Tag: improv

Categories
Chicago Theatre

Batterymouth: It Burns opens TONIGHT!

Hey folks, we’ve been working on this for a while and I’m very pleased to announce that Batterymouth: It Burns opens tonight at the de Maat Theatre at Piper’s Alley. For the unintroduced, Batterymouth is a two man improv team made up of my good friends Dave Urlakis and Zack Whittington. You may have seen either of these gentlemen before in Best Church of God and Long Pork respectively.

The guys take on a daring form rarely attempted and even more rarely successful: They take one audience suggestion and use that to make a single, half hour, two man scene in real time. They’ve spent a lot of time working on their craft with the magnificent E.J. Scott and the show promises to be a blast.

It’s been an honor and a lot of fun working with Batterymouth to refine their brand and promote this show. I can’t wait for you to see it.

Also, Long Pork fans, if you missed the Gentlemen’s show at Sketchfest you should notice that they are scheduled to perform on closing night. I highly suggest you come sooner than that but you may want to buy tickets in advance for that show as it will likely sell out.

Here are the show times:
Fri, 1/21/11 at 7:30PM with Honor Student Breakfast
Fri, 1/28/11 at 7:30PM with Electric Lunchbox
Fri, 2/04/11 at 7:30PM with Wildcard
Fri, 2/11/11 at 7:30PM with Tina with the Weather
Fri, 2/18/11 at 7:30PM with Long Pork

Tickets are $12 at the door or $10 for students and can be bought online or at the Second City Box Office.

See you there!

Categories
Chicago General Photography Theatre

This week in thankfulness

To start with I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

I’m visiting NY for the weekend to see my family and reflecting a bit right now I’m thankful for a lot. I’ve switched to part time at my retail job and I really have started to find a good work / life balance. I turned 29 on Saturday and had an awesome party with awesome friends. I can’t express enough how important and awesome my friends are. Thank you everyone. This has been a great year. What I am thankful for going forward though are exciting projects. If you know me, dear reader, I’m not happy unless I’m doing a million things at once, here is what is going on right now:

  1. I’ll be working with dynamic improv duo Batterymouth to promote their upcoming run Fridays at DeMaat Theatre at Second City from Jan 21st – Feb 25th. So far we have one publicity photo ready but there are more on the way. In my eyes Batterymouth is one of the best kept secrets of Chicago theatre and I’m very excited to be working with them.
  2. Speaking of comedy… Long Pork is still going strong. The Gentlemen are hard at work on their next show which is set to debut at the Chicago Sketchfest on January 13th 9:30 pm. Also they’ve been invited to preform in the Charleston Comedy Festival for which they are super excited and honored.
  3. Still doing the ChicagoNow thing. Yesterday I published a photo set of Wrigleyville during last Saturday’s Northwestern vs. Illinois Football game. You can check that out here. Tomorrow I’ll be publishing a holiday gift guide for photographers so check back then.

That’s all for today friends. I hope you all enjoy your turkey dinners!

Categories
Chicago Design

Still a designer…

I often feel silly handing out my business cards when I meet people; while I’m mostly known as a photographer, my card still says “Graphic Design for Web and Print.”

These days, I tell people I’m not a designer, but the truth is really something else. It doesn’t happen often, but with the right amount of coaxing, I can be convinced to do a poster or logo design.

Since I don’t share this stuff too often, I thought I’d do so today:

The Bam Theory Movie Logo

The Bam Theory – Logo for upcoming MMA movie project by Bear Frazer, Kickstarter page soon!

Chicago Ladies In Comedy

CLIC – Chicago Ladies In Comedy

Faye Garfinkle - Personal Branding
Faye Garfinkle – Engineer, Personal Branding

Categories
General Photography Travels

Photo on the Radio

This morning at 10:30 AM I did my first ever live media appearance for WGN 720 AM on ChicagoNow Radio. It was a real pleasure and I was way more comfortable than I expected I would be. I think there are probably two clear reasons for this:

One of the hosts was a friend of mine: Amy Guth. Amy is stellar and that made it a lot easier than talking to a complete stranger.

The classes I’ve been taking at IO have really done the trick! It’s already made me more comfortable in a performance atmosphere. Specifically helping me maintain my composure and gaining an ability to think on my feet.

We talked about my new blog on ChicagoNow: Focal Points. As well as my experiences in Berlin, and last weekend’s Journey to the End of the Night event. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Listen here!

Categories
General Photography Theatre Travels

Leveling Up and Leveling Out

Nintendo Cartridges.

2009 has been a heck of a year. While it’s really been a year of serious ups and downs for me, it’s also been a year of growth and learning. I’ve made some mistakes, but I’ve also made some awesome friends and I’ve grown as a person in ways I never would have imagined. This year I took some life changing trips to Berlin, Paris and St. Louis that taught me how to explore and be more independent. When I moved to Chicago three years ago it was precisely for this reason. I wanted to force myself to break out of my shell and stand completely on my own. It took me almost three years but I think I finally really accomplished that goal.

Last weekend I finished my Level 1 improv class at iO Chicago (formerly Improv Olympic) and I have to say it was one of the most liberating feelings I’ve experienced in a while. In the short amount of time it took to take the class I discovered sides of myself that I had never even imagined. Improv has forced me to change the way I think and has become something I look forward to every week. On top of that, I met some great people in class I’m happy to call friends. It’s no surprise that I’ve signed up for level 2 and I’m excited already. Improv has been an outlet for me during the most stressful time of year.

Now a few random notes:

My blog with ChicagoNow has been pushed back to Q1 of 2010. More info as I get it.

Long Pork has received it’s dates and times for San Francisco Sketchfest with two shows!

The first: January 29, 8pm at the Eureaka Theater and we’ll be opening for Theme Park Improv featuring Rachel Dratch, Edie McClurg, Danny Pudi, Jessica Makinson, Janet Varney and Cole Stratton.

Second: Jan 30th, 10:30pm at The Dark Room Theater with Marvin Berry and We Are Nudes.

Needless to say, we’re pretty excited.

That’s really all for now, but things are looking good. 2010 has a lot of good things coming, more traveling, SXSWi again and the restarting of TheChicagoGuys.com and more. The future may be unwritten, but the rough draft sounds pretty good.