Fishbowl Two Year Anniversary

The team I perform with at the Annoyance, Sight Unseen, has been hosting the student jam show The Fishbowl for two years this week. The team formed about six months before we started The Fishbowl and its been a great experience. At first we didn't have a form persay, and like any new team the first couple shows were relatively scattershot, but over time we developed a style which uses loose narratives to showcase strong emotion and flawed(sometimes pathetic, sometimes apoplectic) characters.

In some ways two years does and doesn't feel like a long time. The show serves, not only as straight up fun, but as a marker of time. An engaging constant. All of us were talented and experienced before we started the team but it has allowed us to grow in a more experimental and perhaps sophisticated ways. One of the reasons is that we have had total control over the show. Jimmy or Mary Beth typically hosts, I do the lights, we book the vets that play with the students, its our space for that chunk of time. And with that ownership comes substantial comfort and freedom. The audiences aren't always full but we've only cancelled two shows over the course of two years which isn't too bad. It's our thing and although not a smash hit it is a success.

With how fast the world can move and with how busy people can be its nice to have the show to help stay connected. I know, for the most part, I'm going to see the team at least once a week. And that constant, that routine allows for a friendship and ease that make the time we have together valuable and the improv we do engaging.