JINX, Caveat, and Season Six are looking for new players and will be holding open call auditions on Saturday 9.19 between 11AM and 5PM.*Click here to reserve your audition slot now!
Sign-up deadline is midnight on Thursday 9.17. Auditions and callbacks will be held at the Children's Studio School at 1301 V St NW (on the corner of 13th and V Street NW). JINX and Season Six callbacks will take place Monday 9.21 from 7-10PM. Caveat hold their callbacks on Wednesday 9.23 from 7-10PM.
If 9.19 is a conflict for you, especially for religious reasons, contact Mark at mark@washingtonimprovtheater.com to explore alternate scheduling.
How often does WIT conduct auditions?
As often as necessary: whenever an existing ensemble requires new players, or a new project or troupe seeks new talent.
How many people are you looking for?
There is no pre-set number. Each ensemble has room for more people if we find the right folks.
There’s no sex, race, or gender quota. We’re looking for the best improvisers in Washington. People who enjoy playing, support their scene partners, commit to authentic and interesting characters. Players in all of our ensembles strive to listen to and support one another, to be positive and to make one another look good. We value strong relationships and engaging storytelling. Players strive for spontaneity without self-censorship and work to maintain a playful atmosphere of artistic collaboration. If you have fun and play to the top of your intelligence you’ll show yourself in the best light.
What show is this for?
These auditions are seeking permanent ensemble members, not for a single show run. We’re looking for players to join us for the long-term and become members of our family.
First you audition at the open call. Players and directors from auditioning groups will be there to see your work and cheer you on. At open call you'll do mostly 2-person scenes. A bunch of them, all improvised. No need to have anything prepared (no monolog, no singing, no dancing). If selected for call-backs, you’ll receive a phone call by 2pm Sunday to notify you of your callback time. Callbacks will also involve a healthy amount of two-person scenework, and may also include some group games and truthful monologs, to name a few possibilities. In any case, there's nothing to prepare and the goals of the callbacks will be explained to you at the time. If a troupe selects you after call-backs, that means they want you and will invite you for a trial rehearsal period, to give you a chance to try the group on and to see how you fit in. After the trial period, the ensemble and artistic director determine whether to invite you to become a member.
Why such a drawn out process?
WIT troupes are on-going collaborative ensembles, with no set “end-date” for a production. So once you join you’re part of the family. We want to be as sure as we can that we’ve made the right match, to avoid heartache on both sides.
What’s the schedule, and the time/energy commitment?
Rehearsals are weekly, typically on a weeknight between 7pm and 10pm. JINX and Season Six rehearse on Monday evenings. Caveat rehearses Wednesday evenings. Special rehearsals and additional playing opportunities come up occasionally, including some mandatory rehearsals. Each ensemble usually conducts a weekend retreat once a year, and there is occasional travel to other cities for improv festivals. Performance runs are usually for 4-7 weeks, with between one and three shows per week. You don’t have to be available for every single event, but the greater majority.
Playing in an ensemble is currently a labor of love. Opportunities to earn money arise in private performances, corporate training, and teaching in WIT's classes program.
If I get accepted into a troupe should I continue taking classes?
If at all possible, yes. We believe progressing through the WIT curriculum will make you the strongest improviser you can be. But as a troupe-member you’ll receive a steep discount.
Do I just rehearse and play?
No. Ensemble members also help out behind the scenes in activity areas such as marketing, operations, classes, corporate training.
What if I don’t get in?
Maybe you would benefit from further training before joining a performance troupe. Or maybe you just had a bad audition. In any case, you'll have had the experience of auditioning and can approach it with that much more knowledge next time.
Where can I ask more questions?
If you don’t find the answer here feel free to ask us at auditions@washingtonimprovtheater.com.
See you at auditions!
Read more!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Washington Improv Theater Auditions 9/19 10:30 am
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Auditions!
From Comedy Sportz Website in Ballston:
ComedySportz & the Blue Show are the in-house improv troupes of the Comedy Spot. Both are shortform, audience focused comedy improv shows. (Yes, similar to TV's "Whose Line Is It Anyway?")
COMEDYSPORTZ = clean comedy (PG) with regular weekly performances Fridays 8pm, Saturdays 7:30pm, frequent Saturday matinees for kids, and private shows upon request.
THE BLUE SHOW = "adult" comedy (R) with regular weekly performances Fridays & Saturdays at 10:00pm.
TO SIGN UP. . .
Email us at info@comedyindc.com.
Please be sure to send us your name, email & best phone number to reach you.
PLEASE BRING . . .
Any sort of headshot and resume you may have. Even a casual photograph is fine; we just want a face to put to your name.
(We don't need a professional quality photo: you can even just bring in a digital printout of a picture of you. You will be given paper on which to write down your previous stage and training experience if you don't have a resume.)
Please dress comfortably so that your clothing won't restrict your movement.
THE AUDITION . . .
Doors to the Comedy Spot will open at 7:30pm.
The audition will begin at 8:00pm.
This will be an open audition where we will run you through a variety of games we perform in our shows.
For the audition: keep your material clean so that we know you can perform a ComedySportz show. (Our improvisers perform in both shows, not just The Blue Show.)
- Confident performers who can listen and react.
- We will be looking to see how well your words and actions onstage show that you are building upon the offers made by your scene partners.
- We are looking for strong character and scenework - not forced jokes at the expense of the story. And remember, we are also looking to see that you can be entertaining, and clean.
Already performing with a troupe? No worries, you are only expected to perform as often as your schedule allows. We highly encourage our improvisers to perform with as many local groups as possible.
AFTER THE AUDITION . . .We will email everyone who auditions by 12pm Wednesday.
People who are asked back will then be put on an up to 8-week training/probation period during which new members are encouraged to come to as many practices and shows as possible.
WEEKLY PRACTICES: are every Tuesday 7:30pm @ the Comedy Spot. Read more!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Shows That Make You Go "Hmmmm"
TONIGHT, FRIDAY APRIL 9!!
Classic American Comedy
Parker's Classic American Bistro in Bethesda, MD
10pm FREE
This is one of the greatest showcases in the country. If you are a fan of watching great comedy, or performing on great comedy shows, please check out Parker's tonight. It is a young show and as all young shows are, on a probationary period. We need to pack the room to tell the owners that stand up is as important as we the readers think it is. Do it for your country (or at least your friends.) Tonight, check out John McBride, Brandon Ivey, Nick Turner, Shotgun Tom, Andy Haynes, and Tyler Sonnichsen
TOMORROW NIGHT, SATURDAY APRIL 10!
DCC4N presents: DC Comedy Festival Showcase
DC Improv Comedy Lounge
8pm $10
Featuring the best stand-up comics in DC auditioning for spots in the DCCF '08. Line up includes: Jason Weems, Aparna Nancherla, Jay Hastings, Bryson Turner, Kojo Mante, Nick Turner, Tony Gracyk, John McBride, Tim Miller, & Hampton Yount.
Buy tickets here
WIT's F.I.S.T. Tournament FINAL ROUND w/ JACKIE
Flashpoint Theater in Chinatown
9:30pm $12
The Final Two Teams in the 2008 F.I.S.T. tournament go head to head to crown the ULTIMATE CHAMPION. The audience votes for the winner!
Buy tickets here
WORD!
Read more!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Washington Improv Theater Auditions: Caveat
Caveat, one of Washington Improv Theater's premier longform improvisation ensembles, is looking to add new members, and is holding an open audition.
The Caveat Audition will be held, Saturday, April 26th from 10AM - 4PM at the Children's Studio School (13th and V St., NW).
The Audition will be comprised of varied group scene work. If you are selected to attend call-backs, you will be notified by 10PM on April 26th.
Callbacks will take place the following day, Sunday, April 27th
beginning at 11AM at the Children's Studio School (13th and V St. NW).
SIGN UP HERE
no later than 4 pm, Friday, April 25th.
Read the FAQs online. If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact Justin Purvis via email, LaughRyott1@gmail.com, or by phone, 443-831-6796.
Do it. Audition.
Best,
DCC4N
Read more!
Friday, March 7, 2008
DC Comedy Festival "Audtion Showcase" at The DC Improv
The dccomedyfest is entering its fourth year and we're looking for the best comedy standup from DC and throughout North America.
"A select group of DC's most hilarious stand up comedians will perform on a special audition showcase Saturday, April 12. This great roster of performers will be auditioning for an opportunity to be at the New Talent Industry Showcase during dccomedyfest (Thursday, Aug 7) at the DC Improv for talent scouts from The Tonight Show, Chelsea Lately, networks, agents and more! But performers will also be considered for other slots in the festival, including Feature Shows and other special performance opportunities."
The Line-Up for the Show features:
Jason Weems
Aparna Nancherla
Jay Hastings
Bryson Turner
Kojo Mante
Nick Turner
Larry Poon
John McBride
Tim Miller
Hampton Yount
When: April 12th, @ 8:00 pm
Where: DC Improv Comedy Lounge
Tickets: $10
Website: http://www.symfonee.com/improv/dc/home/Index.aspx
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Dr. Showlove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Bomb
So on Sunday night, I was lucky enough to be part of a pretty stunning line-up of comedians at the DC Improv Comedy Lounge for an audition showcase for The Great American Comedy Festival (booked by Eddie Brill from The Letterman Show) and the Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival. I only write of its prestige because it felt surreal to be on the line-up.
I was performing with comedians that made me gurgle carrot nubs of wonder onto my preemie bib when I first started comedy (Schlegel, Jackson, Myers, Smith, Maher, Mumma, Conner, White...the list goes on...Mante, Weems...that's it, I included everybody! Don't come hunt me!) I'm sorry, that should also be present tense. They still make me burp up pea fluff and awe on my baby bib when we are in the same room (it's awkward for me mostly).
So I was on this show, and I wanted to do a good job at least for myself, but also for my peers because their respect means a lot to me. I went up relatively early in the show and completed a solid set...for a bombing! A pretty solid bombing through and through. Mediocre response? Check. Audience interest wavering? Check. Manage to utterly disenchant a roomful of people within six minutes? CHING CHING CHING!
this man especially hated me!
photo courtesy of Flickr and rileyroxx
That's right. After a good deal of traveling, and "ooh look Aparna is gone and off conquering the world!" (which is not a rumor I started but rather Curt's light lady du jour, whoever that lucky dame may currently be...you have my blessings), I come back to do everyone, including myself, not proud via a less-than-stellar showing for a crowd that decided I am to comedy as rice is to the Atkins diet. I brought back an Atkins metaphor! No? Nothing? I accept your silence, and raise you one cricket farm. I actually didn't mind bombing. I'm pretty new to audition sets, and suddenly I've had to do several in the span of a few weeks so I think it's only natural the quality starts to peter pan off into NeverCleverLand.
Mostly I was bummed out the audience didn't like me at all. And by at all, I mean, really, they were actively polling each other for how they felt about me during my set. I got a copy of one of the handouts, and it read: "Do you like her? Check No, Hell Naw, or Not Even Comfortable Quantifying my Dislike in a Mere Two-Dimensional Square" They also instigated ways to get me off of stage quicker such as blank stares, talking incessantly in the corner, and hesitant pity laughter, all of which, they'll be apathetic to know, moderately worked.
the jokes felt wooden. i felt wooden.
photo courtesy of Flickr and julianrod (PBUH)
But once you realize you really did try and do your jokes justice, and you still couldn't really muster up any positive crowd sentiment, it gets kind of liberating after that. I've seen all of my favorite comics bomb. And honestly, it's more inspiring to me than seeing them do well, because I realize they are just as good with their bad sets as they are with their good ones. And that, to me, is part of what comedy is all about. After the show, everyone was gracious and nice in either avoiding eye contact with me, which is usually how I deal with comics who had bad sets (a cheap parlor trick to impress your enemies), and/or giving me conciliatory butt pats, which is how I usually self-medicate anyway.
So I am lucky! I am lucky to have failed and blogged about it. I am lucky to have amazing peers who do not disown me at the first smell of "this joke's not taking." I am lucky to have seen some of the amazing sets that people did have Sunday night. And I'm lucky that I got a swell opportunity, and I got to learn from it. *cue stage moms awwwing* *cue stage dads punching holes in walls* *cue stage babies looking 'on' as always*
Read more!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Washington Improv Theater: Auditions Aug 25 & 26th
A 'Good' Friday to Christians and Non-Christians alike. As some of you may know I get my main dose of comedy from the fine folks @ Washington Improv Theater. I have performed with them for about 2 1/2 years now, currently with troupes Jackie and iMusical and I love every second. I strongly encourgage everyone who has taken an improv class, has performed improv in past or just wants to audition for the fun of it to check out this opprotunity.
