The Alaska State Improv Festival returns for its fourth year, featuring headliners from Austin, Chicago, San Francisco and Santa Monica. Twenty-one acts from across the country will perform over its four days. The festival runs from Thursday, April 28 to Sunday, May 1 with nightly shows at McPhetres Hall and special late night shows at Hangar Ballroom on Friday and Saturday.
The featured artists are Parallelogramophonograph from Austin, Texas. Fiercely dedicated to the craft and art of improvised theatre, PGraph has held a weekly show non-stop for more than 10 years. Intrigued by the challenge of telling fantastic fully-improvised stories together as an ensemble, PGraph spent years developing original formats and studying the arts of theatre, improv, and storytelling. They’ve toured the country and the world performing and teaching their unique brand of improv with ensemble appearances in over 45 cities in the US, Canada, Australia, France, and the UK. PGraph will be performing two different shows at AS IF – French Farce and Villainy.
French Farce is an exploration of the latent comedy in social status. Infidelity, insecurity, and insatiable appetites for wealth and power collide with riveting consequences. No topic is taboo; No neurosis too absurd. Rich in physical humor and word play, French Farce turns a blank stage into a French salon, a blank script into sharp social commentary, and “improv comedy” into “théâtre improvisé.” French Farce is part of Friday night’s 6:30 p.m. set.
Villainy delves into the dark side of the human condition and tells stories that focus on the villains and anti-heroes we all love to hate. Villainy explores the thousand faces of evil, cruelty, and hatred, all in one comical, theatrical bundle. The good, sensible person in you will tell you to look away, but you won’t. Indulge in your darker side while we indulge in ours. Villainy is the final act of Sunday’s 8:30 p.m. set.
Other headlining acts include Rollin’ in Riches, a duo from Santa Monica who recently won the 2015 iO West Doubles Tournament and 2016 Best of Fest at the San Diego Improv Festival; The Right Now, a duo out of San Francisco who specialize in fast-paced, organic comedy and have impressed audiences at Femprovisor Fest, Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, and the Seattle Festival of Improvisational Theater; and Winter Formal, who recently finished up an extended run as a house team at Chicago’s internationally renowned iO Theater. Winter Formal perform a style of improv called The Harold, long associated with iO Theater and its founders, Del Close and Charna Halpern.
A complete schedule, including descriptions of all 21 ensembles performing at AS IF 2016,is available http://asifest.com. Shows happen nightly at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. in McPhetres Hall. Additionally, AS IF at Night returns to the Hangar Ballroom Friday and Saturday nights at 10:30 p.m. Each set is $15 and available at all local ticket outlets. A limited number of all-session passes are available for $50 online.
