The Ghosts of Spaces Past
I just edited my previous post about our upcoming Vorpal shows to indicate the location of our next show. It’s at Sparks Cafe and Arts Center, at 161 W 22nd St. Very astute readers may notice that this is the location of the former Upright Citizens Brigade theater. It’s a place I haven’t been back to in a long time… a long time…
It is the place where I learned long form improv in the first place. I remember being in that theater for an all-hands meeting when they first got the place. I thought, “This is going to be something big.” I was right. It is the place where I had my greatest improv triumph when I was cast on a house team. It is the place where I had my greatest improv failure when I was cast off of a house team. In a cloud of my own depression, I bailed on the wave just as it began to crest and it took me about eight years to recover…
In about a week, I’ll be performing in the very place where my improv career took off and, like Icarus, flew to close to the sun and came crashing to the ground. Except I didn’t die. And there were no wings involved. Except for the wings of the stage. And the UCB stage didn’t have wings. And the entire interior is probably gutted so even if there were wings they’d have been long gone. And the actual UCB has long since moved. Twice.
So, come see me perform at the place of my long form improv birth. Perhaps I can put some of those performance ghosts to rest once and for all…
Friday, August 20, 2010
10:00 PM
Sparks Cafe and Arts Center
161 W 22nd St.
$5
Originally published at The Many Hats of Jason Specland. You can comment here or there.