RIP, Smarty Pants. I loved you guys.
Perhaps this title is inaccurate, as the troupe did not die (they just moved to "one of those states with an M," according to my source). They have, however, left the teeny little theater space that used to define my summer weekend nights.
Smarty Pants Improv Troupe. The hilarious folks who used to judge (and perform at) the interschool improv comedy competitions my high school hosted. The hilarious folks whom I went to see with Terry and Christy and Jess W. pretty much all of last summer when I discovered their existence (and the recently-renovated itty bitty middle-of-a-strip-mall building they performed in). The hilarious folks who gave me some genuinely, amusingly messed-up graduation advice when I announced I was leaving for college after one of their shows.
I remember cramming into that little space around one of the tables; thirty audience members was a full house. It had to be. I remember trying to shove friends up on stage, yelling suggestions at the top of my lungs, getting good-naturedly harassed for yelling suggestions at the top of my lungs. Smarty Pants was all-ages, like so few venues in town. It was frequented mostly by high school and college kids from around the area, but it got its share of adults too. Sometimes, the troupe would loan out its space for summer theater class productions put on by little kids, the perfect space to make an audience of parents look like a massive crowd, with acoustics that made sure even the smallest child's voice did not go unheard.
You guys were amazing, wherever you ended up. I heard you got a better offer in whatever "M" state (probaby Minnesota, as the Minneapolis arts scene KICKS; but if it's Michigan I will shake my fist at you and yell TRAITORS! ~_^). I hope, even if you get big, you never forget your roots. Dayton will miss its one and only improv troupe.
(However, if anybody on my flist knows of another in the area, lemme know; I have to get my comedy kicks somehow... *feels like a widow who's started shopping around for men a day after the funeral*)
Smarty Pants Improv Troupe. The hilarious folks who used to judge (and perform at) the interschool improv comedy competitions my high school hosted. The hilarious folks whom I went to see with Terry and Christy and Jess W. pretty much all of last summer when I discovered their existence (and the recently-renovated itty bitty middle-of-a-strip-mall building they performed in). The hilarious folks who gave me some genuinely, amusingly messed-up graduation advice when I announced I was leaving for college after one of their shows.
I remember cramming into that little space around one of the tables; thirty audience members was a full house. It had to be. I remember trying to shove friends up on stage, yelling suggestions at the top of my lungs, getting good-naturedly harassed for yelling suggestions at the top of my lungs. Smarty Pants was all-ages, like so few venues in town. It was frequented mostly by high school and college kids from around the area, but it got its share of adults too. Sometimes, the troupe would loan out its space for summer theater class productions put on by little kids, the perfect space to make an audience of parents look like a massive crowd, with acoustics that made sure even the smallest child's voice did not go unheard.
You guys were amazing, wherever you ended up. I heard you got a better offer in whatever "M" state (probaby Minnesota, as the Minneapolis arts scene KICKS; but if it's Michigan I will shake my fist at you and yell TRAITORS! ~_^). I hope, even if you get big, you never forget your roots. Dayton will miss its one and only improv troupe.
(However, if anybody on my flist knows of another in the area, lemme know; I have to get my comedy kicks somehow... *feels like a widow who's started shopping around for men a day after the funeral*)