Friday Craig and I did the Des Plaines Improv Fest: Runnin' Coin. The first time Craig and I did a two-man was two years ago. I was working as a bank teller and did tons of bank bits in shows. The name came from that.
It was great riding up with Craig cause we are both so busy all the time it's rare we have an hour to simply talk to each other. We talked a lot of shop and caught up on each others lives. I love talking to Craig. He is one of the most engaging people I have ever met.
We get there and the venue is both good and bad. It reminded me of the Titanic in a way. It was enormous 500 seater, cavernous, bad acoustics and cold. And there weren't that many people there. We walked in and were treated great. Super great. Bill and company who organized it were amazing. We had our own dressing room and sandwiches and soda and everything. Very cool but very weird space. Craig and I got there early and watched the 7 o'clock slot.
The light board was out so they had flood lights in which to perform in. Terrible. You could tell it demoralized the improvisers and sucked the energy out of the room. The lights kicked in towards the end of that set and were all ready for Craig and I.
Craig and I were both nervous. The venue was oppressive and the audience was tepid at best. (Although my parents and grandmother were there so for me there wasn't a possibility of not killing it). Craig and I took the stage and killed. Just crushed. Craig introduced our piece in a way the audience understood what we were doing. We navigated the acoustic issues easily and did funny-fun scenes the audience could identify with. We engaged an unwieldy oppressive room. We even got applause after the first scene.
We saw the moment. Understood it. And took advantage of it.
Improv wins.
Del would have been proud.
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