Makeup Magic

Preparations for the next season of Dusk are still going strong. We finished the photo shoot with help from Jon Bolden and liberal application of make-up. The transformations from human to vampire and werewolf were quite startling. Now the post-production work begins and we are itching to see the final results.

Love/Hate Relationship

Dusk is a very physical and oftentimes intimate show – so we spend quite some time with contact exercises and games to help the cast members to get comfortable with each other.

Special Effects

And of course we had to revamp our special effects with new and improved ways to bring the magic of Hollywood to the SVT stage.

Please come and watch DUSK at the Out of Bounds Festival. On the 1st of September, 8 pm, we will be playing with Midnight Society at the Salvage Vanguard Theater. Tickets are on sale now.

A few days ago we kicked off the production for the second season of Dusk – Improvised Tween Erotica. We are all excited to see where the show will go – there are many new themes, characters and villains to explore.  Our expectations have grown with the show and we want to step up everything from lighting and music to the stage design. We now have Dana Yanoshak as our stage manager, a very welcome  addition to the team.

Besides rehearsing we are working on our marketing: we just finished the video shoot for our promo trailer and next up will be the photo shoot for our print materials. The behind-the-scenes work is always a lot of fun and it’s very rewarding to see the finished product that everybody contributed to.

There were changes in the cast as well as some of our fellow Duskies left, but we also attracted a few new ones:
Ace Manning, Andreas Fabis, Audrey Sansom, Avimaan Syam, Bryan Cruz, Chelsea Gilman, Courtney Hopkin, Hugo Zesati, Katie Thornton, Kyle Traughber, Lauren Zinn, Michael Thomas, Sarah Marie Tufts, and Shana Merlin.

Your first chance to catch DUSK is at the Out of Bounds Festival. We will be playing with Midnight Society on the 1st of September, 8 pm at the Salvage Vanguard Theater. Tickets onsale now.

Here at Gnap! Theater Projects, we’re excited to be presenting the Puppet Improv Project’s fun show, Crack! The Improvised Puppet Musical. One of the great things about the show is that each night features a different guest artist from the world of Austin comedy. We’ll be interviewing each of them in turn. Today, we’re excited to have stand up mover and shaker and community leader Albert Im.

Gnap!: Hey Albert, let’s start off by saying thanks for being part of this show. Have you ever worked with puppets before?

Al: Thank you for having me! I’m really looking forward to it. Aside from playing with puppets as a child, I haven’t had any experience working with them. Just so happens it’s #25 on the bucket-list, so I’m excited about it.

Gnap!: Bucket list?

Al: Things to do before I die. The “Kick-the-bucket-list.” You’ve never heard that expression? They made a movie about it. And by “they” I mean Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.

Gnap!: Wow, no. I figured it was something like that. Apparently I can cross knowledge of that phrase off my own bucket list.

So anyhow, tell me a little about your involvement with improv in the past. I think most people around town know you as a stand up guy, in both senses of the word.

Al: I definitely used to be more active in improv in the past. I ran with a group of hip kids in the troupe, “Snackers,” who are still going strong and was a part of the trio “Mister Boss Man.” I also used to run the Monday Night Mash back when it started at Kick Butt Coffee before it was moved to Coldtowne Theater. Aside from that, I did several Maestros at The Hideout (#33 on the Bucket List) and was one of the Boys of Summer a couple years ago (#29). My direct activity in improv has definitely dropped off in recent years but I still keep track of what’s going on. As for stand-up, it’s definitely been more my focus and my website www.lastgascomedy.com, which focuses on stand-up comedy in Austin, has been up and running for almost three years now.

Gnap!: I like what you’ve done with Last Gas a lot. Before then I didn’t feel like the stand-up community had the same kind central hub like the improv community has had for a while. Maybe I was just not as knowledgable about the stand up scene as I am now, but it seems like you’ve done a lot to build the sense of community out there among the new generation of stand ups. I guess that’s not even a question, I’m just giving you a high five.

Al: Aw, thanks man. I definitely feel like Austin’s stand up community had always been a very vibrant and colorful scene, but it has grown even more and received more exposure in recent years. The improv scene, of course, is the same way, especially lately, which is really exciting. Austin comedy in general is really blossoming. I know it’s something that someone says every year, but I think that’s what makes the comedy scene unique in this town – it consistently grows and evolves every year.

Gnap!: Awesome! Anything else we should know about on the horizon? Any dark secrets you’d like to share?

Al: I recently resurrected the JabberTalky how at Ego’s, an improvised talk show format that takes place at 7 pm on the first Wednesday of every month. There was a lot of demand to bring it back since it ended a year ago and I’m excited to bring it back.

As far as dark secrets go, it’ weird because the fact that I do comedy has always been my “dark little secret” to people that know me outside of comedy. Maybe my dark secret for you is that I lead a normal life outside of comedy…?

But let’s keep that between us.

Well, this post is probably going out too late for many of you to see it, but we did want to let you know that in honor of Jon Benner from Available Cupholders returning to Austin and Michael Joplin’s imminent departure for Korea, we’ve got a special improv jam show tonight at SVT at 10 pm. Entitled TEAM SWEETNESS, it’ll feature the aforementioned Benner and Joplin, as well as Shana Merlin, Jon Bolden, Deano Jones, David Garcia, and yours truly. And if that don’t beat all, the show is pay what you wish, which could be $0 if you’re so inclined.

For you Facebookin’ types, you can let us know you’re coming here.

Gnap! Theater Projects smash hit show is heading  to New York City this summer. We’ll be performing Dusk  Off-Off-Broadway at the Tank Theater in NYC July 9, 10, and 11th. Come help us prepare for our big New York debut with these special fundraiser shows!

Friday June 25th at 8pm at SVT

Friday July 2nd at 8pm at SVT

Dusk: Improvised Tween Erotica is loving mockery of the latest pop cultural sensation, vampires. Especially those affiliated with the Twilight franchise. Examining the tension in the strangley chaste bodice ripping series, Dusk: Improvised Tween Erotica, a show by and for adults, lets audiences luxuriate in the rich, guilty pleasure of vampires, werewolves, and deeply conflicted adolescent sexuality.

Conceived and directed by Shana Merlin

Cast:

Andreas Fabis, Audrey Sansom, Avimaan Syam, Bryan Cruz, Julie Gillis, Lauren Zinn, Madi Goff, Michael Joplin, Michael Thomas, & Shana Merlin

Tickets for Austin Shows at http://dusksummer2010.eventbrite.com/

Facebook Event for Austin Shows

Tell all your friends in New York! Send ‘em these links:

Tickets for NYC shows at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/9726

Facebook Event for NYC Shows

 We are very excited to announce that Gnap! superstar Erin Molson will be reprising her one-woman show Am I Freaking JOB? twice this month at Salvage Vanguard Theater. We’re also excited about this, our inaugural interview in what we anticipate being an ongoing series talking improv and theater with our artists. We’re NOT excited that Erin will be leaving our fair city this fall, but we wish her well in all her endeavors.

Shannon McCormick: So you had a pretty miserable 2008. How did you come to make a one woman comedy show out of it?

Erin Molson: It got to be ridiculous the stuff that was happening to me right after the other. People were stunned when they heard the timeline of events so I thought hmm this isn’t normal. So I kept reliving the events and trying to make sense of them . And the way I deal with anything is through humor. I’ve been making fun of myself my entire life so it became this challenge like how do you make suicide and losing all your material possessions funny?? And that’s how the show came to be.

SMc:  And you did it at FronteraFest in 2009, right? What was the reception like?

EM: well there were only 6 people in the audience-it was a wednesday night-so it was hard to tell… although one guy wrote his reaction : http://www.austin.com/content/view/1282/1/ and i loved his take because that’s exactly what i was going for! having a conversation with your best friend! i didn’t want to do the stereotypical one woman show where i’m moaning about my period and being a woman in a man’s world and I don’t want to come across as bitter or angry. Everyone experiences loss and heartache and I don’t think mine is any harder or more profound. I just happen to love telling stories and the more black humor in it-the better.

SMc: Wow, that’s a pretty low turnout for a FronteraFest show. Are you sure you’re not confusing it with the late night Gnap! show you did a while back? Ha!
 
So, you are pretty active as both an improviser (with Girls Girls Girls

We love women willing to dork out!

) and with scripted theater, and now you’ve written this show. Is there any of these three approaches to theater that speaks to you most, or do you like having variety? On a related note, you’ve done a few shows that were devised by the performing ensemble, like Yellow Tapes’s shows and Gnap!’s Tha Family. Any thoughts on making theater that way?

EM: I definitely need a variety in the type of performance. I get sick of improv pretty quick and go running to scripted work. Then I long for the days of making my own dialogue and come crawling back… I did love writing my own show because I felt so passionately on the subject and it was very cathartic to address these issues. My puppy dying at only 4 months was one of the worst things that ever happened to me and understandably people don’t talk about it. But I get worried I’m going to forget about him so this made me revisit some of the happiest times in my life without bringing it up at a party and making people uncomfortable. 

I was very lucky both with Yellow Tape Construction Company and Gnap’s The Family because those were incredibly talented and versatile ensembles. I’m not always the best at playing well with others because I have incredibly high standards for myself and others. However, my experiences were so positive because of the wealth of talent and how willing people were to work together. I’d like to take this opportunity to mention Michael Joplin is a god.

SMc: Yeah, Joplin’s all kinds of awesome. We’re going to miss him if and when he goes. Speaking of which, you’re leaving soon, too. Boo. What’s next for you?

EM: I’m headed to Chicago to try and worm my way into Second City. I want to keep doing improv and jump into the wonderful world of sketch! i’m hoping to continue doing theater too. Gotta stay warm somehow….

SMc: What will you most miss about Austin?

Do not mess with the sultry.

EM: Oh, definitely the queso at Polvos and my friends. I’ve been here for 5 years and i have a great community of friends and fellow performers. It’s going to be hard to start over but I think it will help to challenge me so I’ll grow as an actor and improviser. I hope. If not–I’m running back here as fast as I can.

SMc: Any final thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

EM: I just want to say thanks to Gnap for giving me the opportunity to do my show and that as much as I enjoy doing this show–I hope my next one woman show is about how freaking awesome it is to be me.

69 Love Scenes by austincreativealliance

We weren’t really expecting to get reviewed, since 69 Love Scenes is a workshop production, but Patrick Knisely over at the Austinist wrote up his impressions of Disc One.

Hey folks, we hope you like the new Gnap! Theater Projects website, courtesy of Blue Lamb Austin Web Design. Please let us know what you think in the comments!