The fifth edition of this annual celebration of the art of improvisational comedy brings together performers from around the U.S. and abroad. (Chicago, of course, is heavily represented.) This year’s festival, the largest yet, is divided into several series–Mainstage, Showcase, Sketch, Solo, Duo, and Fringe–as well as an all-night improv session, an adult-oriented “Blue” show, a series of daytime Lunchbreak performances (presented in conjunction with the city’s cultural affairs department), and numerous special events, including forums and workshops. The fest is dedicated to the memories of two influential performer-director-teachers, Byrne Piven and Avery Schreiber; they will receive posthumous lifetime achievement awards, as will two other deceased notables, the Second City’s Martin DeMaat and ImprovOlympic’s Del Close, and three people still living: Bernie Sahlins, Sheldon Patinkin, and Joyce Sloane, described as “the triumvirate responsible for putting the Second City on the map.” Other awards will be presented to Stephnie Weir (female improviser of the year), Colin Mochrie (male improviser of the year), the Upright Citizens Brigade (ensemble of the year), and Schadenfreude (CIF Festival Highlight Award).
The Asian-American ensemble Stir-Friday Night! offers a midday comedy set. Chicago Cultural Center, Randolph Cafe, noon. Free.
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The Fringe series presents Los Angeles’s Shramker ensemble in “an evening of improvised German angst,” and Chicago’s WNEP Theater presents Soiree Dada, an evening of Dada-style performance. “Erratic in tone and abstract in content–as it should be–Soiree Dada may be most provocative in demonstrating how acquiescent audiences are even when facing a chaotic and confrontational performance,” said Reader critic Jenn Goddu when she reviewed the show’s earlier run. WNEP Theater, 8 PM. $10.
FRIDAY, APRIL 5
LA Theatresports, Annoyance Productions, and Noble Fool Theatre Company
The New York-based Drysdale, an alumna of Boom Chicago, and Toronto’s Undecideds appear with Chicago’s Those Guys (four boys from ImprovOlympic) as part of the Sketch series. Playground, 8 PM. $10-$15.
Three New Yorkers perform under the auspices of the Solo series. Appel will adapt the persona of an Italian filmmaker to lead the audience in the creation of an improvised movie; Braunohler performs a one-man Harold; and Besser, cofounder of the Upright Citizens Brigade, presents his solo show Don’t Be a Dick. ImprovOlympic, 10 PM. $10.
