the playground theater.

Upstairs Gallery Chicago: Tips for success - From Mick Napier in the latest Annoyance Newsletter

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 15:57:28 -0500

Upstairs Gallery Chicago: Tips for success - From Mick Napier in the latest Annoyance Newsletter:

This is so incredibly wonderful!

Normally Mick Napier writes about whatever thing is on his mind in his missive to the annoyance community (past examples: toys, vulgar language, racism.) But this time he decided to drop some serious knowledge on folks:

In these newsletters, I rarely write about improvisation, because…

The Chicago Improv Festival at the Playground Theater, April 26 thru 28.

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:59:29 -0500

Thursday, April 26

Tickets $15 & $10

7pm

Harri Olli Improvised Theatre (Zurich)

WiseSnatch (Chicago)

9pm

pH Productions (Chicago)

Mullaney Chain (Chicago/New York)

Friday, April 27

Tickets $20 & $15

7pm

King Friday (Philadelphia)

Weekend of Regret (New York)

8:30pm

The Bully Union: Local 128 (Baltimore)

Magnet Theater Touring Co. (New York)

10pm

Danger Snack (Los Angeles)

My Grandmother’s A Fat Whore in Jersey (Chicago & Los Angeles)

Saturday, April 28

Tickets $20 & $15

7pm

DMNK (Chicago)

The Garys (New York)

8:30pm

See You Thursday (Columbus)

Kiss*Punch*Poem (New York)

10pm

Ted Dangerous (St. Louis)

Chet Watkins (New York)

Yay! @ChicagoMag thinks we're (among) The Best!

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:58:18 -0500

Yay! @ChicagoMag thinks we're (among) The Best!

Lumberjack Tsunami presents The Snow Globe, Tuesdays at 8pm. The...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:54:39 -0500

Lumberjack Tsunami presents The Snow Globe, Tuesdays at 8pm.

The Snow Globe centers on one source scene, and re-improvising it. Every time you shake it, it always ends up a little different.

Lumberjack Tsunami is: Kevin Reader, Lila Newman, Peter Robards, Ryan Cleary, Shawn Flickinger, Bess Miller, and Alex DiGiacinto. With friendly sit-ins: Kevin Walsh, Grace Palmer, Paul Casperson, Bryan Duff, Emily Fitzpatrick. Coached by Mike Madgiak.

Tuesdays, April 3 through April 17, plus Tuesday, May 8, at 8pm. $5 + BYOB.

Rhythm Method Performs to Raise Money for Chicago Women's Health Center Mondays at 8pm.

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:26:00 -0500

Rhythm Method, Chicago’s premier rock ‘n roll improv ensemble, is delighted to announce Chicago Women’s Health Center as the charity partner for their April run of shows at the Playground Theater. Rhythm Method performs with Bella and one additional improv ensemble as part of the Sandbox Improv Showcase on Mondays in April at 8pm. Tickets are $5 and available at the box office located inside the theater at 3209 N. Halsted St. in Chicago.

The six performers, two guitars, and a bandolier of harmonicas that comprise Rhythm Method perform their silky sweet jams and improvised comedy each month to benefit a different nonprofit organization. The ensemble, formed from humble beginnings in various living rooms from Champaign to Chicago, has become a powerhouse of rock ‘n roll improv and seek to use their power for good: Since December 2009 Rhythm Method has raised more than $10,000 for charity partners like Homes For Our Troops, Arf House Chicago, and now Holy Family’s Food Pantry.

The decision to partner with Chicago Women’s Health Center (CWHC), a non-profit committed to providing women and trans people access to health care services in respectful environment where clients pay what they can afford, was initiated by Rhythm Method performer Irene Marquette. CWHC provides access to gynecological health care, alternative insemination, health education, counseling services, acupuncture, and massage services. CWHC provides care and services that people in Chicago need, but often cannot find anywhere else. Since opening their doors in 1975, CWHC’s programs have been shaped by clients’ needs for accessible, high quality health care. CWHC provides services to more than 6,000 clients annually.

Reservations for Rhythm Method or any Playground show can be made at (773) 871-3793 or www.the-playground.com. All shows are BYOB for audience members age 21 and up.

CONGRATULATIONS to our friends at pH! This is huge and exciting...

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:31:39 -0500

CONGRATULATIONS to our friends at pH! This is huge and exciting news. :)

whatisph:

It begins. Yesterday pH signed a lease on a brand new permanent theater at 1515 N Berwyn! We’ve been waiting 10 years but it’s finally happening. Now the work begins. Buildout, licenses, programming, partnerships - and a million things we haven’t even thought of.

Looking forward to this new adventure.

EVEN MORE CURRENT & UPCOMING #PG15 SHOW RUNS!

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:25:50 -0500

CEO OF EVERYTHING presents: A Total Disaster

April 7, April 14, and April 21 at 8PM

Tsunami, alien invasions, firestorms, zombie plagues… they’re just getting started. In their signature form, CEO of everything will take a suggestion of a catastrophic event, and then present the story of a hardy band of survivors who stand on the other side of a global disaster, struggling to survive while haunted by memories of the world that was, and the future that is. Will they finally realize that their only hope lies in each other? Or will they sit around, arguing what the post-apocalyptic rules for Scrabble should be? Whatever they do, it is guaranteed to be one thing: a total disaster.

CLOAKA presents Screwed

April 7, April 14, and April 21 at 10PM

Screwed is an improvised parody of “Skinimax” soft core and other contrived porn movies. Since the only unifying concept of cheesy porn movies is that there are incessantly preposterous reasons to have sex, Screwed will be exploring many different genres during its run based upon the audience’s suggestions. A sci-fi movie with excessive probing? Check. A horror film where the monster really gets “up in them guts?” Definitely. A western? You bet we’ll be knocking boots. Now hold your horses and cool your spurs cowboy: if you’re looking for a live sex show, go to Amsterdam. All of the “sex” will be taking place in a shadowbox where the actors’ and actresses’ silhouettes will be doing the nasty and occasionally busting out some toys…. as well as some less conventional bedroom apparatuses (wink).

KARATE VAN presents: The 300 Challenge

May 5, May 12, and May 17 at 8PM

Acting without a script isn’t hard enough for these brave improvisers. On the first night of the challenge they will have to improvise a comedy show while cumulatively executing 300 pushups. On the second night, 300 grapes will be eaten. And on the final night, the members of Karate van will don 300 articles of clothing. This May, the impossible happens.

K.C. Redheart presents: 4-D

May 5, May 12, and May 17 at 10PM

K.C. Redheart explores the dimensions of space and time in their original format 4-D. Each show takes place in a multi-room location like a hospital wing or the Death Star. The show unfolds almost in real time as the characters travel from room to room. As the characters create their world by moving through it, K.C. Redheart gives life to the relationships therein. No character is too minor. No situation is too absurd. No list is complete without a third thing.

The Playground Theater's Historical Podcast, Part I.

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:05:00 -0600

For our 15th Anniversary in May 2012, some original members and founders sat down with current president Matt Barbera and host Dave Maher to talk about how the theater originated and found its first space.

L I S T E N ! here.

F O L L O W ! more Playground history here.

Guests: T.K. Horeis, Mark Henderson, Doug Diefenbach.

Drew Michael stands up this Wednesday at 8pm in ImprovStandsUp.

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:26:14 -0600

Drew Michael stands up this Wednesday at 8pm in ImprovStandsUp.

Twittamentary: Beta Screening, Saturday, Feb. 18 at 5:30pm.

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:26:19 -0600

Twittamentary looks at how lives connect and intersect within the Twitter community as the real-time web accelerates serendipity. Bonds are forged as a result of unexpected encounters between strangers as they share moments of their lives in real time.

The film is created in the open spirit of the Web. Twitter users have been invited to contribute story ideas, rich media and videos to the film via the movie’s initial submissions website . The launch of this website in August 2009 soon led to a whirlwind road trip across USA, where the filmmaker interviewed a wide range of Twitter’ers, from a travel journalist turned “twilebrity” to a homeless women who uses twitter from a public library to a prostitute who uses twitter as her personal GPS.

Tickets to the Twittamentary screening are FREE (and limited) so reserve yours now! PLUS half-off admission — just $5 — for all Twittamentary guests who stick around for the 8pm showing of #TheTweetLife.

#TweetLife sneak peek! RT @paigeworthy

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:13:28 -0600

The Playground Theater’s house ensemble Mustang Repair presents The #TweetLife, a show that incorporates Twitter users and their tweets as the inspiration for an evening of improv. This week features the tweets of @paigeworthy: Food obsessed. Tall. Cheeky as hell.

Each week the #TweetLife selects one follower of @the_playground to be the source of the show, and that follower and a friend can watch free as improvisers create live theater based on their tweets.

Want to be a potential source for art, improv and live theater? It’s easy. Simply follow http://twitter.com/the_playground and send a message saying: “I want in on the #TweetLife.”

Two opening improv ensembles — Wing Night + Mort — also perform. Tickets are just $10, and our theater is always BYOB.

"We love you, you're perfect, now change." What do you think?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:16:54 -0600

"We love you, you're perfect, now change." What do you think?:

This is so tough! (Re: the three teams. Living the lie is a given.)

upstairsgallery:

In an article from January 2011 Time Out Comedy writer Jason A. Heidemann wrote:

Performed in the hands of pros like TJ & Dave, long-form improv can be spine-tingling, not to mention revelatory. But it requires patience and careful listening. Too often, three long-form troupes will be booked back-to-back-to-back and it’s just too much (especially if one or more groups has an off night). Instead, give us one or two groups and mix the rest of the night up with some stand-up or short form. On behalf of my friends who’ve sworn off improv, I’m begging you.

What do you think? Are 3 teams performing long form to much? Is my life a lie?

Yes And ... I Love You: A Playground Charity Auction & Single Mingle

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:51:19 -0600

Yes And … I Love You: A Playground Charity Auction & Single Mingle hosted by Homey Loves Chachi + K.C. Redheart! Feb. 13 at 7pm.

p.s. This party is open to Improvisers + Normals! Plus there’s no cover to get in.

Big Yellow Bus is a special $5 for everyone (or free w/ a...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:53:53 -0600

Big Yellow Bus is a special $5 for everyone (or free w/ a student ID) this week! Get up on it.

This Saturday the founders of the Playground will be recording...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:33:56 -0600

This Saturday the founders of the Playground will be recording podcasts about the formation and early days of the theater!

Got any questions? Leave them here!

Bad news: No 8pm shows at the Playground tonight. Good news:...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:13:57 -0600

Bad news: No 8pm shows at the Playground tonight. Good news: Fishing is still on in the Florida Keys.

"enough laughs to rival any scripted show"! Yay, K.C. Redheart! (tonight @ 8pm w/ Out of Character)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:20:19 -0600

"enough laughs to rival any scripted show"! Yay, K.C. Redheart! (tonight @ 8pm w/ Out of Character)

Incubator auditions! Sign up!

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:30:06 -0600

We are holding auditions for our next Incubator team! You should sign up.

Process + Out of Character, Fridays at 8pm!

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:27:18 -0600

The Playground is excited to present its two most critically acclaimed shows — Process and Out of Character — Fridays at 8pm through February 10.

Come see the shows Time Out Chicago called “a wild, Guffman-esque ride” and “also off to a great start” (plus you can try to guess which quote goes with which show).

Tickets are just $10 and our theater is always BYOB.

Pizza Party + Formal Apology kick off a six-week run tonight at 8pm! $5 + BYOB.

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:38:21 -0600

Pizza Party + Formal Apology kick off a six-week run tonight at 8pm. $5 + BYOB!

More info on Facebook! YEAH!