Tag Archives: improv

framed photo of improvisors with cleaver and fork to the sides

Director’s Cut – Monday 18th April 2022

Our first public show in seems-like forever, back in our old Pow Wow Room stomping ground HAS ALREADY HAPPENED!! $100 was donated to food charity Everybody Eats.   But you can read the PR below; there’ll be another show happening soon, likely in Mid May

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Directors! Directors competing with other Directors to direct a talented troupe of bold improvisors!! Expect an exciting mix of directed games and open scenes, some drawing on audience suggestions, others drawn from the very depths of the tortured soul of a director.

This show is at The Pow Wow room, which although a lovely venue is at the top of a flight of stairs with no lift. If you have mobility issues and there’s any way we can help (eg, a phalanx of volunteers to carry you aloft like Cleopatra on a golden litter) contact us in advance.
Also, this is a licensed venue, meaning that there are *delicious* alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages available. However, if you’re under 18 you must bring a parent or guardian, and if you look under 25, bring id.

What: Director’s Cut
Who: The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT)
Cost: Koha (but really it’s you we want) monies going to charity
When: Monday 18th April (Easter Monday!) 7pm
Where: The Pow Wow Room, Level 1, 74 Courtenay Place, Te Aro, Wellington (up the stairs to the left of The Dakota Bar)
Facebook Event

“As a troupe, they boast an effective and playful onstage chemistry” ~ Theatreview

“This group’s bounding energy overtook the stage” ~ Nelson Mail

improvisors training in front of a window

happy new improvisors

Next Improv for the Stage and Joy of Improv classes start May 13th, enroll now!

Theses courses can book out so enroll now to make sure you don’t miss out.

WIT’s next improv classes for adults start May 13th. These will run for eight weeks 7.30-9.30pm on Thursday nights, at the Wellington High School in Taranaki St, Mt Cook.

The Joy of Improvisation is WIT’s foundation class and suitable for any level of experience, including none at all.  It has been run by WIT in association with the Wellington Community Education Centre (WCEC) for over 15 years now, and classes are always led by senior WIT trainers/performers.  This term Tristram  Domican is leading, and it’s bound to be a delightful intro to the art of theatre without a script.

Improv for the Stage is our ‘next step’ course, this term led by Ali Little, and is a fun dive into more elaborate ways to tell stories, dipping into different styles and formats of improv, all shaped by what participants want.  It’s the ideal course if you’ve already learnt the basics, either with WIT or another troupe, or you’ve other theatre training which used improv exercises and games, or if you’re returning to improv after a break.  The focus is on becoming stage ready, supporting your fellow players, and generally having an excellently fun time.

Warm up the dark nights of winter with a whole bunch of laughter and revel in being spontaneous and playful.

happy new improvisors

 

Two improvisors in a bowl of jam, with the text "Improv Jam"

Jam with WIT – Sunday 28 MARCH 2021

THIS SHOW HAS HAPPENED!  BUT THERE’LL BE OTHER SHOWS SOON 😀

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Our end-of-February Jam night is postponed to March 28th!!  It’ll be even Jamyier for having to wait.

Expect an exciting mix of directed games and open scenes, all drawing on audience suggestions.

If you’d like to play you’re in! If you feel a bit shy, you’re the audience!!  Doors open at 6.30pm for a group warm up, sitting down for the full jaminess from 7pm. It’s simple and fun, with plenty of friendly people to support you if you haven’t done improv in a while, or even much ever at all.

This show is at The Pow Wow room, and although a lovely venue is at the top of a flight of stairs with no lift. If you have mobility issues and there’s any way we can help (eg, a phalanx of volunteers to carry you aloft like Cleopatra on a golden litter) contact us in advance.
Also, this is a licensed venue, so if you’re under 18 bring a parent or guardian, and if you look under 25, bring your id.

What: An Improv Jam
Who: The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT)
Cost:  Koha appreciated, but it’s you we want
When: Sunday 28th February, at 7pm
Where: The Pow Wow Room, Level 1, 74 Courtenay Place, Te Aro, Wellington (up the stairs to the left of The Dakota Bar)

“As a troupe, they boast an effective and playful onstage chemistry” ~ Theatreview

“This group’s bounding energy overtook the stage” ~ Nelson Mail

 

improvisors training in front of a window

 

a papier mache cow

Christmas 2020 – A Very Witty Panto

THIS SHOW HAS HAPPENED ALREADY!

For 2020 WITs celebrates the season Most Festive with an improvised twist on the traditional Xmas pantomime and will create a unique story each night inspired by suggestions from the audience.

Expect the unexpected, and also probably some cosmetically-challenged Sisters, papier-mache farm animals, a fresh-faced hero or heroine in tights, a Fairy Godparent, Villains and Sidekicks, a Dame or a Dude with a really big moustache. And Christmas treats!

Note that The Fringe Bar is a licensed venue, with a vast range of delicious alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available. So, if you’re youthfully fresh-faced bring your id, and if you’re under 18 bring your parent or guardian.

Tickets are available online and as door sales on the night, BUT if we are at Level 2 the venue capacity is limited to 25 and there will not be door sales.

What: A Very Witty Panto
Who: The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT)
When: Tuesday 22nd, Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th December, at 7pm
Where: The Fringe Bar, Allen St

“As a troupe, they boast an effective and playful onstage chemistry” ~ Theatreview

“This group’s bounding energy overtook the stage” ~ Nelson Mail

 

improvisors training in front of a window

 

Drawing of a crow holding Poe's head

Poe’d – NZIF 2020 Edition

Theatreview decided Poe’d was “MACABRE MADE MISCHIEVOUS”  
While the Artmurmurs’ reviewer said “I had a lovely time“

A Darkly Gothic Romp

Everyone knows Edgar Allen Poe died mysteriously in Baltimore in 1849. But recently a trunk of mysterious papers was discovered by the same researchers who previously discovered the Lovecrafted archive (revealed during the 2019 Fringe). Did the forty year old Poe fake his death, flee to a remote island nation and live out the rest of a long life writing epically gothically tragically romantic stories shaped by the myths and realities of life among the phlegmatic people of the farthest flung corner of the British Empire??

Find out as each night a different narrator channels the tortured author to bring original improvised tales to Te Auaha’s Tapere Iti stage.

“The show will be a romp through a gothic past” says Ali Little, the show’s creative director. She claims the tortured author, a man who spawned so many many tortured imitators, has communicated to her through ethereal means.  And he is “delighted, just delighted” that these tales which should have been part of his oeuvre, now will be.

What: Poe’d
Who: The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) and Invited Guests
When: Friday October 9th, 9pm
Where: BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace, Wellington

Visit BATS for tickets and a bunch (a slew, a cascade a cornucopia) of other great NZ Improv Festival shows,  WIT’s Facebook for the latest details, team photos and gossip about this show.

“As a troupe, they boast an effective and playful onstage chemistry” ~ Theatreview

“This group’s bounding energy overtook the stage” ~ Nelson Mail

 

 

 

Micetro winner surrounded by admirers

Micetro BACK IN THE ROOM, Sunday July 19th 2020

Beloved improv elimination competition Micetro is back for another bite of the cheese.  Last time  Mike was crowned the Greatest WIT in Wellington.  This time . . . well, there will be challengers.

A crew of eager improvisers will again battle head to head using wit, spur-of-the-moment storytelling and risking everything for an the love of the audience.  There’ll be songs!  Drama!  Pathos, bathos probably a bit of logos!    A mix of seasoned improvisers and adorable newcomers and everyone in between will play their hearts out to decide who gets eliminated and who survives to be crowned ‘Micetro’.

All profits from the nights ticket sales go to support The City Mission, who run the largest Wellington Food Bank – read about the good things they do at wellingtoncitymission.org.nz

When: 7pm Sunday July 19th

Where:  The Powwow Room, 74 Courtenay Place, Wellington

Note that because it’s licensed premises if you’re not a grownup you’ll need to bring a parent, and if you are a grownup but look under 25 you’ll need to bring some ID.

Tickets:  doorsales or Buy Online Now $10

WIT Events on the Facebook

 

 

Drawing of a crow holding Poe's head

Poe’d – Fringe 2020


THIS SHOW HAS HAPPENED ALREADY!!!  BUT, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT MIGHT RETURN AGAIN AGAIN!!  FOR NOW, YOU CAN READ WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT

Also, Theatreview thought it was “MACABRE MADE MISCHIEVOUS”  
While Artmurmurs’ reviewer said “I had a lovely time“

A Darkly Gothic Romp

Everyone knows Edgar Allen Poe died mysteriously in Baltimore in 1849. But recently a trunk of mysterious papers was discovered by the same researchers who previously discovered the Lovecrafted archive (revealed during the 2019 Fringe). Did the forty year old Poe fake his death, flee to a remote island nation and live out the rest of a long life writing epically gothically tragically romantic stories shaped by the myths and realities of life among the phlegmatic people of the farthest flung corner of the British Empire??

Find out as each night a different narrator channels the tortured author to bring original improvised tales to Te Auaha’s Tapere Iti stage.

“The show will be a romp through a gothic past” says Ali Little, the show’s creative director. She claims the tortured author, a man who spawned so many many tortured imitators, has communicated to her through ethereal means.  And he is “delighted, just delighted” that these tales which should have been part of his oeuvre, now will be.

What: Poe’d
Who: The Wellington Improvisation Troupe (WIT) and Invited Guests
When: Friday 28 and Saturday 29 February 8pm, Sunday 1 and Monday 2 March 7pm
Where: Te Auaha Tapere Iti, 65 Dixon St, Wellington

Visit the FRINGE for tickets and a bunch (a slew, a cascade a cornucopia) of other great shows,  WIT’s Facebook for the latest details, team photos and gossip about this show.

“As a troupe, they boast an effective and playful onstage chemistry” ~ Theatreview

“This group’s bounding energy overtook the stage” ~ Nelson Mail

 

 

 

Micetro winner surrounded by admirers

Micetro in support of Rare Disorders NZ, September 29th 2019

Beloved improv elimination competition Micetro is back for another bite of the cheese.  Last time  Lorraine was crowned the Greatest WIT in Wellington.  This time . . . well, there will be challengers.

A crew of eager improvisers will again battle head to head using wit, spur-of-the-moment storytelling and risking everything for an the love of the audience.  There’ll be songs!  Drama!  Pathos, bathos probably a bit of logos!    A mix of seasoned improvisers and adorable newcomers and everyone in between will play their hearts out to decide who gets eliminated and who survives to be crowned ‘Micetro’.

All profits from the night go to support  Rare Disorders NZ – whose mission is to support, assist and promote better health care and wellbeing for patients and their families/​whānau living with a rare disorder in New Zealand

When: 7pm Sunday September 29th

Where:  The Powwow Room, 74 Courtenay Place, Wellington

Note that because it’s licensed premises if you’re not a grownup you’ll need to bring a parent, and if you are a grownup but look under 25 you’ll need to bring some ID.

Tickets:  doorsales or Buy Online Now $10/$5 concession

WIT Events on the Facebook

 

 

Couple holding their squid baby

Lovecrafted! – Fringe Fest March 2019

“We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far” ~ H. P. Lovecraft

**** Note that The Scruffy Bunny theatre is now in its Fringe Fest special location: Courtenay Creative, 49 Courtenay Place, Wellington ****

In 1925 young fantasy writer Howie Lovecraft fled his Rhode Island home, tormented by the failure of his marriage and other personal demons. No one was sure where he vanished to for six long months, but once returned all agree he wrote stories that were richer and darker than anything he had ever written before.

Why? Well, we now know that he took a tramp steamer to the farthest reaches of the Southern oceans, and spent those lost months travelling the length and breadth of New Zealand. He spoke to farmers and fisherfolk, and former nurses at long-closed special hospitals. Most significantly he attended lectures at Wellington’s Masseytonic University, and interviewed members of the faculty in exhaustive detail. He gathered dark tales of twisted deeds and unnatural monsters, and learnt truths that no man may learn without descending into madness. This research was woven into the warp and the weft of tales he wrote and rewrote until his untimely death in 1937, albeit with many of the place names and historical events transposed to more American locations at his publisher’s request.

Long forgotten in a dusty attic, a leather-bound trunk of Lovecraft’s original heavily annotated notes mouldered, until unverified rumours of the trove’s possible existence reached the ears of researchers from Masseytonick University. Thanks to their hard work, some at the expense of their very souls, a selection of these unheard tales will be retold as part of the 2019 Fringe Festival.

Lovecrafted! will be improvised on stage by direct descendants of those interviewed by that nervous young American. By an amazing coincidence all are members of the Wellington Improvisation Troupe.

Tickets: available as doorsales, or through the Fringe website, $10 or $7 concession/with a Fringe Addict pass.

When:
6.30pm Sat 16th March
6.30pm Sun 17th March
6.30pm Mon 18th March
6.30pm Tues 19th March
6.30pm Wed 20th March

Where: The Scruffy Bunny Improv Theatre, Courtenay Creative, 49 Courtney Place Wellington

Would you like a copy of our posters to put on your work notice board, or just to keep and admire?  Well, click right here for an A4 sized jpg file

Ferris Wheel and Lovecrafted posters

Websites:
WIT Event Facebook Page
Fringe Festival Page – Tickets on sale from December 18th 2018

 

banner for attack of the killer puppets

Attack of the Killer Puppets!

[This show happened already, on October 31st 2018]

Halllooooweeeeen! Puppets. B-Movie inspired storylines. Improvisation! What could possibly go wrong?

The Wellington Improv Troupe (WIT) is delighted to bring you a ridiculous Halloween monster mashup of our regular homage to the 1950s B-Movie genre Attack of the Killer-B Movie and 2018 Fringe Fest felt-fest, The Late Night Puppets.

Entirely suitable for adults and robust older children who like hokey-spooky stuff. Our puppets may misbehave and get a bit rude or accidentally sweary (but not in a mean way) and there’ll also likely be dramatic stage lighting and depths-of-the-crypt style music. Tinfoil hat making material will be provided for added audience safety.

Tickets will be available from Eventfinda or as door sales, but by golly heck darn, we love it when people book tickets in advance. And then you know you won’t miss out if sales go crazy.

Finally, yes, you may bring your puppet, and puppets do not need to purchase a separate ticket to that held by their accompanying human, unless they are particularly large.

Where: The Scruffy Bunny Improv Theatre,  100 Courtenay Pl, Te Aro, Wellington
When: 7pm, Wednesday 31st October
Tickets: $10