The HUGE Theater Blog!

After a few years off, Throwback Night is back on Fridays at 8:00p in March and April! The show features three casts performing classic improv structures. This year we are celebrating forms that were developed or widely used at HUGE over the last 11 years. The show will include:

• The Armando - Directed by Jen Scott, Assistant Director Matt Prindle. This classic storytelling form from iO Chicago has been seen many times at HUGE. Jen and Matt will introduce the form and then work with the cast to make it uniquely their own.

• The Butch - Directed by Butch Roy, Assistant Director Ari Newman. Developed by the cast of Show X, The Butch is a fast-paced, brain breaking form designed to take you to new and unexpected places.

• The Free Association - Directed by Alexis Camille, Assistant Director Becky Hauser. Originally an improv exercise, The Free Association became a structure after development by The Bearded Company. This highly physical form is all about heightening and absorbing characters through group development.

Requests for auditions are now open here: https://forms.gle/S3b8fpMG72oTEvdr7

Auditions for Throwback Night are open to all. We believe our stage should reflect our city - BIPOC performers are strongly encouraged to apply. If you are unable to find an audition slot that works for you, please reach out to info@HUGETheater.com to arrange an alternate time.

Weekends

Fridays
8:00p - Nudge with opener Sweet Teeth
Relational! Gripping! Awkward! Comedy improv group Nudge, featuring veteran improvisers and friends Rita Boersma, Katy Kessler, Tim Hellendrung, Butch Roy, Taj Ruler, and Jen Scott.

9:30p - Poems for Each Other (January)
Theo Langason carves out space and time for connection, nostalgia and improvised songs based on beautiful memories provided by the audience.
Black People Win! (February)
An improvised game show that celebrates everybody Black! Featuring Alsa Bruno as your host and Khary Jackson on bass.

10:30p - Opera Punks
The Improvathon hit Opera Punks is back! Featuring Isabella Dunsieth, Ruben Gomez, Michael Rogers and more.

Saturdays
7:00p - Hot Pot
Hot Pot presents “Family Style” - Like a delicious meal of hot pot, every performance of this show will cook up a different set of improv ingredients. Choosing from a menu of classic improv styles and techniques (things like monologues, musicals, and artsy organic transformations), Hot Pot will create a brand new form each week. The end results are guaranteed to be fun, surprising, and full of laughs. Featuring Liz Council Choate, John Gebretatose, Ari Newman, Jada Pulley, Chris Rodriguez and Karyn Wilson

8:00p - Off Book
Half-scripted, full speed ahead. Directed by Sean Dillon and Isabella Dunsieth

9:30p - The Mess
A brand new improvised masterpiece, every Saturday night! Featuring Rita Boersma, Mike Fotis, Molly Ritchie, James Rone and Jake Scott. (Always see The Mess.)

Monday nights return!

8:00p - The Dirty Dozen
Powerhouse woman and non-binary performers take the stage for a fast-paced improv adventure. Featuring: Laura Berger, Mikala Bierma, Christina Boucher, Emily Coveyou, Susannah Eckberg, Lizzie Gardner, Chip Gehring, Siri Hellerman, Erin Kennedy, Nora Neisen, Neco Pacheaco, Katie “KQ” Quinn, Anna Tobin and Hannah Wydeven.

HUGE Wednesdays

Bikiniprov - Sun-soaked beach vibes meets existential dread in this genre-bending improvised musical adventure! Featuring Ryan Blix, Bret Meyer and Jenny Wahl.
Darth Hogbeaf - Darth Hogbeaf follows their bliss at top speed through infinite possible universes. Featuring Christina Boucher, John Eisenrich, Mike Fotis, Erik Nielsen, Matt Prindle, Julia Weiss.
DUH - Have you ever considered that improv can reveal the answers to all of life’s burning controversies? Well, the answer is DUH! We will debate and provide advice on topics given to us by our audience each night. Featuring Jill Bernard, Liz Council, Gubby Kubik, Shea Roberts Gyllen, Jada Pulley and Karyn Wilson.
Fluffy - Fluffy is a playful celebration and a critical exploration of the fantasy genre in its many forms. Featuring Liz Council, Damian Johnson, Shea Roberts Gyllen.

Special Events

Based on a True Story (BOATS) - every first Saturday of the month at 3:00p through March
Inspired by Playback Theatre, Theater of the Oppressed and varied storytelling traditions, BOATS uses an interactive form of improv that invites audience members to tell stories and see them reimagined on the spot. Whether or not you choose to share something you have always wanted to share, never expected to share, or do not share anything at all, we want you to feel seen and uplifted. BOATS is not just a show, it is a joyful community healing experience that we need your help to create. Come tell. Come watch. Come change. Featuring: Alsa Bruno, Dorian Beal and Jada Pulley with Khary Jackson on bass.

We've got an amazing line-up of performances for HUGE's 2022 Improvathon on November 16 & 17! Come watch up to 28 hours of improv with us while supporting HUGE Theater!

— NOTE: Your donation is your ticket, seating is first-come-first serve at the door. Proof of vaccination required —

HUGE Theater is lucky to be a sponsor of the Queer & Funny Improv Fest on Sunday November 20th. Read all about the mission and this year's plans at queerandfunny.weebly.com. Here is a peek at the schedule with links to register for classes and buy tickets for the show!

​Location
HUGE Theater
3037 Lyndale Ave S
Minneapolis, MN, 55408

Here is a little 2022 update of a favorite essay from Jill Bernard.
The brain you had when you were a kid was just a little bit softer than the brain you have now. Let’s take a step back and soften up your grown-up brain, to let more things in. Here are some practice improv exercises from various sources, for you to do by yourself.

• • Walk around a place naming things the wrong name, i.e. point at the chair and call it a soda fountain or a gleebeldy glook.
• • Do a crossword puzzle or a Sudoku wrong. I recommend not limiting yourself to letters and numbers.
• • Close your eyes and turn your head any direction you’d like. Open your eyes and look at what’s in front of you in the frame of your vision. Appreciate it like it’s a painting or a photograph someone deliberately composed in just this way. Try to analyze the symbolism, and the artist’s intent.
• • Brush your teeth with the wrong hand.
• • Reach into space with your hands and grab an invisible object. Grab first, then look in your hand and see what it is. Notice all the details. Set it down, then reach into space and grab something again, try different sizes and weights. (This is from Mick Napier, his excellent book “Improvise: Scene from the Inside Out” has a few more.)
• • Take the wrong route home.
• • Draw a really terrible picture of a bunny and mail it to Jill Bernard HUGE Theater 3037 Lyndale Ave S Minneapolis MN 55408 U.S.A.
• • Open a document on a computer or get out a sheet of paper, and just start writing. Write whatever comes, even if it’s just, “I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to say.”
• • Here is a variation on the game WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Find two initials in the room you are, like L.B. Then just make little verb/object or adjective/verb combos out loud, i.e. Lighting Bridges, Losing Brian, Listening Boringly, Limiting Barry, Lightly Baking, Listlessly Burying, etc. If you’d like you can physically act them out, or just keep it as a verbal-quickness exercise.
• • Tell a one-word story where you blink to separate the thoughts for yourself. [Eyes open] “once” [eyes closed] “there” [eyes open] “was” [eyes closed] “a” [eyes open] “grandmother” [eyes closed] “who” etc. This is hard to sustain for long because your brain catches up and starts unifying your thoughts into one thinker, so start over lots of times.
• • Do four little mini character monologues with the same first line of dialogue, spreading out around the room and taking different physicalities.
• • Put on your headphones and dance around to your favorite song completely unleashed and free of inhibition. It’s best to do it somewhere where it is entirely possible you will be caught.

Your brain has pathways, and unless you find ways to get off those pathways, you’ll never have a new thought. See if you can surprise yourself today.