If you were an audience member watching a Storybox show you would be in for quite an experience. As the performance starts and the lights fade up you are met by the smile of one of the storytellers acting as host. He welcomes you to the show and meanwhile his fellow storytellers are moving about the stage laying out cloth and sticks and then forming a line toward the audience. Each of them has a scarf like piece of cloth around his neck and is holding a four foot wooden stick. After welcoming you, the host storyteller gets a suggestion of a "man or a woman" and then heads back to stand in the line with his comrades.
There is a moment of silence and the storytellers all close their eyes and breathe in deeply together. Suddenly, three things happen in rapid succession... The cast in unison loudly states "IN THE BEGINNING" then stamp their staffs on the ground with a boom and then takes a unified single step toward the audience. Chilling, fun and theatrical all hit you at once as the show begins.
Here is a bit of background on the show according to the Storybox website:
Storybox is an improvised play that draws upon the theatrical techniques of Story Theatre, Noh Theatre, Viewpoints, Grotowski and long-form narrative improvisation. It was created and developed by Chicago Improv Festival co-founder, Jonathan Pitts and was invited to perform at Atlanta's Spontaneous Combustion Improv Festival on March 10-14.
That's where I come in... I get a call from Jonathan Pitts (Executive Producer of the Chicago Improv Festival) who asks me to be a part of his Storybox rehearsal and show as a part of Spontaneous Combustion Festival. He has been given a short list of names of those who would be strong candidates from J Star at the Basement Theatre who is hosting the festival.
The idea was to take a group of people that had never worked together before from a variety of locations and have them fuse together under the instruction of Jonathan Pitts as they learned how to perform the improvised structure known as "Storybox".
I had only heard good things about the form and so I signed up and agreed to bring two improvisers from Jackpie with me to flesh out the cast. I got on the horn immediately and it wasn't long before I came up with two young improvisers who fit the bill... Jackpie Student George Akers who recently joined us from Improv Athens at UGA and Pat Young from Improv Monster and Free Kittens at Jackpie.
On the night before I was to start rehearsal for the show, I was still pretty sick from what appeared to be Bronchitis and a sinus infection. I was worried whether I would have a voice at all and even if I did, would I be able to make it through a 5 hour rehearsal and then a live performance without hacking up a lung and distracting the whole process. To my surprise, when I woke on Saturday morning my sinuses were manageable and I had full use of my voice.
I arrived at 11am bearing muffins from the Whole Foods across the street and met the group with whom I would be workshopping and performing. Keep in mind as you are reading that NONE OF US besides Jonathan had ever performed Storybox before. Only one of us in fact had even seen the show!
Here is the breakdown of the cast:
Topping Haggerty - Topping's one-person improvised show, Topping Haggerty Experience (THE), has been performed in many cities including New York, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Austin, Atlanta, Miami and Toronto. She joined the cast at the request of Jonathan Pitts. Here is her website - http://www.toppinghaggerty.com
Jonathan Pitts - Jonathan is the Co-Founder of the Chicago Improv Festival, and this is his eleventh year working on CIF. He is also the Creator and Founder of the College Comedy Championship the Teen Comedy Fest and CIF's education outreach programs. For three years in a row he was selected by New City as one of Chicago’s "Top 50 Theatre Players". He is also the creator of Storybox.
Shannon Noll - Shannon is a performer at IO Chicago (Formerly Improv Olympic) and plays on a team called Archimedes. After seeing her play the previous night at Spontaneous Combustion, Jonathan pulled her into the following day's workshop of Storybox.
F. Tyler Burnet - F. Tyler is currently attending University of Georgia in Athens for his Masters degree in Theatre. You can catch his details on Atlantaperforms.biz I believe he got in on the cast because Jonthan heard how amazing he was from Amy Roeder of both Improv Athens and Storybox fame.
Chris Bogue - Chris is a recent grad of ISU and rode down with Jonthan as a pre selected member of this cast. I don't have as much info collected on him but he was really amazing throughout he rehearsal and the show.
Keith Habersberger - Keith is a recent grad of ISU. With 4 years in the ISU Improv Mafia and currently performs with Mission Improvable. He also came down from Chicago with Jonathan Pitts as a pre selected member of the cast.
George Akers - George recently graduated from the University of Georgia in August2009 with a degree in Theatre and Advertsising. While in Athens, he performed with the "Improv Athens" troupe for 2 years and acted in several University productions, including a contemporary version of the radio drama *War of the Worlds*. Since coming back to Atlanta, his hometown, he has been active with Jackpie sketch and improv. Besides acting, George enjoys playing tennis and squash.
Pat Young - Pat has been performing improv for a while, because that’s all he’s wanted to do. He got his BA in Theatre at Florida State University, while also performing on the school’s improv troupe Oncoming Traffic. He has also performed at the Miami Improv Festival, the Dirty South Improv Festival, and the Black Box Improv Festival. He moved to Atlanta in July of 2006, where he began peforming at The Basement Theatre under the artistic direction of J*. One of his most memorable moments at the Basement was when Mo Collins of MadTV fame performed a scene with him where she became the physical manifestation of his pirate “man jewels.” Currently, Pat performs at Jackpie in Free Kittens, Improv Monster, In Harm’s Way, and Metal Maniax.
Read Part 2 HERE
