KC IMPROV FESTIVAL SHOWCASES LOCAL COMEDY INSTITUTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
For more information, including interviews
with featured performers, contact Tim Marks
at festival@kcimprov.com or 913-486-6861



KC IMPROV FESTIVAL SHOWCASES LOCAL COMEDY INSTITUTIONS

The two best-known comedy troupes in Kansas City—ComedyCity
and the KC Improv Company—will share the spotlight at the KC
Improv Festival, September 6-14 at the Off Center Theatre at
Crown Center and the Kick Comedy Theater in Westport.

ComedyCity, a 26-year-old business with a theater in the Westport
Flea Market, will put on their signature show, Major League
Improv, both Friday nights. The KC Improv Company, who produce
the festival and perform weekly at the Kick Comedy Theater, plays
both Saturdays and during a Thursday night benefit. Clay Morgan,
ComedyCity's owner, and Tim Marks, the head of the KC Improv
Company, will both emcee shows. Festival planning members play
with one—or both—groups.

Sounds like a lot of cross pollination, right? But the KC comedy
scene used to not be so...collaborative.

"When I started, there were a couple of troupes that were pretty
proprietary about their people," Tim says. "I like our people to do
other things and learn and get better, whether it's another improv
troupe or scripted work or acting classes."

Clay agrees: "I grew up in improv learning an 'us against them'
philosophy. If you weren't with ComedyCity [formerly
ComedySportz] you were against us. I realized that when I took
over, I had to keep the door open."

Both troupes have large casts to support their weekly
performances. They both teach classes, do private shows and lead
corporate workshops. They even came from the same place—the
KC Improv Company, formerly Improv-Abilities, was founded by a
member of ComedySportz. But even with all the similarities (and
shared troupe members), each has a distinct point of view.

ComedyCity's Major League Improv is a competition between two
uniform-clad teams. They perform short, fast-paced improv
games with heavy audience participation. "ComedyCity puts our
audience first," Clay says. "Performing short form improv, we
sometimes get other improvisers and groups looking down their
noses at us for not performing 'art.' That is okay with me. I know
just how talented my cast is. I have watched the audiences leave
happily amazed at what we do. And they come back, to be amazed
again and again."

The KC Improv Company also performs games sometimes, but in
recent years has focused on performing and teaching long-form
improvisation. Their sets may spin out for 20-30 minutes from a
single suggestion, weaving together different scenes and recurring
characters. "We have performed all over the country at festivals
and private events, and we've been pretty heavily influenced by
groups like The Reckoning, UCB, iO groups, and by Second City
alums. We enjoy playing games to start out the show, and then
opening it up later in the show to do a coherent piece of
improvised theater that is sometimes more fulfilling than a three-
minute game."

Between the two groups, they've attracted hundreds of performers,
and spawned dozens of spinoff acts. The KC Improv Festival brings
them all together again.

"The festival allows us to see the different troupes perform and we
can learn from them," Clay says.

Tim adds: "It's a big event, with bigger crowds than we usually play
for. For a lot of groups, the biggest crowd of the year. And then we
all hang out late at night...

"Usually too late."

Join the funniest people in the city for classes and shows—
including performances by Paul F. Tompins (Best Week Ever,
Comedy Bang! Bang!), SuperEgo, and Second City alums—and stay
out late with them at after parties. Showtimes, ticket prices, class
registration and more are online at kcimprovfestival.com.

------------------

The KC Improv Company puts on multiple shows and classes at the
Kick Comedy Theater in Westport every week, and has performed
at comedy festivals in New York, Chicago, L.A., and around the
country.


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