Tag Archives: improv

WIT show posters

Divas and the Beast, 2012

flyer_divas2012

Divas and the Beast ran as part of the 2012 Fringe

Festival, February 23 – 26 at BATS Theatre, and featured WIT’s Improv Divas.

Theatreview.org described the show as “a good concept well executed”.

Troublesome neighbours? Difficult spouses? Offensive bosses? Never fear! The Improv Divas (NZ’s only all woman improv act) are here with a brand new show that takes on the hassles of modern life and offers purely improvised solutions.

Taking inspiration from the magazine columns & TV style ‘Agony Aunt’ programmes of old, Divas and the Beast serve up performances to both educate and delight the audience.

Let the Improv Divas take on your beast. No problem too big, too small or too taboo.

[alpine-phototile-for-flickr src=”set” uid=”94497050@N02″ sid=”72157633119509427″ imgl=”fancybox” size=”240″ style=”bookshelf” row=”4″ num=”20″ shadow=”1″ highlight=”1″ align=”center” max=”100″]

WIT show posters

The Long Weekend – NZIF 2011

show posterThe Long Weekend is an improvised story which will reveal the truth of the relationships between five old friends as they reunite for a long weekend away from home.

Each night the characters, relationships, and the New Zealand location will be different.
Each night we will find out more about the people onstage than they knew themselves.

Reuniting: Christine Brooks, Brandon Brooks, Nicola Hill, Merrilee McCoy, Paul Sullivan

Date/Time
Date(s) – 13/10/2011
9:30 pm – 10:30 pm

NZIF 2011 at BATS Theatre

There was also a Flint Podcast episode about the show.

WIT show posters

NZ Improv Festival, 2011

logo_NZIFposterOctober 11-15 2011 at Bats Theatre.

Familiar faces included The Court Jesters, The Improvisors and WIT, as well as new groups Up Against Improv, Chicken Legs Theatre, and representatives from Brisbane, Dunedin and Canberra. As well, two of Australia’s best improvisers Rebecca De Unamuno and Jason Geary visited with new and unique shows.

Thanks and cheers to all the people who made it happen … the producer, the musicians, the lighting guy, the players, the ticket takers, the setters-up-of-things, the leaflet hander-outerers, the lovely reviewers, the lovely sponsors, the lovely audiences. And Producer/Artistic director Merrilee!

The New Zealand Improv Festival now has its very own website

WIT show posters

The Young and the Witless V, 2011

Young and the Witless iconThere is an episode by episode summary on the show’s Facebook page.   Back for its fifth season in June and July 2011 Wellington’s best, and only, improvised soap opera turned its overly melodramatic eye to the highly competitive and scandalous world of indoor social netball. Team mates and lovers, friends and coaches, nemesis and referees – all ripe for soft lens over-acting and long dramatic pauses with a swelling musical score.

WIT show posters

WIT Dreamz, 2011

logo Dreams showHop into bed with us!

It’s time to delve beneath the duvet into the subconscious mind of dreams and nightmares.  In WIT Dreamz, Wellington’s finest improvisers will weave the audience’s night-time visions into a web of surreal, hilarious and occasionally spooky stories. Continue reading →

WIT show posters

Wednesdays with WIT, 2008 – 2011

default_clip_image002Between festivals and seasons of shows such as The Young and the Witless WIT began to regularly organise more informal nights at the Blue Note Bar (now the Fringe Bar).  These were collectively promoted under the umbrella of Wednesdays with WIT, with the name shifting to The Improv Lounge in 2012.

Shows in Wednesdays with WIT included many Micetros, Gorillas, House Team shows, The Improv Lab (itself an umbrella for a variety of shows) and more.  Many shows such as The Last Saloon and  Divas and the Beast had their first public outing at a WwW evening before going on to a Fringe or Comedy Festival season.

WwW November 2011
[alpine-phototile-for-flickr src=”set” uid=”94497050@N02″ sid=”72157633123553994″ imgl=”fancybox” size=”240″ style=”bookshelf” row=”4″ num=”20″ shadow=”1″ highlight=”1″ align=”center” max=”100″]

WIT show posters

Young and the Witless 4, June – August 2010

flyer_mini_yawiv

Lust . . . Betrayal . . . Family
Wellington’s only improvised soap opera returns!

At the Fringe Bar
Wednesdays 2 Jun 2010 to 25 Aug 2010 

Cast included:
Geoff Simmons, Christine Brooks, Simon Smith, Karen Anslow, Jennifer O’Sullivan, Paul Sullivan, Wiremu Tuhiwai

Fresh from knock out seasons of Micetro, Improv Divas, and Gods & Heroes, the Wellington Improv Troupe is back with another titillating season of intrigue, secrets and unrequited lust!

Join the Wakefields, NZ’s #2 retail family as they battle tough economic times, off shore manufacturing, and each other for control of the legacy of great granddad Wakefield.
__________________________________________________

Theatreview.org
 commented that the show attracted “large and exuberant houses who are not disappointed as the improvisers deliver a compelling combination of narrative twists, character based gags and sardonic breakings of the fourth wall”

WIT show posters

The Improv Divas 2010

Improv DivasWellington welcomes back The Improv Divas

The Improv Divas are back! NZ’s leading ladies of improv are ready to rock the capital with an all new, all improvised show in 2010’s International Comedy Festival.
Produced and performed by an all-female ensemble cast from Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT), The Improv Divas will lead you through an hour of humour, honesty and hilarity, telling stories made up on the spot based on audience suggestion and whatever the ever-present wind blows in. Continue reading →

Keith Johnstone

Keith Johnstone an internationally recognised authority in the field of improvisation, great chunks of which he created, including improvisation forms Theatresports, Maestro Impro (played in NZ as Micetro), Gorilla Theatre, and The Life Game. His books Impro, and Impro For Storytellers, have been translated into many languages.

Keith worked at London’s Royal Court Theatre for its ten most revolutionary years (1956 to 1966), and has taught at many European Theatre Schools, including six years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and each spring for fifteen years at the Stattensteatre Skole in Copenhagen. Places where he has taught since include San Francisco, Brisbane, Sydney, Seattle,Vienna, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, London, Hong Kong, Austin (Texas), and Tokyo. He has lectured at the Deuches Institute for Provocative Therapy, and from teaching ‘clinic clowns’ in the Bavarian Alps. He founded the Theatre Machine improvisation group, the International Theatresports Institute, and was the Co-founder of Calgary’s Loose Moose Theatre. He is a Professor Emeritus at Calgary University.

More on his own site

Over the years several WIT members have made the pilgrimage to The Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary to attend the Summer School. Although the theatre is no longer lead by him, it is still infused with his philosophy and playful generous approach to improv.

WIT show posters

The Young and the WITless – Improvathon 2010 edition

fbP1000440 An entire season of The Young and the WITless, set in a day spa, was created as part of the 30 hours non-stop improvisation that happened on the 12th and 13th of February, at the Wellington Performing Arts Centre, 36 Vivian Street.