Susanna J. Sturgis   Martha's Vineyard writer and editor
writer editor born-again horse girl

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Field Trip

March 23, 2007

As usual when I get behind I think I have to start at the beginning, whereupon the recent stuff keeps piling up because I can't remember where the beginning was and therefore I can't start. So I think I'll start with tonight and work backward.

I've been working on section 4 of Squatters' Speakeasy, which introduces the improv troupe that helps drive the plot. The troupe, currently called SYMP, was blatantly inspired by WIMP and by Afterwords. Afterwords was an ensemble that performed mostly scripted sketches after the mainstage shows at the Vineyard Playhouse. WIMP, the Wintertide Improv group, outlived Wintertide Coffeehouse -- another Squatters inspiration -- and ended its 11-year run in 2005. Before it closed it spun off an improv program for teenagers, which has in turn spun off the IMPers (improv) and Sketchy Teens (sketches, duh), not to mention a summer workshop/camp for young people. I got the word earlier this week that WIMP was reuniting (reuning?) for one night only in a joint show with the IMPers and Sketchy Teens. No way was I going to miss it.

I went, it was a wonderful show (I'll spare you the blow by blow), and I got to refresh my memory of Katharine Cornell Theatre, where Squatters section 4 is taking place. The place was packed; the audience was multigenerational (lots of high school kids). What I hadn't registered was that this was a benefit performance, and the beneficiary was the IMPers' upcoming trip to Chicago. The troupe has been invited to fill one of the apprentice slots at the Chicago Improv Festival, April 23-29, 2007 -- the only high school group to be so honored. I picked up a flyer as I left the theater. Here are the basics:

IMPers Go to Chicago

Martha's Vineyard teen professional improv troupe has received the honor of a performance spot in the Chicago Improv Festival. The IMPers will be in Chicago, the birthplace of improv, for five days. They will take classes with improv masters and perform in the same festival as some of the greatest improv troupes in the world. They are the high school troupe to receive this honor.

The Chicago Improv Festival is a nonprofit comedy festival held annually in Chilcago in late April and early May. It spotlights improvisational, sketch, and stand-up comedy. . . . The festival also hosts educational workshops and panel discussions to provide intensive training in improvisational comedy. For more info on CIF visit www.chicagoimprovfestival.org.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Our goal is an easily attainable $4,000 to send our kids to this opportunity of a lifetime. Make a tax-deductible donation to Troubled Shores, Inc. -- the IMPers' parent company. Be a part of these kids' amazing futures!

Donate:

-- $25 and supply cab fare to and from the theater in Chicago

-- $50 and buy the troupe two show tickets on CIF's mainstage

-- $100 and buy a one-way airplane ticket from Providence to Chicago

-- $200 and buy a round-trip airplane ticket from Providence to Chicago

-- $350 and give the troupe one night's stay in a Chicago apartment

-- $500 and pay one half of the troupe's entry fee to the festival

-- $1,000 and give the troupe the entry fee to the festival

-- $4,000 and give the IMPers the whole Chicago Improv Festival experience

Contributions can be made out to Troubled Shores and send to The IMPers, P.O. Box 847, Edgartown, MA 02539. For more information, check out www.troubledshores.com and click on The IMPers' logo.

 

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