Feb 20- An Evening with Mischler & More at easylaughs, sponsored by allimprov

Photo by Robin Straaijer

On Feb. 20 at easylaughs, Peter More and Nicole Mischler debutted their new sketch comedy show. A mix of written, scripted and improvised scenes in the style of Elaine May and Mike Nichols. The show opened with a vaudeville act, included some art-house theater, scenes about social media and dating and a couple of classic sketches from May & Nichols, a scene about the guilt of adultery and lust over the operation table. The show was a big hit and great fun. M&M will certainly be showing their sketch show again in the near future!

Photo by Robin Straaijer

TVA Top Module and Pina Bausch

February 21st, 2014:
The Top Module from TVA (Theatersports Vereniging Amsterdam) played at easylaughs in a show sponsored by allimprov.  The Top Module is TVA's most experienced players. Each year they choose a theme and have the freedom to experiment with different ways of using improvisation as performance. This year Pina Bausch, a German choreographer was the inspiration for movement-based improvisation. They take suggestions at the begin of the scene from the audience and then blend dance and ensemble work into the scenes for a heightened emotional and dramatic state. The show at easylaughs was a great success, The Top Module was excited to show their unique form to a new audience, and the form showed that improvisation mixed with dance is an exciting blend of two disciplines. The Top Module would like to thank easylaughs for hosting and thank allimprov for the sponsorship.

– Nicole, TVA Top Module

Mischler and More

Mischler and More is a collaboration between two established Amsterdam-based improvisers, Nicole Mischler and Peter More. Nicole and Peter have been working together for years in various groups and decided to use their obvious chemistry and love of a challenge to try creating genre-based narrative longform show with just the two of them. By really delving into the genre and avoiding the usual superficial, cheap jokes of much improv genre work they have worked on two well-received "formats" so far, in the style of Shakespeare and Film Noir. There is the promise of more to come.

Thanks to allimprov and easylaughs help, they were able to quickly get off the ground and be dressed for the part. They have even already started making an impact on the festival circuit, starting with the huge Chicago Improv Festival, performing as one of five international groups. Their next festival is the less-well-known Delft Fringe and the hope to have another show in Amsterdam before that comes out.

Like them on Facebook to be kept up to date: facebook.com/MischlerMore

Harri Olli from Switzerland and Dizzy and the Pit Kittens

The night of the 17th of November held for improv lovers a very special occasion

at CREA: the groups Harri Olli from Switzerland and Dizzy and the Pit Kittens
teamed up to show a variety of longform styles and foster international improv
exchange.

First Dizzy at the Pitt Kittens took the stage to perform their show ‘Whirlpool’.
This format highlights the power of the combination of abstract scene work,
realistic scenes, and colorful stories. In a collage of scenes inspired by the
two words betrayal and paranoia. After presenting an improvised dance, in
which everyone of the four performers took the lead at some point, to lure the
audience in and probably warming up their bodies Dizzy and the Pitt Kittens
took the audience on a journey through single scenes and reoccurring stories
about cheating wives, rejection in social groups, the royal hierarchies and land
ownership among lions, the old rivalry between postman and dog, and others.

They presented not only how to stay in and instantly refind strong characters but
also how to organically transform smoothly from one scene to the next with all
players on the stage at all times, even if the scene is only about two or even one
person. This was for the spectator surely the most inspiring experience, leaving
us with the question “How the hell did they do that?”.

It was clear that there were four highly skilled and well assembled performers
on stage who seem to have found an outstanding level of groupmind and who
dare to go to places very few other improv groups would take their scenes:
funny, sad, and abstract all in one show.
(by: Gerald Weber)

In the second half the three players of the Swiss longform group Harri Olli took
to the stage. The two founders Gerry and Simone trained this year with BATS
from San Fransisco and brought BATS format ' The Naked Stage' with them to
Zurich.

Earlier in 2012 the duo had performed their two men show (also made possible
by All Improv) and for this second performance they invited new group member
Niggi to perform with them. ‘The Naked Stage’ consisted of three acts, each with
a predetermined length in time, and no change of characters or location. The
audience suggested a shed for a location and the three performers told the story
of a man dealing with the relationship with his father now and in the past, and
how that affected his marriage.

The story evolved in a calm pace with a very interesting tension underneath it.
Regularly this tension was broken by the funny twists in the universe they had
carefully created. For instance when Sarah, the wife, made light hearted remarks
about issues that her husband had difficulty dealing with, both frustrating
and thawing him. It was in moments like this, that the actors could show their
experience as an ensemble and the acting skills that they individually own.

The evening ended with a short jam session with all seven players on stage in
which they showed themselves from even more different sides. The audience got
a full spectrum of abstract, serious, and light fun as a dessert.
(by: Laura Doorneweerd)

Kwaliteitsimpuls voor Hatseflats! impro voor en met kinderen

Ooit had Theatersportvereniging Amsterdam (TVA) een kindervoorstelling onder de naam Abracadabra. Een fraai gedecoreerde theatersportvoorstelling waarbij de teams Mayo en Ketchup streden om de eer. Ondanks herhaaldelijke nieuwe impulsen van TVA-leden om Abracadabra nieuwe leven in te blazen, belandden de decors en kostuums op zolder…

Totdat het bij een van de ex-Abracadabra’ers vorige zomer begon te kriebelen. Thom Bruggeman wilde zijn zoon toch zeker kennis laten maken met impro. Al snel wist hij verschillende impro’ers waarmee hij eerder had gespeeld om zich heen te verzamelen onder de naam Hatseflats!

En zo kwam het dat in oktober vorig jaar de eerste voorstelling van Hatseflats! het licht zag. Een drukbezochte show waar het enthousiasme vanaf spatte. Neemt niet weg dat er aan de inhoud en de wijze van spelen nog wel wat te doen was. Want: hoe ga je om met kinderen? Wat zijn de do’s en don’ts in kindertheater? En hoe creëer je rust in de voorstelling en in de zaal? Samen met Marjolein Macrander, regisseur van, en actrice in kindervoorstellingen, werd een vast raamwerk opgezet, waarbinnen de verschillende theatersportvormen konden worden gespeeld.

De voorstellingen van de afgelopen maanden hebben inmiddels aangetoond dat er vergeleken met de eerste keer al een hele stap is gemaakt. En dat blijkt ook wel uit de opkomst: ouders en kinderen komen steeds vaker terug. Dat leidde in maart zelfs tot een uitverkochte voorstelling.

Hoewel met het vaste raamwerk en de tips van Marjolein inmiddels de nodige vorderingen zijn gemaakt, toch willen de spelers van Hatseflats! zich graag verder ontwikkelen. Daarom volgen ze binnenkort opnieuw enkele trainingen van Marjolein Macrander. Deze verdere investering in de kwaliteit van de Hatseflats!-vorderingen wordt mede mogelijk gemaakt met een bijdrage van AllImprov. Zelf zien hoe Hatseflats! vooruitgaat? Bezoek een van de voorstellingen. Op www.wijzijnhatseflats.nl staat alle informatie en kan er worden gereserveerd.