Improv Open Mic: The Underground

The Underground is back this Friday! The Underground is an improv open mic. Improv teams looking for stage time will have 15 minutes. Yep! Fifteen minutes! That's a lot of stage time at an open mic. That's our mission, to give new and fledgling groups an opportunity to innovate, work on improv format, discover exciting improv scenes, and explore new opportunities.

The awesomeness doesn't stop there. We also give away mix drinks (non-alcoholic of course). It's a classy open mic.

We encourage improv teams from blacktop and other cities, theaters, comedy clubs, colleges, and even high schools. This isn't a strictly Rocklin, Roseville, and Loomis thing. Outside of Placer County? Join us! In the past we have had improv teams from San Francisco, and students from Casa Roble high school perform, and they did an incredible job! We would love local colleges like Sierra College, American River College, and California State University Sacramento (CSUS) to jump in too!

There have been so many unique shows at the Underground, including Best Night Ever, Epic, Copycats, Cooky Pants, The Milby Twins, and Police Cops! That's just a handful of teams that have dropped in. Each teams mixes up improv in a unique way, trying to bring something fresh to the art form.

We even have teams of friends who met at The Playground, our Thursday drop-in class, who have jumped onstage to try a new show. It's fun watching everyone, but I'm most excited when I see new groups, visitng improv teams. I love that a new improv group feels so comfortable at Blacktop they're excited to get onstage and try something. They realize they're in a safe theater, a place everyone has their back, and will cheer them when the lights go up, and when they walk offstage.

If you thought "improv is this," you need to come out to our Underground show, and realize that improv can be so many different styles.

If you have a group, or maybe even you're a solo performer (we've have improvised solos in the past), signup and be part of the fun! The Underground is every other Friday. You can signup below. Just fill out the form and we will be in contact with you. And, this open mic won't leave you "hoping" you'll get stage time. If there is space we will guarantee you a spot.

Finally, we can also email you and let you know about submissions for the Underground through our newsletter. Just sign up here, and we'll send you information about upcoming Undergrounds. See you soon Rocklin!

Incredible Weekend of Shows

Thank you for making this weekend such an extraordinary one for Blacktop! We're glad you had such a fun time at Squeaky Clean!

We had wonderful volunteers during Squeaky Clean, who helped make Sound Effects, Lassie, and Hey Waiter memorable improv games.

Brooklyn, your instinct to slam on the brakes during that chase scene was fantastic!

Sarah, during Lassie you guessed Timmy was hanging out with Elvis Presley. Good job!

And,  Jacob, you were one of the funniest parts of Hey Waiter, because you were so frustrated they kept getting your order wrong. The audience loved it. 

Audience volunteers always makes our shows better! We go with the flow, and adapt to whatever the audience offers. We will never pick on an audience member, but we do encourage you to realize you have the ability to be an improv genius. I think kids can be better at improv, because they're less inhibited. They have fewer negative memories, fewer people telling them, "that's a bad idea," "be serious," "don't think that." That stuff adds up. It accumulates, and by adulthood we're filtering out so many great instincts. 

Adult volunteers can be great, but they play it much safer onstage then kids. You will see the adult check in with the improviser, and their eyes say, "is this ok? I don't want to ruin the show." Kids embrace their imagination, and as improvisers, we love the wild turns each scene can take. The mixed audience of children and adults love the twists and turns too. It's great seeing parents who enjoy the show as much as the kids.

It's also a great reminder, we can all take some risks. We should take some risks. Look how funny a scene can become when we embrace our instincts. I guess the danger is our measured thoughts keep us safe, and our instincts are new. Our instincts haven't been vetted. I always picture a new thought like a gangster who gets patted down before reaching the Don. Our filters are those guys patting down the new thought, checking for anything dangerous. When the thought is stripped of all danger, then it's permitted to hang out with the brain.

In fact, even that simile right there...my brain was saying, "don't write that. It's ridiculous. Just stick to something safer, like 'it's so nice to be able to offer family entertainment to Roseville and Rocklin.'" And, yes, while that is true, we're glad we can offer family entertainment, I've said it before. It's familiar territory. It's a safe thought, that won't be judged. But, it doesn't have the opportunity to be memorable either. 

Watching the families laugh on Saturday night at the volunteer antics, was a great reminder. Be brave, and try something new.

It means a lot the community loves the family shows we're producing. It's fun to see parents and kids sitting together, laughing about the same ridiculous stuff happening onstage. 

We always remind the players, "improv is for us, but a performance is for the audience." 

Teen Performance Team: Friday Night Live!

The Blacktop Comedy Teen Performance Team is back this Friday! Alert the press! Roll out the red carpet! And, sound the trumpets!

Our Teen improv team is ready for the spotlight. They'll be on the spot this Friday, but they're always ready. They're an amazing group of improvisers who constantly impress me. Every week they meet, rehearse improv games, learn new improv skills, and prepare for a show. It's a lot of work, but they embrace it.

And, they push themselves even more by learning new improv formats. The teens have studied short form improv games, but they've also jumped into long form improv, and even a Teen Harold. The Harold? Adults have a challenging time learning The Harold! That says a lot these teens are willing to rush in and try so many new things. Whenever I leave rehearsal I'm always impressed, and inspired. They jump into everything! The only time these students don't jump into a game is when they're trying to be polite and give someone else an opportunity to guess during The Dating Game, or Interrogation.

Do games always go well? No. But they fail forward, which is a skill I think a lot of adults are hesitant to embrace. The teens learn from the failure, immediately try the game again, and succeed. It's that simple, but also that hard. That moment of failure terrifies people. It terrifies me, but after working with the teens, I see how quickly a failure can pivot into a success. Yeah, you can interpret failure as a miserable moment, and feel trapped, or it can be a temporary moment of learning (not even interpreted as 'failure'!) and then move on. It sounds good on paper, but it's even more impressive to witness in the moment, during class. The teen improv team has given me a masterclass, and they didn't even know it.

The Teen Performance Team's show is this Friday at 7p. Come support the show at Blacktop Comedy Theater is Rocklin, but be sure and arrive early. The theater is packed with friends, and family.

You can grab tickets online, but you can always grab them at the door too. Just $5. The show will be followed by The Underground. Perfect Friday night if you ask me. Call your friends, and tell them to put down the book (book!? psshhh!), comedy in Rocklin awaits!