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Suggestions for next year's festival — performers you want to see, panels you'd like to attend, merch. you'd like to buy (WICF onesies are sooooo chic!) — are welcomed at: info@womenincomedyfestival.com, and at the mailing address found here. We're going to make this third festival the best one yet — with your help!
The eponymous women of the Women in Comedy Festival team don't just spend all of our time providing a showcase for the funny ladies we all know and love — sometimes, we're the ones making the comedy! The WICF blog spoke with festival Co-Producers Elyse Schuerman and Michelle Barbera about their current production, "John Hughes High," which ends its run as an ImprovBoston Showcase show tonight. Elyse directed the whole thing, and Michelle is part of the ensemble cast. Tickets are going fast, I'd recommend going here (www.improvboston.com) to buy them before you even finish reading this interview.
WICF: How did this show come about?
Elyse:A bunch of factors pushed me to propose this show last spring; John Hughes' death . . . his films touched so many teenagers lives in the '80s and '90s (and today, I think). He was able to play the realities of teenage life with humor and touching moments alike. We did an '80s teen movie-inspired show about 10 years ago that was really fun. I took some inspiration from that show, but focused on John Hughes in particular and changed the format quite a bit.
WICF: How easy/hard has it been to bring the show to the stage?
Elyse: Not too difficult. It's a great cast (which makes my job easy) and I tried to keep the show straight forward for them with a lot of freedom as improvisers.
WICF: How has the cast gelled, and how'd you make the video? And costumes?
Elyse: [The] cast really enjoys each other. Most of them know each other, but not everyone has performed together, which makes it fun. Michelle directed/edited the video and Melissa Carubia wrote and performs the song [and stars in the video]. All shot at Arlington High . . . Costumes were mostly from the Garment District [in Cambridge] and the cast's own collections.
Promo. video for John Hughes High, at ImprovBoston.
WICF: These movies had such iconic looks about them, how did you find it when translating them to the stage? Which of his movies is the show based on?
Elyse:I wanted as much accuracy for the '80s as I could since it's a style choice and, also, what people expect. It's inspired by "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Pretty in Pink," "Sixteen Candles," and "The Breakfast Club" ("Weird Science" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" contributed some inspiration). We also focused on his iconic characters as inspiration. Each show has a Principal, Secretary, Good Girl, Good Boy, Bad Boy, Bad Girl and an Exchange Student (among other characters).
WICF: Did you prepare by watching every John Hughes movie available (and do you have the same horrified reaction I do to Andie's prom dress?)
Michelle:I didn't need to watch the films again for the show because I know them like the back of my hand. My personal favorite is "Some Kind of Wonderful," because the two underdogs end up together, and because Elias Koteas plays one of the funniest movie tough guys ever.
p.s. I still love you, Eric Stoltz! Don't tell my husband. [ed.: Whoops.]
And yes, I couldn't believe it when Molly Ringwald took Annie Potts's perfectly serviceable prom dress and turned it into that bizarre monstrosity. Why?
Elias Koteas in "Some Kind of Wonderful" (Michelle warns this is NSFW).
WICF: As a seasoned director, do you find it more challenging to do a show based on somebody else's work than one in which the audience/cast/crew might not have had any preconceived notions going into it?
Elyse: In some ways it's easier and in some ways it's difficult. Easy because they have a knowledge base when they come to the show and can figure out what you are trying to do really quickly: "Oh, the guy playing the good guy is going to get the girl, etc." Then our job is to just entertain and have fun with the characters/story. It's difficult to produce shows that are someone else' creation, since some audience members do have high expectations from the material they know. I think heightening his style and conventions made this show easy to do (adults being clueless, teens worrying about their virginity, the melodrama of being a teenager, etc).
WICF: John Hughes had a mix of easily pigeonholed gender roles — the prom queen, the male jock — and characters that could have been played by either gender-the outsider, the weirdo, the brain, the richie. Did you cast for gender? How'd you handle this dichotomy?
Elyse:I did in some ways, but he has equals in all of his movies combined. Molly Ringwald's character in "Pretty in Pink" (outcast, low income) is similar in some ways to Erik Stoltz's character in "Some Kind of Wonderful," etc. I think he does a good job of pointing out that anyone can be an outcast or misunderstood and in fact, most of us feel that way (even Molly Ringwald's character in "The Breakfast Club" is vulnerable). While seven of the actors play the same character throughout one show, three to four others play any character they want (male/female nerds, etc.). Also, we see the kind male/female and the bad boy/bad girl each week, so they play off each other.
WICF: How is it playing a character, and in a setting, that was so seminal in so many of our childhoods?
Michelle: I grew up in the '80s and saw all of the John Hughes high school movies in the theater. Since then, I've re-watched them multiple times. Not only did I respond to the teen angst in the films, but the terrific comedic performances by actors like Edie McClurg (Grace), Jeffrey Jones (Ed Rooney) and Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller) [all from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"]. His movies meant a lot to me and revisiting them really brings back a good feeling for the cast and audience alike.
This is one of the happiest shows I've ever done. It's both nostalgic and funny, and has a feel-good ending every week. Plus I get the job of being the wacky Secretary who does and says whatever comes to mind, and play off the equally wacky Principal (played by John Shaughnessy and alternately by Kevin Harrington).
WICF: Are you one specific character, or a mish mosh?
Michelle:It was twenty years after first seeing "Ferris Bueller's Day" Off that I found out that Edie McClurg (Grace, the secretary) came from improv comedy. I had the pleasure of meeting her when she performed at WICF 2010 with her improv troupe, All Girl Revue. I also drove her to a TV interview at Fox and everyone at the station was just as excited to meet her as I was. Now I'm playing the secretary character in "John Hughes High," which is my homage to her and to Dody Goodman (my character's name is Dody), who played the secretary in "Splash," another great '80s movie (by Ron Howard).
Edie McClurg interview, Fox TV.
WICF:How has the audience response been when you've been on stage?
Michelle: The audience response has been terrific. The Principal and I come out and get them involved right from the start by addressing them as students at morning assembly. We get the character names and traits from the audience's real high school experiences. It's amazing how clear the high school archetypes are in their heads even 10, 20 or 30 years later. We often have typical teen film tropes in the show: montages, the big dramatic speech, the makeover, and the audience gets really enthusiastic to both recognize them and see them pulled off without the benefit of film editing.
"John Hughes High"
ImprovBoston, 90 Prospect St., Cambridge, MA
For tickets: www.improvboston.com
Last show - TONIGHT, October 15, 2010, 8 p.m.
Cast: Michelle Barbera, John Shaughnessy, Dana Jay Bein, Marcelo Ilarmo, Pete Fenzel, Robert Woo, Kevin Harrington, Shannon Connolly, Katie Leeman,
Hannah Foell and Mosie Senn-McNally. Director: Elyse Schuerman Assistant Director: Joanna French
The WICF Comedy Podcast, official podcast of the Women In Comedy Festival has a new episode up for your listening pleasure! We took a hiatus for a few months, but we're back every two weeks from now on, so subscribe to the feed directly here or through iTunes, or just check it out right here on the Blog:
This week, Michelle Barbera (Co-Producer of the Women in Comedy Festival) interviews Michael Caine and John C. Reilly about the stunning recasting of the Batman franchise, comedians Tim Douglas and Dennis Hurley talk about sleeping on Anthony Clark's couch and appearing on the Daily Show, respectively, and the music of Olde English Comedy is featured.
Coming up in two week, Michelle Barbera and Maria Ciampa interview Harry Gordon of Harry Gordon Roasts America.
Also check out our older episodes, including Episode 5, which features an extended interview with Myq Kaplan, who was one of the five finalists on Last Comic Standing this summer and is currently on the Last Comic Standing Tour. Here's one of Myq's bits set to a terrific animation:
T.J. Jagodowski said something along these lines in the must-see documentary Trust Us, This is All Made Up, “I need improv a lot more than improv needs me.”
Word.
Improv has me by the short hairs and it ain’t letting go any time soon.
These are the thoughts going through my mind as I’m driving down a dark, country road at midnight on Thursday night, on my way home after performing with “That’s What She Said” at the Boston Improv Festival. What else would compel me to drive four hours for a 25-minute experience? It’s an addiction, plain and simple, and there is little I wouldn’t do – aside from blow a guy for money – to get my improv fix. The sad fact is a $20 blow job is all that separates me from a crack ‘ho.
And it’s not like I can just roll out of bed and into the car. An entire day of little-by-little preparations goes into facilitating my ability to perform at night. I am a married homeschooling mother of two living in western Massachusetts. Performing at the Boston Improv Festival requires making dinner for the kids, renting them a marathon-length movie (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, baby!), collecting eggs from the chicken coop, feeding the dog and cats, getting my mom to watch the kids, leaving a page of instructions on the academic work they need to do, and crawling out from under a small hill of guilt that I’m abandoning my kids just to go make funny with people I like. (Are moms even allowed to do that???) Not to mention the gentle mew-mews I need to make in my husband’s ear to soften his realization that tomorrow I will be leaving him for the entire weekend so I can take workshops and watch enough improv to fill me. Come to think of it (no pun intended), it takes a fair number of blow jobs keep him contented enough to blur the image of me quietly closing the door behind me on Saturday morning. So I guess if you want to get technical, the only difference between me and a crack ‘ho is that I do it for free. But of course I should be used to that by now. I’m an improviser.
But who the hell cares? As I’m on stage, I’m living in the zone of single-minded Zen presence where I can Be Here Now. On stage, there are no kids, no husbands, no chickens, no dirty dishes waiting for me at home. I’m at one with the Universe and connected to Moment. And I’m alive, so alive. It’s all worth it. T.J. was so right. Fuckin’ improv, man.
It's always a good idea to look back to the silent era for inspiration in going beyond the the static, talking-head variety of comedy that leaves behind the rich tradition of physical comedy from silent films. While you'd be hard-pressed to find a modern physical comedian held in such high esteem, artists like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton are universally revered for their masterful work.
Now those of you who live in or near Boston, MA, have a rare opportunity to see the classic silent Buster Keaton film "Steamboat Bill, Jr." at the historic Coolidge Corner Theatre in equally historic Brookline, MA (John F. Kennedy's birthplace is only two blocks from the theater.)
As part of its Sounds of Silents series, Coolidge Corner Theatre will present a special screening of the 1928 silent film classic "Steamboat Bill, Jr." with a newly composed score performed live by Peter Blanchette, on Monday, September 27 at 7:00 pm.
About the accompanist, from the Coolidge's site: "Peter Blanchette, composer, producer and guitar innovator dynamically scores this combination of Jazz Age surrealism and knee-slapping vaudeville shtick with music that blends avant-garde classical, honky-tonk and Americana. Using computer assist with live performance of electric guitar, banjo, electric dulcimer, mandolin, piano, voice and his trademark archguitar, he creates a high-tech tour de force."
Tickets are $20/general admission and $17/students, seniors, and Coolidge Corner Theatre members. Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.coolidge.org or at the box office, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline. For more information visit the website or call (617) 734-2500.
Kelly MacFarland, WICF's very first headliner - and recurring performer, as she liked us so much, she came back for 2010! - is performing One Night Only at WICF's home theater, ImprovBoston, in patriotic Cambridge, MA!
Ms. MacFarland returns to Cambridge triumphant, having just won Best of the Fest 2010 at the Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival.
You can find her on dazzling 'em on Comedy Central, as well schmoozing in our Central Square green room - although, the latter is only for the 8 pm show this Friday, July 2nd.
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