Your attention, please. The improv team formerly known as “Team Green” is now known as “Watson.” That is all.

Originally published at The Many Hats of Jason Specland. You can comment here or there.

On Wednesday, the team that will shortly be renamed but is currently known as Team Green performed their first show at The PIT. I alluded to how it felt in a brief Facebook status update*, but the feeling was so intense that I needed to record it here.

It. Was. Amazing.

Even though the theater is brand new, between open jams and auditions I’d ( Read more... )

The story before today:

For many years, improv was my life.

In the beginning, there was Comics Anonymous. Sure, it was rough troup* to be a part of at times, but I’ve got to acknowledge the company that gave me my start. Frank, the director, put me on stage and let me cut my teeth in front of real audiences. Sometimes, the audiences even ( Read more... )

Can’t make it to Astoria for Vorpal’s Halloween show? Think $10 is too much to pay? Worried that seeing Vorpal on the stage without other non-Vorpalians to dilute their awesome improv powers will cause your face to melt like the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Well then, have I got a show for you. In fact, I have two shows for you!

Our Level 5 ( Read more... )

This past Saturday was the “Through the Laughing Glass” show at Wonderland. It was really kind of cool. They have a huge space with a white cyclorama that served as our stage, and we made the rows out of their eclectic collection of chairs and couches. From the audience, it had kind of the feel of a comedy salon rather than a show. But with the ( Read more... )

Did you miss the Vorpal show last Monday at the PIT? Well, if you did here’s your opportunity to make up for it! We’re performing at Wonderland, the huge, gorgeous artist collective in Astoria. Hey, why don’t I just cut and paste the press release? Control-V to the rescue!

Imagine, if you will, live improv, sketch comedy, and stand up comedians ( Read more... )

Last night, we had our weekly Vorpal rehearsal at Wonderland. It was our first rehearsal with a real coach. Until now, we’d just kind of been running sets and talking about what felt good and what didn’t. But now we have a coach. Our coach: Geoff Grimwood, teacher and member of various PIT house teams. To begin our session, we told him about ( Read more... )

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 ( Read more... )

So, my fledgling improv team, “Jabberwocky” has changed its name to the similarly sourced “Vorpal.” “Vorpal” sounds faster, and everyone knows that the most important property of an improv team name is how fast it sounds.

In addition to a fast-sounding name, you need promotional photos with actors in silly poses. Fortunately, I’ve got the camera ( Read more... )

So, last night was the world premiere of my new improv group “Jabberwocky.” I can’t tell you how exciting it is to be in a real group again. When I was invited into this group, and saw the list of other players, I was excited because I knew all of these people were talented. My excitement was realized from the moment we started warming up ( Read more... )