We didn’t. So we had another one.
Cornwallis ended the night of their final performance with a Promber. That is a prom/slumber party at CIC. The prom was dancey and sweaty and romantic. The slumber party was complete with pizza and a Ouija board though, we made no contact with spirits that night. They were too drunk to reply.
More pics to come!
Company member, Cornwallis player, Lina, presents you with this…please…ENJOY!
A war has started between two of our sponsored Improv groups. The gauntlet has been thrown down…and the battle has begun.
In the left corner representing Cornwallis is Lina Del Toro
In the right corner is Anthony Ellis representing Counter Productive Lover
This video shows the battle close to the death. Watch with caution.
Last month, CIC team Cornwallis was joined in rehearsal by Ian, a young man from Paris in town to take a Second City intensive and explore all things improvisational. Ian is a founding member of the only Harold team in Paris, Eux, and a passionate student of improv. He maintains a wonderful blog about improvisation, including a travelogue of his recent journey to North America, which can be read here.
As for Ian’s take on rehearsing with Cornwallis… well, that blog entry was in French, a language I do not speak, but I think this partial babelfish translation of the experience about sums it up. Try to guess which “heating” (warm-up) he’s referring to:
“I could discover new exercises, like the heating where each one made a small scene with its fingers: it is ridiculous, but that starts energy with good mood.”
CIC house team Cornwallis makes their Chicago Improv Festival debut tonight at the Lakeshore Theater. Cornwallis has appeared at the Toronto Improv Fest, the Phoenix Improv Fest, the New York Underground Comedy Festival, and Around the Coyote, but this is their first CIF performance. Come on out to support the team! Afterwards, we can all hang out at the bar. Just imagine yourself, gazing adoringly into Sean’s eyes from across the table…
A couple weekends ago, CIC house team Cornwallis performed in the Chicago Improv Festival preview weekend. It was a fun show, and a great warm-up for our CIF performance in just a few weeks!
All photos (c) Angela Manginelli and CIF. Thanks to CIF for permission to share ‘em!
Chemically Imbalanced Comedy’s own Cornwallis is playing in the 2008 Chicago Improv Festival, and this weekend is your chance to catch a special sneak-preview at the Second City skybox theater. Cornwallis is on Saturday night at 9pm. If you want to make a weekend of it, friends-of-CIC Pimprov are playing Friday at 11pm. See the poster below for the other great acts who will be appearing, and remember, this is only the preview! Stay tuned for more on the upcoming 11th Annual Chicago Improv Festival.
by Jill of Cornwallis
I believe it was Del Close who said that the characters you play are loosely draped over you like a trench coat. It’s true, when you’re on stage you get to play the best (and sometimes worst) versions of yourself. Yesterday I received a Missed Connection from someone who was at one of two shows Cornwallis did at the Theater on Saturday (if you’re not familiar with Missed Connections, they’re a sort of anonymous personal ads people post on Craig’s List or in the Reader if they want to try and get in touch with a stranger they had an encounter with. You can see mine here.)
This Missed Connection made me think about the characters I had played in each of the shows, and wonder which one this person may have felt some sort of bond with. Was it the Doctor dealing with an extreme OCD patient? The anorexic woman that was bench-pressed to death by her friend? The co-ed who played Twister? How much of my real self and my true personality came through these performances? Would this person be disappointed once they met me? I admit there have been times in the past where I have been disheartened after identifying with a character in a play or improv show, and then discovering that the actor who portrayed him/her was completely different in real life.
Improv itself is about making connections. We make connections with our teammates and within the piece we create. We make connections with the audience when we ask for a suggestion and as we perform for them. In a way, this “Missed Connection” isn’t “Missed” at all. It’s a “Hyper Connection” because this person felt such a correlation to us. I was happy to think that the Craig’s List post means we were doing our job, and did it well. And that isn’t disappointing at all.
PS To the person who posted the Missed Connection — Thank you very much, I’m very flattered. Also, thank you for coming to the show.
photo by Lina Bunte (also of Cornwallis)
We have our first Friday Night Showcase to open this week. And our very own Cornwallis is the headliner.
Here is a video from there last performane in the New Theater:
Site last updated December 19, 2011 @ 4:27 pm