TheatreSports | Megan's Head

A few lovely little things on my mind

On July 7, 2015

I always know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged when I have to re-enter my password. That’s this morning. I am not even sure I have one whole thing to write about; it’s bits and pieces. Let’s see.

I woke up remembering last night’s improv show. We had a lovely house (it’s school holidays) and clearly, not everyone went to Grahamstown. There is always that nervousness about running anything theatrical while the festival happens. Pah, I say. But as important as the lovely house was the lovely show. We performed our old favourite format, TheatreSports, and because of all the great scene work we have been doing, and all the other formats we have been working on, the standard and satisfaction of our work last night was really high. Everybody loved us, and we loved each other, and ourselves. This got me thinking again about how lucky we are to have sustained this thing for almost 22 years, proving that we are not only the oldest but also the best improv group in Cape Town. And we can still pull audiences! This makes me extremely happy.

Another thing that is making me extremely happy at the moment is that I seem to have (holding thumbs that I don’t jinx it) broken the creative drought with a spurt of energy for a few interesting possibilities, the latest of which is a secret, but it is a new theatrical collaboration with some of my most favourite people and it is going to be groundbreaking in a hilarious and charming way. Watch this space.

Then there is the weather. I know, we are needing winter rains, but. I walked on Camps Bay beach yesterday, with my friend and the dogs, for over an hour and it was outrageously gorgeous.

And, ladies and gentlemen, I am writing again, not only here, but all over, with a collection of new ideas and things that make me enthusiastic and energised. Who knows what will become with these things, if they are ever to become actual things, but I am enjoying the process.

A few things Improv

By megan

On June 3, 2015

In Cape Town, improv, me on stage

On Sunday I performed some improv in Jozi with people I had never actually even met before. I was cheeky enough to invite myself to play with the Jittery Citizens who do a monthly stint at Kippies at The Market Theatre. We played Armando, to a tiny audience that included my very vocal nephews (who adored the show), and I was reminded that improv is an amazing thing; with a bit of robust confidence you can play with anyone, anywhere, and even play anything. I had never played Armando in front of a live audience before.

When I do something like this I end up getting re-inspired by what we do in Cape Town. I am reminded of how unbelievably good we are, and how well we know each other, and I know that we can do absolutely anything. Our annual Improv Festival is testimony to that.

Lately I have been feeling that our regular TheatreSports short form improv shows on a Monday night have been in need of a bit of a face lift. We haven’t been attracting huge houses, and us players are also in need of inspiration. So I am excited by our brazen new idea that will bring a completely different format every single Monday night. It started off two weeks ago with a Stuck in The Middle, a great format where one improviser (in this case Leon Clingman) was on stage for the full hour of the show, and the rest of the team put him in different scenes. This Monday’s show was an improvised documentary and I hear it was fantastic (I was in Jozi, so I missed it). It is a format that I think I might have invented and I have played in and seen some outrageous ones.

This coming Monday is SuperScene, a fast paced, high energy, competitive format, where ‘directors’ create scenes and stories played by the team. The audience votes out their least favourite scene in rounds and there is a winning story at the end, that gets a final big finale scene. I’ll be playing and directing in this one and already my competitive juices are flowing. I love winning SuperScene. The cast are Carolyn Lewis, Tandi Buchan, Tarryn Saunders, Anne Hirsch, Ryan Jales, Leon Clingman and me. That is a pretty hot line-up.

Apparently the week after that is Road Movie. I don’t even know what that is yet. Guess we’ll make it up! So, if you like your improv varied, shaken up and different every single time, call our booking line 0729393351 to book. Our Monday night shows start earlier than before, at 730pm, and we perform at the sexy Galloway Theatre at the Waterfront Theatre School. And, of course your weekly dose of improv is still unbelievably ridiculously cheap at R60 a ticket. Pathetic really. For those of you who have never been, here is a handy map too. There is usually convenient parking at the old Hirt and Carter building just a little way down the road.

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Improv = Happy

By megan

On January 13, 2015

In Cape Town, improv, me on stage

Last night was Improguise’s first show of the year and I played. (We play a TheatreSports type format of short form improv every Monday night at The Galloway Theatre at 8pm, call 0729393351 to book). To tell you the truth I was in need of a positive kick. I was feeling a bit glum and very out of sorts (personal stuff). Yes we were rusty, and yes we made silly mistakes, and yes we all found ourselves in various stages of undoneness, but on the whole, and taking everything into account it was pretty fantastic, and I loved being back on the improv stage after a long gap of about two months. It really is the most happy space for me. I love playing, I love the ideas, the laughing, the creativity. I love the audience (last night’s was particularly lovely, even though they liked my team less. I hold onto these things you see.) My team members are like family. We slide into the best kind of support of each other on stage and then give harsh, practical notes after the show. We make each other look and feel good.

We had a guest from out of town yesterday. Bart, a Belgian improvisor did a crash course musical improv workshop with us before the show, and he even played with us as a second musical improviser during the show. It’s always so inspiring to have a bit of an outside shake-up, and this was a goodie. We are all fired up now and ready to launch into our long form musicals, which is just as well, since it is one of our formats for our improv fest, a week long festival of improv at the Kalk Bay Theatre in March.

So, we are back, and I am happy. Come check us out. Every Monday. Galloway Theatre. 0729393351 to book.

A Good Sport

By megan

On October 28, 2014

In Cape Town, improv, me on stage

The cute documentary that Pascale Neuschäfer made about me and improv.

Soap-a-thon and a trip

By megan

On October 24, 2013

In applied improv, Cape Town, deeply personal, improv, inspiration, me on stage

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We decided to paint our lounge and dining room, which meant moving pretty much all of our stuff around. This meant an unexpected trawl though old photos yesterday, and I discovered a box full of ancient TheatreSports ones. Sadly, there are many of some occasions, times and people, and none of others. But it has taken me through the times, since I arrived in CT at the end of 1993 to run our first TheatreSports workshop, at Kasteel Players’ venue in Harrington Street. Our first run at The Dock Road Theatre that December was with a team who came especially from Jozi, our crazy sessions at Eauver The Top in Kalk Bay, The Light Fantastic in Muizenberg, The Purple Turtle, On The Side at Artscape, and now The Intimate and Kalk Bay Theatre. I remember (some more clearly than others) tours to Grahamstown, Knysna, Hermanus, Orlando Florida, and corporates from the hills of the Drakensberg to wine farms to weird lounges. Birthdays and barmies. Schools and fundraisers. Church halls and voorkamers. Australia and Improvention. Natalie’s Circle of Love FUNdraiser. 2 Fleur du Cap awards. Our first Soap-a-thon last last year, and our first improv fest at the beginning of this year. And of course there is tons more that I am not mentioning.

I have met amazing people, workshopped in extraordinary circumstances, performed zingers and dingers, made best, best friends, and mostly had my faith lifted by the extraordinary thing that improv is.

And to the future. The nearest thing is Saturday’s 15 hour Soap-a-thon to raise funds for Rape Crisis. Then, a trip to an improv festival on Reunion Island in the first week of December. What an amazing, beautiful and special thing to have in my life.

New improv (of)course

By megan

On August 12, 2013

In Cape Town, improv, inspiration

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I cannot believe we are barreling towards the end of the year already. I haven’t even got all my mascara off from last year. Of course, what this means is that it is time for us to be putting together our new improv workshop, which will be starting on Thursday 5 Sept and will run every Thurs until the 24 October from 630pm to 930pm at The Waterfront Theatre School. This course is for anyone with some performing experience, ranging from professional actors, to comedians, to part time performers with a knack.

This blog post is to encourage you to sign up. I know a lot of performers who have expressed an interest in doing the course and then have shut down, for many reasons, but the biggest and most common one is fear. This is something we spend time working on, and it is very liberating. It is also very safe, and very funny. And even if you discover that you never want to improvise on stage again, you will have had fun discovering it.

We are excited for new blood, and are specifically on the hunt for new Improguise company members, since we have expanded what we do, from the usual twice a week TheatreSports shows, to include monthly experimental adults-only improv at Alexander Bar, our very successful long form improv shows (that include period drama, Westerns and musicals), our yearly 2 week improv fest, and our long, long fundraiser Soap-a-thon, taking place this year on 26 October. You’ll notice that that is 2 days after we complete the new course and we are going to be inviting course graduates to make cameo performances in the Soap-a-thon.

So, there are a lot of good reasons to sign up now to do the course. Email me, and I’ll put your name on the Yes I’m In list.

Megan's Head

A place where Megan gets off her head.

Tag: TheatreSports (Page 1 of 14)

A few lovely little things on my mind

A few things Improv

Improv = Happy

A Good Sport

Soap-a-thon and a trip

New improv (of)course

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