Well, the ETC logo merchandise you've seen us sport on stage and back stage is now available to you, our fans!

The T-shirts are available in a variety of colors - and the underpants make a fine ice breaker at even the swankiest parties!  And don't forget the hat!  A trifecta of fashion apparel for either sex!

Show photos will be up soon - so keep checking back!  Thanks, everybody!

-D

Wow.  Okay, so I didn't even realize how long it had been since I updated the ol' ETC blog...

As many of you know, we had our big, big premiere last Saturday night... on one of the most miserable rainy Saturday nights I have seen in a while.  Much to our delight, however, a great big, warm, wonderful audience of people showed up and (from what I could see, anyhow) enjoyed themselves immensely!

I can't say enough "thank you"s to all the people who helped make Saturday night's show such a rousing success! 

And there's more fun to come!

THIS SATURDAY we're doing it all again with a (largely) different cast of improvisors - join Callie, Chris Davis, and me as we introduce two BRAND NEW PLAYERS: Nick Crawford and Arik Sokol!  We rehearsed for this week's show on Sunday, and I gotta tell you, folks - you're in for a treat.  Go on over to the Box Office page and snap your tickets up early with our online payment system through PayPal!  Advance tickets are $12 with discounts available for students and groups - at the door, ALL tickets are $15 and we can accept cash only.  So.  Buy early and SAVE!

Also coming to the website, our swank ETC logo merchandise!  Buy a t-shirt and/or hat, and show people you know what love is.  I mean comedy!  You know what comedy is.  Also, we'll soon have pictures from the first show!  Ideally, I would have coded these in today.  Gimme one more day, and I think I'll have it done.

Oh!  And here's your "heads up" - we're gonna be on TV Wednesday! Wednesday morning, tune in to CBS 42's "Wake Up, Alabama" between 5:00am and 7:00am to get a chuckle with your coffee.  I wonder if they'd let me do the weather forecast... I've always wanted to be on a weather map...

Anyway - come on out and join us this weekend at Birmingham Festival Theatre, and be sure to watch us on Wednesday.  Or TiVo it.  Either way.

Thanks for your support, Birmingham!  We look forward to seeing you Saturday!

-D

Theatre Downtown, that is!  What did you think I meant?!  Maybe I should let Debbie's own words explain for her:

So City Stages, Shmitty Shmages!!  Where else can you see hot, steamy sex scenes for only $5???  (or $17 if you come Friday and/or Saturday for True Date Night).  And, no, this time I am not involved in the sex scenes, thank you, so you can put away the Pepto.  But don't miss the award-winning Torch Song Trilogy, because, seriously, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll do a dance and a pee a little in your pants.  Without standing in a drunken crowd in horrendous heat, trying to see what's going on.  Stage this, City!!!!

Theatre Downtown Presents

TORCH SONG TRILOGY

Written By Harvey Fierstein
Directed By J.J. Marrs

JUNE 12 - JUNE 28, 2008

Thursday, Friday & Saturday Nites @ 7:30 PM
$17.00 for adults
$12.00 for seniors/students
Thursday nights are HOBO NIGHTS, meaning you
pay what you can afford, with a $5.00 minimum

ORDER TICKETS BY CALLING:
(205) 306-1470
OR ORDER THEM ONLINE AT:
www.theatredowntown.com
Performing at PLAYHOUSE (1816 3rd Ave. N)
Across from The Alabama Theatre

You can't tell me it doesn't sound like a good time!
-D

Hiya, gang!  Well, we're still plugging away behind the scenes here at ETC - but while you're waiting for us, let me share a nugget of entertainment news from our own Chris Davis:


So, if you're ready for some funny, check out Chris's antics on the 20th!  I'll have to see if we can get a'hold of some of that tap dancin' footage...

-D

Well.  Let me just say this: I am blown away!

Despite the extremely short audition notice, a whole bunch of very talented folks showed up today and really put on some fine performances - even on the hard stuff we threw at them!  For anybody who wasn't able to make it on our short schedule, fear not!  We will be having more auditions later in the summer or fall.  And, yes, we'll give you more than 5 days notice next time.

I am even more excited than I was before (if that's possible) about what's coming next for ETC.

Before I get back to conferring with the rest of cast & crew about our auditionees, I do want to shout out to some folks who pitched in and helped us out today.  First, Carl Sosnin and the Birmingham Festival Theatre for the use of their venue for our auditions - a thousand giant thank yous!  Second, to Kristen, the charming wife of our Instant Broadway director, Stephen, for being our hospitality door lady and greeter (as well as providing yet more laughter in response to our fine auditioners) - thank you very much, darlin'.  Thanks also to Leonard Jowers, activeculture.info, BATA, and everyone else who helped to publicize our auditions.  And, of course, to the cast and crew who made it out today to join in the madness and help me keep track of who did what - the ETC wouldn't be here without you.

So.  I'm very tired,  but very happy.  And Birmingham - get ready to laugh.  A lot.

-D

After weeks and weeks of promising that the website would get more interesting, I finally have made good on it.  The website still has a few holes in it here and there, but these will be filled in as soon as we have the material.  So, please take a look around our home on the web, and find out more about who we are and what we're doing.

I suppose I should say "who we are so far."  Auditions are coming - and FAST!  Check the Auditions, etc. page for all the details.  Be sure to reserve your audition slot so you don't miss out!

Thanks so much to everyone who has expressed an interest in our new company, as well as to all of the talented folks who have already signed on to be part of our team.  I am thrilled to see this project coming to fruition!

-D

Well, this weekend saw the kids from Mortimer Jordan High School perform their big, big spring musical, Bye Bye, Birdie. Since I had wrapped production on The Scottish Play (yep - back to being superstitious), I volunteered to be chief of the backstage set crew for the show.

My crew was not composed of the same folks at every performance, but all of them worked hard, had fun (or appeared to, anyhow), and reminded me of why I enjoyed theatre in high school as much as I did. The actors and singers acted and sang their hearts out, and really turned out a fine show - and my crew moved with almost surgical precision, and managed to keep the pace of the show rolling in spite of a full kitchen, a 4 piece dinette, PLUS separate second-level bedroom set coming on and off stage no fewer than three times per performance. I was really impressed by the whole thing. My high school shows were nowhere NEAR so involved, and I marveled at these guys' professional execution of the thing.

I am awfully proud to have been a part of this production - and I just want to say thanks to the cast, crew, and everybody else who put that show together for letting me come along for the ride. 

...and for the record, "fine, upstanding, patriotic, healthy, normal American boy!" has been in my head all. day.

In Other News:

Now that the education stuff is finished up for a little bit, it's back to focusing totally on bringing the entertainments to you, the comedy improv lovers of this fine city.  Keep peeping the site, yo.  I promise - it will get more interesting soon. 

And I would be totally remiss if I didn't mention that AUDITIONS are being planned as we speak.  Think you're funny?  Know somebody who's funny?  Who cares if they have no theatre experience?!  Not us!  Keep watching for audition info.  If you want to know the scoop BEFORE it gets to the site, simply email us at info@extemporaneoustheatre.com and opt-in on our mailing list.  You'll know what's what before everybody else - and that means first pick of audition time slots...

I'm just sayin'...

-D

One of my favorite humorists, Patrick F. McManus, wrote a story about sequences.  You intend to go fishing after you fix that hole in the fence.  But before you can do that, you need to borrow a posthole digger - and while you're out that way, deliver those books to that lady in the same area of town.  Whoops!  You loaned out your fence stretcher, so you gotta truck across town to retrieve it.  THEN fix the fence.  Fishing has long since gone out the window.

Such is life, I suppose, and such is trying to start an improv company while still being a Scottish nobleman out at Sloss Furnace 6 days a week.  And don't even get me started on the day job!  Mercy!

However, fear not, loyal site-lookers and blog-readers!  It looks like we'll be making our big, big debut in June instead of May - but we ARE coming your way.  Furthermore, every day new wacky surprises are being contemplated - meaning there'll be that much more to love once we finally take the stage.

So - hang on, and keep joining the mailing list!  You'll be hearing more from us soon...

-D

Well, friends and fans, progress continues to be made toward bringing the ETC to life before your eyes!

Today I met with a very exciting person about potential venues and show schedules, and I am excited to report that I could be announcing the dates if our first show sometime next week!  I wish I could say more now, but heaven forbid I jinx this thing.

The new website is coming along - slowly at this point - but it IS, in fact, happening.  You're soon going to see some things changing around here - and, frankly, not a moment too soon! 

Since I want to dangle something fun out there for you guys, here's a couple of samples of what we've got cooking:

• Campaign-ful Comedy: What's the wackiest thing that could happen during a presidential campaign?  We've seen some doozies in recent years, but nothing quite like this - a raucous caucus of candidates almost as outrageous as the real thing!
• Musical in a Minute: You give us an hour and a handful of suggestions, we'll provide you with a toe-tapping, tear-jerking, mama-slapping musical.
• The Miracle of Birth: A twisted tale of love, crime, and the irrational fear of barnyard animals.

What does it all mean?!  I'm afraid you'll just have to keep tuning in, friends. 

The payoff will be worth the wait.


-D

Okay, so, this one time, I decided to start an improv troupe.  Years later, I'm finally doing it.

The Extemporaneous Theatre Company is still in its formative stages, but things are beginning to happen, and it's very nearly high time to get the word out to the masses.  As such, here's a little bit about what is planned for our immediate future.

People
You can't have improv without improvisers.  Fortunately, I have worked with many fine improvisers throughout my years in the Birmingham theatre scene.  For starters, I've called in some of my very good friends, and they have agreed to help me put up a couple of shows to get the ball rolling.  We are hopeful you'll be seeing us in May - and after that, you may be joining us!  After our initial performances, I will be announcing auditions for new troupe members.  

So who's coming with me?  Ahhh... I gotta save some surprises for later.  But finding out what you can about the Feminist Debutante Guild wouldn't be a bad idea...

Shows
The ETC is going to be doing all kinds of improv - from the 'short form' style popularized by "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" to 'long form' shows where we'll make up a whole 2-hour play right there on the spot.  I've also got some crazy ideas in the hopper for what I'm calling 'fusion form' shows.  These entertainments will combine improv forms with musical guests, 'talent show' acts, pre-recorded video pieces of extemporaneous comedy, and anything else I can think of.  Fresh, wacky, and always original, we're definitely going to be the only thing like us in town.

Education
That's right - I said education.  I am working to establish a connection with our local educational community to bring the art and fun of improv to the classroom.  In addition to its application as a comedic entertainment medium, improvisation is a valuable skill for non-actors in the professional world, as well as a fine exercise in opening and expanding the mind to new, creative ideas and possibilities.  The high school workshop program is currently being piloted with the terrific young actors at Mortimer Jordan High School, and so far the results have been overwhelmingly positive.

Etc.
What else?  Well, anything else I can think of.  And afford.  The full website is currently being created, and should be launched in its full form sometime in April.  If you want to be notified when we've officially opened our doors on the web, drop a quick email to info@extemporaneoustheatre.com and you'll be added to our mailing list.  Opt out anytime - no muss, no fuss - and your information, of course, will never be sold, given to, or shared with anyone. 

So that's where we stand today!  I am excited about the future of the Extemporaneous Theatre Company in Birmingham - and look forward to making you laugh for a long, long time.

-D