IMPers Come Home
Having performed at the Chicago, Boston and Providence improv festivals, the IMPers are playing the home stage again. The Island’s teen comedy improv troupe will do a two-act show of spontaneous theater on Friday, Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.
On a Wednesday evening in July, members of Island groups the IMPers and the newly re-formed WIMPs walk through Grange Hall in West Tisbury seeking that proof of spontaneity which is customary to any improv show: suggestions from the audience.
“We need a playwright,” they say.
Confident he has the perfect answer, a little blond-haired boy shoots up his hand and yells, “Harry Potter!”
The performers accept Tennessee Williams, but the kid fights on.
“A musical?” Harry Potter.
Continuing a 14-year tradition of comedy improvisation on Wednesday evenings, actors will take the Grange Hall stage every Wednesday night from July 2 to August 20. This year, the cast of 10 includes the IMPers, the teen professional troupe, as well as the newly reincarnated WIMP.
The new WIMP consists of former IMPers now in college. Don’t miss the troupe called “one of the standout groups” of the 2007 Chicago Improv Festival by the festival’s artistic director. This group performs instantaneous skits based on audience suggestions.
The IMPers will present a night of improvised theatre next Friday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Spring street in Vineyard Haven.
This two-act show will include two types of improv: first, short-form improvised games and skits — a fast-paced act with lots of audience participation as well as laughs. Second, the troupe will take the stage to perform their Chicago-style, theatrical-based long-form improvisation. Based off a single suggestion, the troupe improvises a one-act play, usually lasting about 30 to 35 minutes.
