Posted March 7th, 2010 by Tony
Unexpected Productions is thrilled to announce a special edition of Seattle TheatreSports! For one night only – Saturday, March 13th at 10:30 PM – our cast of improvisors will be joined by two stars from the hit web series “The Guild”: Sandeep Parikh (@sandeepparikh, aka “Zaboo”) and Jeff Lewis (@jeffylew, aka “Vork”)! Both are in town as media guests of the Emerald City ComicCon.
In addition to their work on The Guild, Sandeep is also the creator of the Comedy Central produced webseries, “The Legend of Neil” (@legendofneil). Jeff recently guest starred on the hit TV series “Glee”.
Tickets are $12 online or $15 at the door, if available. Advance tickets are highly encouraged for this special event. Click Here to Buy Tickets! (Choose the March 13th date.)
Posted February 25th, 2010 by Jay
The Downtown Seattle Association held a forum with many major Seattle political figures and every major northwest news organization present here at the Market Theater! We were honored to host an event such as this, to a standing room only crowd!
Posted February 25th, 2010 by Jay
Late Autum, a new movie, featuring the top Korean stars, is filming in Pike Place Market. The cast and crew used the Market Theater as their resting place.
Posted February 13th, 2010 by Jay
On Feb 14, Valentine’s Day, 2010, the Comedy of Love will feature actual improv couples! Ron & Michelle Hippe, Brandon Felker & Elicia Wickstead, and special guest (soon to be married) Brian MacMillan & Ashley Dawson!
Posted October 20th, 2009 by Jay
The musical members of Unexpected Productions did 90 minutes of musical improv for a large crowd at the Seattle City Hall green space. Acts included a full length improvised musical, opera, and ballet, as well as shorter musical improv scenes! It was a smash hit! Cast included Ron Hippe, Jana Hutchison, Elicia Wickstead, Michael Bils, and Andy Rath on keyboards.
Posted September 2nd, 2009 by Tim
Students from levels 200, 300 and 500 will perform scenes and games that showcase the skills they’ve developed over the course of the previous 8 weeks. For many, this will be their first time on a stage! EVER! For all, it is an excellent opportunity to grow as an improviser. The best way to learn improv is to do it in front of a live audience.
As a former student, myself, I know how amazing this is. Before class performances, I was nervous, anxious, and excited. During the show, adrenaline pumping through my body, buoyed by the enormous energy in the theatre, wave after wave of laughter crashing up onto the stage, I was invincible. Afterward…Exhilarated…Euphoric…Ecstatic…
Six years and hundreds of shows later, the student is now the teacher (a teacher, not thee teacher). I teach the 300 level. I have a great class this term and can’t wait for them to totally rule tonight.
Our focus is on open scene work – no structures, no games, no nets. It is difficult and incredibly important. Once you master telling simple stories, with big stakes, rich characters, creating and fulfilling strong objectives, all other improv – games, long forms, styles, etc. – is CAKE. But it can be scary! All you have is a suggestion and a scene partner. It is the most naked and vulnerable you can be on a stage.
I tell my students to embrace their anxiety, to wallow in their nervous energy, bathe in that glorious adrenaline. It is one of the few, rare occasions where you feel totally and completely alive!
Good luck to all of the students that perform tonight.
Posted September 1st, 2009 by Tim
Last night, Monday night, we had a big party down at the theatre to celebrate the 13 new apprentices to join Unexpected Productions. I knew some of them and others I met for the first time. They are all impressive. We are all excited to have them on board. Some will be hitting the stage for the first time in the 8:30P time slot this weekend. I am excited and looking foward to playing with them. They are: Ross Asdourian, Solomon Davis, Belinda Fu, Rachel Godbe, Chazz Kaskes, Joel LaBahn, Diona Linardo, Sara Mountjoy-Pepka, Chad O’Bara, Heidi Ramos, Michael Robles, Daniel Wolf, Dan Zertuche
Posted June 28th, 2009 by Jay
The 13th International Festival of Improv from Unexpected Productions was a huge success!
23 participants from 7 different countries and 6 different areas of the USA came together for a week of workshops and performing. The theme this year was ZEN. Participants included (from Seattle) Jeremy Richards, Mark Shone, Tony Beeman, Kristen Rau, Chelsea Binta, Megan Hescock, Bob Rathbone, David LaValle, & Matt Sexton, Yann Vandenbranden of Belgium, Trenton Shine of San Diego CA, DK Reinemer & Luke Chmura of Bellingham WA, Felipe Ortiz of Columbia, Lieselotte Noonyan of Amsterdam, Rama Nicholas of Australia, Yuri Kinugawa & Masako Kimura of Japan, Becky Haycox of Ventura CA, Devin Harkness & Manuel Hall of Portland OR, F. Tyler Burnett of Chicago, and Laila Valenzia of Mexico.
Posted May 19th, 2009 by Jay
Unexpected Productions is excited to announce the new partnership with the Admiral Theater in West Seattle!
UP will be Performing there once a month, beginning June 27 at 9pm!
“We are looking to performing in West Seattle! The people are great and the nightlife is amazing! I think improv comedy will be a nice fit.” Jay Hitt – Managing Director
For more info visit http://www.thehistoricadmiraltheater.com!
Get Tickets!
Posted May 17th, 2009 by Tony
This Thursday, May 21st, at 8:30pm, is the opening night of The Improvised Man: Improv in the style of Ray Bradbury! We tell three stories in the various Ray Bradbury-based styles based on titles given to us by the audience.
Bradbury’s an interesting author to adopt to improv, because so many of his stories are exploratory or speculative: something improv is well adapted to tackling. Bradbury writes in several different styles, which gives us a chance to mix up the stories we tell each night. Most importantly, Bradbury’s great at using fantastic stories to explore what’s fantastic about every day life, and we hope to do the same on stage!
The Improvised Man will show four nights: May 21st, May 28th, June 4th, and June 11th! If you’re a fan of Bradbury, science fiction, amazing tales, horror, or of improv, don’t miss it!
For more information, see the show page! To purchase tickets, click here!
