Shana Merlin's Improv Blog
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010
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Chicago Improv Festival Wrap Up: Day 2
Friday April 23rd
In the morning we headed to what would become our regular breakfast place, Yolk. They had something on the menu that caught my eye: Shana's Delight!
Then we headed to see some sculptures in the park and wander around. The gang was having fun with these sculptures.
And the ninja games continued...
We stopped at a Walgreens and found the secret to why Sarah Tufts looks so good and is always going "Squee!"
After a little shopping (and my ritual festival trip to H and M) we went to Lincoln Park, which was amazing. A beautiful park with an glorious free zoo and botanical gardens.
We couldn't resist making this slide show of the Dusk Wolfpack. I totally Twiharded out.
Imagine: He gets a call. The girl is in in trouble...
His wolfpack brother hears the call.
Then we got to see some awesome otters, beavers, ostriches, giraffes. But I think my favorite sighting was the brown bear and the lions.
Avi and the bear.
Chelsea, me and the lions. Rawrr.
Then we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before our show. We trekked down to the Second City Skybox and had a tech rehearsal in the theater, with Sara on sound and Eric on lights. The space was very nice. The nicest theater I saw at the festival. Lots of levels on stage. Great lighting options. Good sound system and microphones. 90 Seat house with drink tables. We had an hour for tech to get comfy with the space and practice the tech heavy moments in the show.
Backstage we got prepped for the big night. We went on at 7:30. Although the show got off to a tentative start, it ended up being a solid show. We won the crowd over by the end. I think the festival photographed and taped the show, so hopefully there'll be more footage to follow.
After our show, the next show was sold out, so we headed to the bar for an meal and a drink and a chance to debrief the show. Then we went back to the theater to check out our friends "Improsia" from Seattle and "Children of a Lesser God" from Chicago. I didn't know it when we got our tickets, but Susan Messing is in that group, and I had really wanted to see her play. I have heard so much about her over the years, but had never met or seen her. Their set was fantastic and it was really satisfying to see funny, mature women doing their stuff on stage. Delicious! I hope we can bring them down here some day for LAFF.
After that we did a partial cast photo in front of the Second City Theater and went back to the hotel for a Dusk cast party.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Chicago Improv Festival Wrap Up: Day 1
We just got back late last night from Chicago after participating in the 13th Annual Chicago Improv Festival, the biggest improv festival in the country. I traveled and performed with my show "Dusk: Improvised Tween Erotica." Here are some highlights from the trip.
Day 1: Thursday April 22
Avi, Michael Thomas, Kyle and me flew in together on an early flight and took the train downtown. We got off at the wrong stop, and while waiting for the next train, we took the opportunity to play some ninja/samurai.
This game popped up many times over the weekend, in elevators at parties, in the pool, or whenever there seemed to be downtime.
We met up with Lindsey at the hotel, went to lunch at Lou Menalti's (I thought the front desk person said "Illuminati's") for some deep dish Chicago pizza. Then naptime. Chelsea joined us at the hotel, we grabbed some coffee and headed out to the park to take advantage of the good weather.
We walked through Grant Park and went down to the lakeshore
Kyle does his best to make me feel tall.
We walked through Millenium park. We saw the amazing amphitheater there, along with the "bean" and video art fountain. We had a lot of photo fun with the "bean."
We even ran in to some street performance there, a dance/beat-box combo that was very sweet. It's always a sign of a great city to me if you can stumble upon art and performance. We ran in to Chelsea's friend and old Austin improviser Alan Metoskie as we passed some Chinese sculpture and headed down to the video fountains. I took some photos of the cast flirting with the public art.
That night we headed down to the Apollo Theater to watch some improv. We saw a strong set from a young improv duo out of New York, called Swords.
Followed by local favorites Dirty Water.
We headed over to IO to catch the International Match Up. We met up with the rest of the Duskies there. We saw some killer improv from
Os Improvaveis (Portugal) & The Reckoning (Chicago)
Jenny Bjork (Sweden) & Mark Sutton (Chicago)
ImproTOP (Mexico) & Cook County Social Club (Chicago)
It was probably my favorite performance of the festival.
Then we headed down to Mullens for the nightly festival after party.
A fun first day and a great start to the festival.
Day 1: Thursday April 22
Avi, Michael Thomas, Kyle and me flew in together on an early flight and took the train downtown. We got off at the wrong stop, and while waiting for the next train, we took the opportunity to play some ninja/samurai.
This game popped up many times over the weekend, in elevators at parties, in the pool, or whenever there seemed to be downtime.
We met up with Lindsey at the hotel, went to lunch at Lou Menalti's (I thought the front desk person said "Illuminati's") for some deep dish Chicago pizza. Then naptime. Chelsea joined us at the hotel, we grabbed some coffee and headed out to the park to take advantage of the good weather.
We walked through Grant Park and went down to the lakeshore
Lindsey and Kyle are doing their impression of buildings.
Me and Chelsea are all smiles.
Kyle does his best to make me feel tall. We walked through Millenium park. We saw the amazing amphitheater there, along with the "bean" and video art fountain. We had a lot of photo fun with the "bean."
Michael, Chelsea and Lindsey are downtown shiney.
We even ran in to some street performance there, a dance/beat-box combo that was very sweet. It's always a sign of a great city to me if you can stumble upon art and performance. We ran in to Chelsea's friend and old Austin improviser Alan Metoskie as we passed some Chinese sculpture and headed down to the video fountains. I took some photos of the cast flirting with the public art.
Avi doing an impression of the video art.
Kyle flirts with the sculpture.
Lindsey's impressed.
That night we headed down to the Apollo Theater to watch some improv. We saw a strong set from a young improv duo out of New York, called Swords.
That guy from swords.
A blurry photo of improv
We headed over to IO to catch the International Match Up. We met up with the rest of the Duskies there. We saw some killer improv from
Os Improvaveis (Portugal) & The Reckoning (Chicago)
Jenny Bjork (Sweden) & Mark Sutton (Chicago)
ImproTOP (Mexico) & Cook County Social Club (Chicago)
It was probably my favorite performance of the festival.
Then we headed down to Mullens for the nightly festival after party.
Me and Bill Stern, hanging tough.
Erica, Patrick, Michael and a sneaky Kyle.
Joplin joins the gang!
A fun first day and a great start to the festival.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Help Get Me on Sesame Street!
I'm starring as "Luna" is this new animated video by Dano Johnson and Collection Agency Films. Watch, rate, embed and share the video to help us get on Sesame Street!
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
Sesame Street is giving animators the chance of a lifetime - to create new animated segments and characters for their 41st season. Here's how to help us win:
1) WATCH the cartoon:
http://www.aniboom.com/animation-video/435961/The-Letter-D-with-Chumples--Luna/
2) Register at Aniboom so you can RATE it (gotta keep the voting fair)
3) SHARE the link or embed the video on your blog/facebook wall
4) Invite all your friends to this facebook 'event' http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117220234961717
For those who don't know Dano, this has been a dream for him his whole life. Now's his chance and I'd like to invite everyone to help make this a reality!
From Collection Agency Films
Produced by Troy Campbell
Written, Directed, & Animated by Dano Johnson
Artwork by Cameron Petri
Starring Shana Merlin, Dano Johnson, & Oscar Friend
Recording by David Crumley
Music & Sound Mix by Eric Friend
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
Sesame Street is giving animators the chance of a lifetime - to create new animated segments and characters for their 41st season. Here's how to help us win:
1) WATCH the cartoon:
http://www.aniboom.com/animation-video/435961/The-Letter-D-with-Chumples--Luna/
2) Register at Aniboom so you can RATE it (gotta keep the voting fair)
3) SHARE the link or embed the video on your blog/facebook wall
4) Invite all your friends to this facebook 'event' http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117220234961717
For those who don't know Dano, this has been a dream for him his whole life. Now's his chance and I'd like to invite everyone to help make this a reality!
From Collection Agency Films
Produced by Troy Campbell
Written, Directed, & Animated by Dano Johnson
Artwork by Cameron Petri
Starring Shana Merlin, Dano Johnson, & Oscar Friend
Recording by David Crumley
Music & Sound Mix by Eric Friend
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