationships. Their signature been established. It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye*. It’s still all fun and games after that.
Human Amusements (Detroit, MI)
A unique blend of character-driven long form, instructional-video riffing, and parade of weird wigs has been entertaining Metro Detroit audiences weekly for the last year, winning Go Comedy’s “Best Late Night” award for 2013. This past spring they also had a successful run of their critically acclaimed sketch show “Better Living Through Human Amusements”. You might meet a friendly policeman, cable access psychics, “health” “professionals,” or anything else they come up with. Expect to come away from each show a little wiser, and pleasantly confused.
Mission: IMPROVable (Los Angeles, CA)
MI is performing The Grind, their character explorative long form set. MI has performed at over 1,000 colleges over the last 15 years. They are 2 time winners of the Comedy Act of the Year on the NACA market (College) in 2012 and 2014, as well as 2013 Entertainers of the Year in the same market. MI has performed for Disney Cruise lines, produced six live various National Tour shows, performed with The Lollapalooza Rock Festival on the alternative stage, performed in all 50 states and 10 different countries. They are owners of the Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica, and are currently producing media for TV and internet. Members have been seen on shows such as Modern Family, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Family Guy, Jane the Virgin, as well as created Epic Rap Battles of History (the most downloaded series in the history of the internet at 2 billion series views).
ComedySportz
Founded in Milwaukee in 1984, ComedySportz now has teams in over 20 cities across the US as well as international troupes in Manchester and Berlin. Every summer these troupes come together to compete in the ComedySportz World Championships. For IF Cincy CSz has brought together a group of All-Stars that have graced the rosters of Portland, Chicago, Indianapolis, Houston and Philadelphia.
ManBaby
Formed in 2012, ManBaby has been one of Chicago’s most tolerated independent long-form improv teams. In addition to our hot yet cool looks and friendly demeanor, ManBaby comes with years of improv experience featuring grads of The Second City Conservatory, iO Chicago, and The Annoyance Theater in Chicago; as well as performers on house teams at iO Chicago, CIC Theater, The PlayGround Theater, Second City, and more! ManBaby is one half of Man Bites Dog, the hottest independent improv showcase in the country which goes up every Thursday at CIC Theater in Chicago. Over the last year we have shared that stage with the likes of TJ Jagodowski, Frank Caeti, Rich and Rebecca Sohn, and other hot Improv All-Stars! ManBaby starts each set with a bit of poetry before exploring the intricacies of life through wildly hilarious scenes made up on the spot.
BillyHawk (Los Angeles, CA)
Billy Hawk are Brian O’Connell (the Billy of the name, but you’ll have to ask him) and Jeff Hawkins, two improvisers from IO West in Hollywood CA. They first met as members of the Deconstruction group, The Happy Time Rainbow Bunny Squad, directed by Miles Stroth. They’ve performed as a duo for festivals in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Toronto, Denver, Philadelphia, Austin and North Carolina. Brian O’Connell is originally from North Carolina.
In 2009 he was voted coach of the year by IO West. He wrote and directed the feature Killer View and is currently in production on the animated Zombie Grandma, and can be seen in the upcoming feature Red Dirt Rising. He currently performs regularly with the Armando Diaz Experience and Hootenanny and Dr. God. He’s also the bar manager, go in and say hi.
Jeff Hawkins is originally from Virginia. He was on Comedy Central back when it showed nothing but stand-up, was hired and fired by a top 10 sitcom, and has had a professional wrestler tell him “I don’t think my character would do that.” He’s written for basic cable shows that never made it past 6 episodes, and currently writes commercials. He is the producer of IO West’s experimental improv night, The Friday Night Frankenstein. He also coaches at IO West.
Kevin McDonald
Comedian, actor, writer and director Kevin McDonald founded “The Kids in the Hall” with friend Dave Foley, after they met in Toronto at Second City. In the troupe’s television series (which ran from 1988-1995) and stage shows, he portrays several popular recurring characters, such as the King of Empty Promises, Sir Simon Milligan, and Jerry Sizzler. McDonald went on to appear in a variety of films including “Boy Meets Girl,” “Lilo & Stitch,” “Lilo & Stitch: The Series”, and “Epic Movie.” On television, he has appeared on “The Martin Short Show,” “Ellen,” “That ’70s Show,” “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” “NewsRadio,” “MADtv,” “Arrested Development,” and “Corner Gas.” McDonald has also done voice work for various animated series, including Nickelodeon’s “Invader Zim,” “The Angry Beavers,” “Catscratch,” and “Clerks: The Animated Series.” He also played an imaginary friend named Ivan in the episode ‘Sight For Sore Eyes’ on “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends,” appeared in the music video for “Roses” by Outkast, and made an appearance in “Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show.” In 2006, McDonald hosted a CBC Television special, featuring several of Canada’s best-known sketch comedy troupes. “Sketch with Kevin McDonald” won a Canadian Comedy Award (Best Taped Live Performance – The Minnesota Wrecking Crew). He was recently at the Just for Laughs Festival with the reunion of Kids in the Hall, and also with his show “Hammy and the Kids” with Craig Northey, based on his two dysfunctional families, his father (“Hammy”) and the Kids in the Hall, as well as “Death Comes to Town” on CBC.
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OTRimprov is collaborative, simple, and joyful. Our company brings talented performers to the stage who together create consistently interesting, often funny, and always inventive scenes. OTRimprov (OTRi) began in 2010 as a collection of wayward improvisers looking for like-minded performers and a place to play in Cincinnati. After headlining numerous shows for the Little Big Night comedy performances at Know Theatre of Cincinnati, they formed their own partnership with Know Theatre’s Jackson Street Market, a resource sharing program for fledgling companies, and began producing shows independently. This continued partnership allows them to call Know’s Underground space on Jackson St. in Over-the-Rhine home.
The group continues to explore a variety of styles and formats, while developing a strong improv community populated with smart, engaging people and doing work that is collaborative, curious, and sometimes a little bit daring. They also foster new talent through training and a welcome atmosphere where all performers feel inspired to explore and take risks. Members of OTRi have studied and performed with a variety of improv theatres and groups around the US, including Second City, iO, iO West, ACME Comedy Theatre, Mission IMPROVable, SmartyPants, Wit’s End, and Incredulity.
