The Avalon Theatre tradition of hosting a Black Friday show continues this year with an evening of improvisational fun. Members of the Talbot County Improv troupe will take the stage at the Avalon on Friday, November 26 at 7:00 pm. The show will feature members of the Reflex Improv Easton, Annapolis and Virginia groups.
Improvisational performance – also known as improv – is spontaneous and unscripted. No one, including the performers, knows what will come up. The audience becomes a part of the show by offering a word or location suggestions that spark ideas for games and scenes made up on the spot. Members of the audience will be invited on to the stage for a few scenes.
Improv classes came to the Eastern Shore in 2019 when Nancy Andrew, a student of Dan Brown’s Reflex Improv, invited Brown to teach a class in Easton. Since then, beginners and more experienced improv actors have met weekly to learn the fundamentals and to have fun.
Members of the Reflex Improv Easton and Annapolis troupes sold out the Avalon Foundation’s Stoltz Pavilion for their summer show. The improv performers are the headliners at the Avalon Theatre on Friday, November 26 at 7pm for their Black Friday holiday show.
“Dan is a great teacher! He encourages us to have fun while we learn,” Andrews says. “He reminds us that we can’t do it wrong.”
Andrews adds, “Improv has helped me be more creative, develop my listening skills, and be more fully present. Those of us who get together every week say that we made friends with people we may never have met if we hadn’t played with them in improv class.”
Describing improv, Brown says, “Some people tell me that they can’t do improv because they’re not funny. You don’t need to be a natural comedian to learn how to do improv. Once you learn the fundamentals the fun will follow,”
The fundamentals of improv include the concept of “Yes – and,” which encourages everyone in a scene to listen to one another and find agreement. Two other improv fundamentals – “I’ve got your back” and making each other look good – encourage team work. “When everyone follows the process, funny happens.” Brown says.
Tim Weigand from the Avalon Foundation invited the Talbot County Improv students to perform at the Stoltz Pavilion after taking an intro class with them this summer. The show sold out and several members of the audience signed up for the next series of classes. “The Avalon is looking forward to what our local improv actors come up with to entertain local residents and their guests on Black Friday,” Weigand says.
Brown will be offering the next round of 6-week introduction and intermediate classes in Easton beginning Tuesday, January 11, 2022. For more information about Reflex Improv, visit https://www.refleximprov.com/easton.
The Avalon Theatre is located at 40 E. Dover Street in Easton. Tickets for the Talbot County Improv show on Friday, November 26 are $20 and can be purchased at tickets.avalontheatre.com.
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