Girlprov

ONE ONE ONE

2011-11-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

Holy schnikes! It's been way too long since our last blog post! Tell ya what, this semester has been totally nuts for some of us, so we took a break up until this weekend!

The Roving Imp Theatre hosted Improv Festival Kansas this past weekend. We shared the stage with several excruciatingly talented troupes, and we're so honored to have done so! TwinProv from OKC, The Boss from NYC and The Kristen and Amie show from Philly are just a few, not to mention our fantastic friends from the KC area and performances by Roving Imp troupes as well. All in all, the performances were spectacular and I don't think I've had more fun with improv in my life.

We've been experimenting with a new format which has been ergonomically designed for GirlProv, by GirlProv. Instead of getting a verbal suggestion from the audience, we get a physical one. We use that physical suggestion at the top of every scene and play with how many ways we can interpret a specific action. The idea behind beginning every scene with a concrete action allows us to be able to jump out on stage immediately after every edit without pause. It keeps the momentum going. As a group, we seem to be in our heads a lot thinking about what we're going to do next, and that causes us to freeze up when the moment of truth (beginning a new scene) arrives. Not only does our physical format allow us the freedom of getting out of our heads by immediately "doing something" on stage, it really ramps up the energy and allows us to keep steamrolling through our set. I received some really great notes this weekend and I'm excited to bring them back to rehearsal!

I participated in 3 (or really 2 and a half) workshops on Sunday. Twinprov taught a freestyle rap workshop. I'm happy to say I can beatbox and rap like a champ. Amie taught "I'll Take the Physical Challenge" which was all about being aware of your body and your environment. Kristen taught "Acting Scmacting". I don't think I will ever forget the emotional roller coaster that was that workshop. I saw 15 people, friends and strangers, locals and out-of-towners, cry. And I cried with them. It was beautiful and bizarre.

All in all, Improv Festival Kansas was absolutely amazing! Regardless of what happens in the next year, I will have my butt in one of those seats at the Roving Imp next year. And you should, too!

Up Next:

Our next show will be December 3rd at the Lawrence Art Center at 7:30 pm. GirlProv shares the stage with Kansas City favorites Holy Cow! and Improv-Abilities! Tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for students. For those of you who have yet to make it out to Kansas City to see all the improv, this is a cross section of Kansas City's best! It's right at your doorstep so you have no excuse not to go!

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=288544787834469

New members means new photos! By the end of this month we're planning on another photo shoot to update our roster of pretty ladies. Keep your eyes peeled!

Is Thunderdome next? Or even the College Improv Tournament? Stick around and find out!

Until next time!!

Twinprov

2011-09-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hello, GirlProv stalkers! (I see you, Dylan)

We're entering GirlProv's experimental period. Recently, the girls were treated to a FANTASTIC workshop with the gentlemen from Twinprov. Check these gangstas OUT here!

www.twinprov.com

If you're not going to take the time to read their blog (which you'd fucking better), I'll fill you in. Twinprov is comprised of two twin (duh) brothers, Buck and Clint Vrazel. They are hilarious. They are fantastic. They rap. They sing. They teach. They love. Also, sometimes they have accompaniment from the fantastic Mr. Kyle Gossett. He pianos. He sings. He can give years worth of vocal training to you in five minutes.

Did I mention that I love these guys? They're pretty goddamn great.

We did a 2.5 hour workshop in which we learned how to sing, and how to effectively turn our thoughts from dialogue to song lyrics. We learned some formulas, we learned how to make a chorus, and we learned how to work more effectively as a team. I don't think I've ever experienced an improv class that literally made me jump up and down in excitement. I don't have anything to say about these guys and their workshop other than positive things and that the whole experience filled my heart with warm-fuzzies.

If you guys are longing for some girl on girl comedy action and want to see us experiment with our new-found voices and musical stylings, check us out at Improv Festival Kansas!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=222929701080500

The girls will be playing on November 11th at 7 pm in Bonner Springs! And if by chance you missed it while you were perusing the event, Twinprov is playing with us, too! ON THE SAME GODDAMN NIGHT! So come on out to the festival and you'll see girls! And twins! But not twin girls! (Sorry) We're all fucking hilarious! Also, check out all of the other fantastic groups on the other nights, too!

In other news, we're also planning a photo shoot (oooo) to update our roster! Some of us have moved on and we've added others, so new pictures must be done! We're currently brainstorming ideas, but if anyone has a suggestion, let us know. Looking for funny suggestions. We'll make it sexy ourselves.

UNTIL NEXT TIME
DEAR DIARY

More exciting news!

2011-08-30T10:56:00.001-07:00

More things have been happening on the GirlProv front! We've been having multiple rehearsals in preparation for our September 3rd performance with Loaded Dice at Comedy City! Within those rehearsals, we've come up with what we think is an interesting piece. Not necessarily a format per-say, but just a different take on inspiration and audience suggestion. We're all excited to show you what we can do with our bodies ;). Yes, I am flirting with you, blog reader. If you buy us drinks after the show, there might be more winks where that came from. You might even get a conversation out of one of us. We do play hard-to-get...to an extent.

Anyway, not only are we experimenting with a new format, we're experimenting with ANOTHER new lady as well! Lynsey Becher recently joined our lady ranks. After having been to only a few rehearsals, the dynamic is changing a bit, and for the better, I'd say. Come see what I mean on September 3rd!

Aside from this weekend, we've also entered ourselves in the Improv Festival of Kansas through the Roving Imp Theater in Bonner Springs. We're hoping to hear soon whether we'll be performing, and we'll let YOU lovely readers know when we know!

There is also talks of another round of Comedy for a Cause in the works, this time sponsoring the Douglas County AIDS Project. More on that as details fall into place!

It's a new year, and the Girls are back in town!

WE'RE BAAAACK!!

2011-08-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a new semester. That means new shows, and new members!

Recently we have asked Danielle, aka Cheetah, to join us girls as we move forward with new performances and other crazy shenanigans!

As new girls come in, others go out. After her recent graduation from KU, Jackie is leaving us for greener pastures in Washington, DC and Chicago. As a founding member of the group and a strong presence in marketing and organizing our shows, she will truly be missed! Jackie performed her farewell performance last night at the Granada in Lawrence to a fantastic crowd, and even received a loving, albeit rude, cake from her fellow performers! (It says "we love you, bitch" in Spanish)

Our next performance is Saturday, September 3rd at the Westport Coffee House with Kansas City's resident Bad Boys of Comedy, Loaded Dice! Chances are if you're on this page, you found it via the Facebook event or facebook in some other fashion, but here's the link to the facebook page anyway! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=249925181697580

SEE YOU GUYS LATER

Wham Bam -Improv Thunderdome

2011-02-10T23:06:00.001-08:00

Sup?

Come.

Westport Coffee House in KC - THIS SATURDAY, the 12th at 9pm. Vote for us, then you can leave.Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am. That's all we're asking for here.

Let's be honest - if you're reading this what better things do you have to do? Bring her. She'll like it too.

College Improv Tournament

2010-11-08T19:28:00.000-08:00

Duuuuudessssss!!!

Girlprov participated in the Breadbasket Regional for the College Improv Tournament this past Saturday. It was an all day event that started at 12pm and lasted until 12am. We competed against 11 other teams and advanced to the Finals against three other troupes. Zoiks from Emporia, Obviously Unrehearsed Improv from Oklahoma (I got a business card from them...) and Left, Right Tim from Colorado. Zoiks walked away with first place! Go Kansas teams!

In general, it was such a fun experience. Everyone supported one another and everyone's improv was at the top of their games. We made such lovely connections and already there have been facebook wall to wall posts between teams. Yeah!

We were very proud of ourselves! A year ago, we didn't even think we were ever going to perform and now look at us! Finalists!

We will keep you updated on upcoming events! Also, we will get video from the tournament. That way our most devoted followers can watch them online.

Until Next Time,
Jackie (The Border Hopper)

P.S. My nickname gives the impression that I'm an illegal immigrant. Perhaps it should be changed to "the one who fulfills the stereotype that women can't drive."

UDK Article

2010-10-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Brenna Long of the University Daily Kansan wrote a lovely little article about GirlProv that you can all find by following this link!

http://www.kansan.com/news/2010/oct/28/get-some-culture-girlprov/

Later dudes!

October 5th Show at the Granda

2010-10-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

GirlProv would just like to thank all those who came out to the Granada last night for our performance. You all were an amazing crowd with such great suggestions. Can I just say you were so awesome at giving locations that were non-proper nouns? Mortuary...right on!

Thanks to for being such good sports and singing a fantastic rendition of Happy Birthday to Miss Maggie Cargill! She loved all the birthday support.

We hope to see you all at some of our upcoming performances. Mark your calendars now. October 15th and 16th, November 6th, and once again, back at the Granada near the end of November.

Locations to be announced for the other shows!

Stay tuned for your GirlProv lady news (about improv, not lady things if you know what I mean.)

KU News Covers GirlProv

2010-10-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Check out the news video coverage that the on campus news program did on GirlProv! Thanks for coming to our rehearsal. Also, we will soon be covered by the on campus radio station KJHK thanks to Becky Sullivan!

Below is the video!

http://kansan.com/videos/2010/sep/29/1440/

Jackie (the border hopper)

PHOTO SHOOOOOOT!

2010-10-04T13:37:00.001-07:00

Oh my word - we are divas - we are monsters.

Click here to see the public version of our facebook album!!

These are some select shots from our recent photo shoot with the lovely and talented Joshua Efron.

It was an extremely fun time, despite it being 9am!! haha.

We have over 500 images, and hopefully I will have time to post some more very soon.
We have gotten some great feedback on them - I'm glad people our taking how ridiculous we are in good humor and not just automatically assuming we are extremely anti-social freaks!

Maybe we should quit doing improv and model full time...

Oct. 5th show at the Granada!!

2010-10-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

Check out the facebook event!!

We are all very excited for our show on Tuesday night - we are going to be showcasing a new form we having been playing around with, along with a past form.

No openers this time - so no worries about staying out too late on a school night!

Drinks - laughs - ladies.

What more could you want!?

2010-07-22T10:02:00.001-07:00

I'm not going to sit here and wax poetic about the meaning of GirlProv's new publicity, but rather I am just going to share it with you all!

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/jul/22/making-it-we-go-along-female-filled-comedy-troupe-/

Thanks to the Lawrence Journal-World for the coverage! We appreciate it, and whenever you want to come out and cover a show, it's on me!

Congrats girls for kicking ass!

WHAT

2010-07-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hey all! The following is footage of GirlProv's Kansas City debut at the Fishtank Performance Studio! Thanks to Tom Kessler, Jess Robins for providing us with wonderful performance opportunities at the Fishtank, and thanks to Holy Cow! Improv for filming us and providing us with the footage! This is also our submission for the IMPFEST, the Roving Imp Theatre's improv festival this coming October in Bonner Springs! Thanks to everybody who comes out to support us! Support us tomorrow night at the GRANADA for our solo Lawrence debut!!

http://www.holycowimprov.com/working/vid/girlProv.wmv

What's your favorite thing about girl-prov?

2010-06-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

Piano Fight.

2010-06-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

Demy and piano.

Brilliant!

----

I think we might need to find an actual pianist.... as funny as this is. haha.

Hotel Troubles.

2010-06-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

A scene Jackie and I did during a rehearsal.

Feedback!?

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I think what was good about this scene is that we had a stronger human/emotional connection - although the exact nature of our relationship is a bit blurred you can tell that we have had problems in the past that are now complicating our current relationship. We reveal information about each other, which I think is good for pushing one another but at the same time supporting one another by giving the other person a place to go.

I thought this was a pretty good scene overall.
And we resolved it!!!! YEAAAA!

Hi.

2010-06-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to try and see if I could figure this thing out. However, while I'm on here - we need to e-mail a list of performance dates to Nicole because she said today that she will post on her twitter...er...whatever thing she uses to updated audiences and the pitch follows her. Also, she stated again today that she is interested in guest starring. Possibly sometime in July? We should talk!

Old Lady TV Time.

2010-06-17T12:55:00.001-07:00

A scene that Maggie and Demy did during a rehearsal.
Sorry for how much I laugh at the end - I just happen to loooooove this scene!!

<3

Again, please comment with feedback!!

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I love this scene.

It is short and has a fantastic punch line!!
PERFECT!

Old People Watching Club.

2010-06-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

A pretty decent scene concocted during rehearsal.

If anyone wants to post feedback on what they thought worked or didn't work, leave a comment at the end of the post!!
thanks!

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Personally, I like this scene!

One of the problems that I observed is that we do a lot of talking over each other, and most of the time that was combined with yelling! It really almost works - and in some places I think it is very effective cause it makes sense for our characters to be doing that but I don't think we make it deliberate enough every time it happens. If we are all shouting it needs to be a huge cacophony so that words can't be made out at all and it looks like we are just freaking out because we are idiots. In some places a couple of us are shouting and others are kind of talking so it just seems disjointed. I think if we can all pick up on characteristics like that and apply them in a scene we can avoid the confusion of whether or not it was deliberate.

Otherwise! We just need to more listen more carefully and make sure that we are giving everyone room to say their piece. It's a difficult thing to do with 5 people on stage at once, but whateva!

I thought we had developed a pretty good beginning middle and end though. A lot of times we have trouble resolving the situations we create, but I think this time we were actually able to find a resolution that made sense and happened in a reasonable amount of time.

applesauce is hysterical.

Flickr!

2010-06-17T12:19:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!

I set up a flickr account so that we can document our experience in a more organized fashion!
I'm gonna put up photos from rehearsals, shows, and just some from the time we spend together.

If anyone has links to facebook albums of us [link me], or has some secretly stashed on their computer [e-mail me].

CHECK IT OUT!!

Cantaloupes

2010-06-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

There is always a day when the sun rises on the prairie and the ketchup come out to swing on the swingsets. You never know why the koolaid is flavored like catfish but it does not really bother the radiologists because a candle is always brighter on the other side. I will say this once and only once... girls are the greatest because giraffes never fight during Christmas. I love it when the cereal is soggy and the dishwasher hums quietly as I fall asleep. See you guys on the flip side of my pillow! Love you lots.

-Britt