KEY PARTY - Improv Couples Swapping Partners

Come see your favorite Austin performers enter a ménage à trois with their two great loves: improv and their significant others.

You're the fly on the wall as we watch these improv couples in their natural habitat playing the way only people with a shared history can. Then we shake it up, making the couples swap their partners for a new round of scenes. Can they find as deep a creative connection in this new pairing?

SATURDAY MAY 18th
Sarah Marie and Bryan Curry
Kimberly Cox and Jason Finkelman

SATURDAY MAY 25th
Sam Schack and Kevin Miller
Jennifer Kaplan and Ryan Hill
Luke Wallens and Patrick Ross

THE TRIPLE SCOOP - COMEDY TROUPE NIGHT

The Triple Scoop - A Night of Comedy! Headlined by The Institution Theater’s own premiere Harold troupe - iScream Sandwich: The Harold, a classic longform improv format, is a triple scoop of comedy in its own right. iSS is an appetizing team of improvists—including Heidi Caldwell, Erica Lies, Andrew Robinson, Regina Soto, Wyatt Tall, Carissa McAtee and Marv Pratt—taking on the Harold with their own custom flavors and unique toppings!

This week's opening acts are:

Galactic: Galactic is husband and wife Joshua Gill and Lisa Jackson. Using deep character work, they explore the straight/absurd dynamic, often colliding the worlds of disparate characters. Both Josh and Lisa have a deep abiding love for science fiction, and the heart of Galactic started in the genre. It is not uncommon for their shows to feature alien human relationships, time travel, deep space, and alternate universes. Each of their shows is a unique journey into their demented minds and often their loving relationship as well.

Dance Card: There are so many inappropriate ways to sell a show with two middle-aged men and two twentysomething women that the appropriate ways no longer come to mind. Let's just say that it's four pretty good improvisers having a really good time. That's enough for now.

Stand Up Host: Joe Faina Joe Faina is a comedian and improviser from Austin, TX. He is the producer of the comedy debate show Point of Order at The New Movement Theater and a cast member of the Encyclopedia Show-Austin.

Up Coming Shows will feature:

May 25: Local Genius Society, BOSS & Maggie Maye

June 1: Murphy, The Combine & John Buseman

June 8: Shades of Brown, Dumbasses & Paul Shotwell

June 15: Teo & Gio, Bat Shyt Crazy & Chris Sebillia

June 22: Knuckleball Now, Mathematical! & Praneeth Mandavilli

June 29: Big & Tall, The Pie and Ear Show & Marv Pratt

GRUMPY OLD IMPROVISERS with Bill, Beltzman and Booker

Joe Bill, Mark Beltzman and Tom Booker have been improvising since the 80s and they have the bank accounts to prove it. Bad choices of fashion and lifestyle behind them, there's still one bad choice left for them: to do the one thing they love most way past their curfew.

Come join the three Bs for a one-shot, too-late performance with a party to follow.

THINNING THE HERD SEASON 2: Weight Loss meets Improv Comedy

Who will win the coveted Golden Refrigerator?

THINNING THE HERD IS BACK! Last season our hilarious plus-sized cast lost a combined total of 231 pounds! This season is even bigger and better. Our three teams of comedians will compete against each other on the scale and in the improv arena, exploring the theme of weight loss and the difficulties they face navigating the long, complicated road toward healthy living. The show also features incredible video segments. Last season, the improvisers raced pedicabs through the streets of Austin, trained with an MMA fighter, and auditioned for the Texas Rollergirls.

THINNING THE HERD showcases some of Austin improv's favorite, seasoned veterans as well as some rising stars. Plus-sized personalities like Parallelogramophonograph's Roy Danger, The Joss Whedon Pajama Party’s Chelley Pyatt, The Frank Mills’ Dave Buckman, and the Godfather of Austin Improv, ComedySportz’s Les McGehee. Returning crowd favorites include the owner of the Institution Theater Tom Booker, Austin Stand-up comedy favorite Jesse Pangelinan, and The Triple Scoop’s Heidi Caldwell. Directed by Tyler Bryce, a 22-year improv veteran who recently moved back to Austin after serving his time studying and performing in New York and Oklahoma. You can see the show every other Sunday, beginning February 10 and running through the big finale on May 19 at The Institution. It's a heartwarming show about busting guts that will leave you in stitches.

THE RUBBER ROOM

Does getting on stage drive you mad? Is this idea of jumping in front of a crowd of people with no idea what you’ll say an insane idea? Would you find it crazy to join seasoned professionals at creating characters and making up stories on the spot?

Is this the kind of crazy you find irresistible or are you looking for new outlets for the many voices in your head? Then check into The Rubber Room every Sunday at 8 PM at The Institution Theater.

The Rubber Room begins with a no-pressure jam session where anyone can join in the fun and is led by one of The Institution’s own teachers. A simple theme will guide each week’s jam, and the teacher will ensure everyone who wants to will have a time to play in a safe, welcoming environment.

After the jam, stay for a 30-minute show put on by The Faculty, consisting of The Institution’s teachers. The Faculty Show will showcase and highlights the style of improv taught at the theater. Plus, it gives the faculty the opportunity to play together, which they love to do.

Then, stick around for The Institution Lottery, where you and up to three other people can join members of The Institution faculty on stage. The Institution’s is faculty made up of Tom Booker, Asaf Ronen, Justin Davis, Sarah Marie Curry, Ted Meredith, Clifton Highfield, and John Ratliff, a varied group of improvisers that have made their mark around the country (and even the world for a couple of them). They’ll follow the basic tenet of “make the other people look good” if you’re lucky enough to join them on stage.

The Rubber Room, a safe place to bounce around new ideas every Sunday night at 8 PM at The Institution Theater. You’d be crazy to miss this.

THE NEXT CHAPTER - An Author's Words. Rewritten.

The Next Chapter Rewrites Published Works By Austin Writers On The Institution Theater’s Stage

What if Romeo and Juliet married each other and had kids? What if Eddard Stark didn’t execute that deserter from the Night’s Watch? What if Alfred Kinsey had been impotent when he wrote the Kinsey Reports? What if Harry Potter’s mother had lived? It’s easy to see how vastly different a story can unravel with a few changes here or there, and you can see exactly how previously published stories can transform in the hands of skilled improvisers this summer.

Every Friday, the cast of The Next Chapter brings to stage the immediately imagined alternative universes of prolific and upcoming authors, mostly made up of Austin residents. Joining the cast of improvisers will be a diverse set of authors that ranges from first-time publishers to those who have a cult-like following. The authors set to appear and the works they’ll read are:

• Deano Jones — Rise of the Cafe Racer (May 3)

• Owen Egerton — Everyone Says That at the End of the World (May 10)

• Doug Dorst — The Surf Guru (May 17)

• Manuel Gonzales — Short story selections from The Miniature Wife and Other Stories (May 24)

• Matt Sturges — The Office of Shadow, The Four Norsemen of the Apocalypse (May 31)

• Katherine Catmull — Summer and Bird (June 7)

• Beth Kander — Was (June 14)

• Suzy Spencer — Secret Sex Lives: A Year on the Fringes of American Sexuality (June 21)

• Daniel Quinn — Short story selections from At Woomeroo (June 28)

Director of The Next Chapter, Justin Davis, also created The Professor: Improv Inspired By Doctor Who, acts as a faculty member and producer for The Institution Theater, and has appeared in successful runs at other theaters, such as The Hideout Theatre’s much-acclaimed show The Black Vault, which itself was motivated by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.

This literature-driven show opens with a short interview with that week’s author for a behind-the-scenes peek into his or her writing process, and then transitions into the author reading a small excerpt from a published work. Using the two to five page excerpt as motivation, the performers play out a roughly hour-long story based on what they imagine to happen next, seeing as they have been instructed to not read the chosen work ahead of time. Capturing the spirit and tone of the author's piece, the performers create original stories of their own that may veer wildly off from the original work or match eerily close. The Next Chapter tells stories set in different genres throughout the run and ranges from the outrageously comedic to the sublimely serious, but usually has a mix of both.

DIRECTED BY JUSTIN DAVIS. Featuring: Ben Masten, Brad Hawkins, Heidi Rogers, Jessie Pascarelli, Jessie Pitluk, Luke Wallens, Megan Venable, Paul Normandin, Ryan Hill.

THE SUITCASE

Audience Members are invited to bring objects that will inspire the characters created. Objects will be returned to their owners at the end of the show.

THE INSTITUTION INVITES YOU IN DEEPER THAN EVER BEFORE.

The Institution Theater proudly presents THE SUITCASE, an improvisational Pandora’s Box of characters representing the City's underbelly. Witness their triumphs and failures in an invitingly invasive experience.

In his biggest challenge yet, and inspired by the site-specific interactivity of Punchdrunk’s run of SLEEP NO MORE in New York City, director Asaf Ronen (SPIRITED, CONFIDENCE MEN) bleeds the action of the stage into the rest of the theater and beyond. The audience physically follows the characters into special made environments – a make-shift studio apartment, a parked convertible – to sit up close and personal for a heightened level of voyeurism.

Each audience member’s experience is different based on which characters, and thus which story, they end up following. They will bear witness to private moments kept secret from the rest of the cast.

Directed by Asaf Ronen and featuring Alexander Hilary, Andrew Robinson, Clifton Highfield, David Lampe, Jason Vines, Jeanette Jones, Jen Kaplan, Kayla Lane Freeman, Nicole Beckley, Samantha Schak, and Wyatt Tall.

HELL AND BACK CABARET - An evening of Music, Improv, & Parlour Games

Follow your host, Gentress Helena Back, to the Hell and Back Cabaret for entertainments from the darker side of the tracks. Fall into the arms of the menagerie of musicians, singers, improvisers and practitioners of skills from the macabre to the amazing there to greet you. Join in a Seated Audience Scavenger Hunt and other Parlour Games of Frivolity. Edible Treats will also be provided!
 
Featuring, direct from the midway, THE DARK SPARKLES: Adam Mengesha, Adriane Shown, Breathless La Belle, Heather Howes, Joe Howes and other special guests.

Also appearing: NEWSICALS who will be improvising musicals based on of-the-moment headlines.

MAYFLY: An Improvised Clusterfunk of Special Guests

Mayfly is an Improvised Clusterfunk featuring Todd Stashwick and a litany of Austin's finest improvisers, irresponsibly thrown together into an ad-hoc freeform of organic improvised comedy and live music. Featuring Todd Stashwick, Tom Booker, Jay Byrd, Lisa Jackson, Craig Kotfas, Shannon McCormick and Shana Merlin (more to be announced soon) who will be throwing down until they stop. Loud idiocy accompanied by a live band. This might get messy.