INNY Winners Annouced
April 28, 2012 billchottLeave a Comment on INNY Winners Annouced
I'm very honored to announce that I have won the INNY award for "Best Improv Coach". I found out from Bill Finkbiner, who texted me as I was driving around my home town of St. Louis. Bill is an Original Trickster and one of my first students in St. Louis. I'm glad that I found out about it in St. Louis, because I was awarded for my work at St. Louis' Improv Trick.
So much has happened in the St. Louis Improv scene since I first started teaching classes in St. Louis in 2006. I'm proud to have been a small part of it. The work I do as a teacher and coach in St. Louis would not be possible if not for the hard work of all of our Improv Trick performers, teachers and students. But it's not just Improv Trick that makes up our wonderful Improv scene. K.A.R.L. improv won the award for "Best College Troupe" and The Improv Shop was nominated for Best Training Program.
If you're reading this blog, you're responsible in part for this major achievement for St. Louis improv. I posted here a while back encouraging readers to "Vote for St. Louis", and it looks like you did. And in overwhelming numbers. Thanks to you for making this possible.
The full list of INNY Award winners is HERE.
Categories: BlogTags: Bill Finkbiner, Coach, Improv, INNY Awards, St. Louis Improv
I'm a Foreigner, not a Stooge!
April 24, 2012 billchott2 Comments on I'm a Foreigner, not a Stooge!
Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I was up for the part of "Curly" in the Farrelly Brothers' Three Stooges movie. It's mentioned in an article on Split Sider. You can read all about it HERE.
The film opened last weekend to mixed reviews as can be expected. I have not seen it yet because I'm in Fayette, MO where there is no movie theater nearby. But I hear from some friends that it's actually a funny movie. And I'm glad to hear anything that keeps The Farrelly Brothers churning out new Nyuks.
Why oh Why am I in Fayette, MO? I just completed a four day run of a play called The Foreigner. The Sedalia Democrat wrote a nice article about it. The play was at Central Methodist University's "Little Theater", the same place that I performed plays throughout college.
The cast included: Jordan Brennan (senior, Marshall) as Froggy LeSeuer; Shamika Pegue (junior, Kansas City) as Betty Meeks; Jeff Byous (sophomore, Peculiar) as Rev. David Lee; Kate Kellner (sophomore, Strafford) as Catherine Simms; Josh Kirby (senior, Armstrong) as Owen Musser; and Dakota Gladbach (junior, Brookfield) as Ellard Simms. The understudy for Charlie was Roger Weaver (sophomore, Overland Park, Kan.) The students did a GREAT job, and made me feel so welcome that I felt like I was going back to school at CMU again.
It was a really fun show, and I'm so glad I was able to make it out here to be a part of the show. The audiences were AMAZING. I played Charlie Baker (No, that's not a code. That's his name!) It was great to work with the cast and crew at CMU's Little Theatre. And I'd really like to thank Mark Kelty for asking me to be a part of it. Mark did a fantasitc job of directing the show. I plan to have some pictures of the show up soon. I'm looking forward to seeing how we looked. I was onstage for most of the show and so I didn't have a chance to pop out and catch any of the action when I wasn't in a scene. But below is a picture that was taken by a student in the dining hall where we did some spontaneous theater. We performed a scene from the play where Charlie tells a story in a language that he's making up on the fly.
Have you ever seen The Foreigner? I know it's performed a lot, and Matthew Broderick played Charlie recently off Broadway. I'd be interested in hearing people's favorite lines, or interesting performances that you've seen.
Categories: BlogTags: Central Methodist University, Farrelly Brothers, Split Sider, The Foreigner, Three Stooges