Funny Girl
By KAREN SHADE, 2/23/2007
The SuperOVUM improv comedy troupe (from top):April Marrs, Cynthia Hamill, Katrina Lofgren and Toni Willis. Photo illustration by JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World
SuperOVUM improv troupe proves that women get laughs
Biologically speaking, women make great comics.
Katrina Lofgren of improv group SuperOVUM stands by that assertion even in the face of catchy magazine headline writing.
"There was an article I was reading in Vanity (Fair) or Vogue, and it caught my attention. I had to read it because it said, 'Why Women Aren't Funny,' " Lofgren said.
Four years of long-form improv performance prepared her for the retort: "I don't think so!"
And she has proof. Snapshots of performances show members Lofgren, Cynthia Hamill, April Marrs and Toni Willis laughing it up with one another on stage
If the comedy world has comparatively few female icons, Lofgren is assured of at least one thing.
"I know I'm funny, and people say the girls I work with are funny," she said.
SuperOVUM will showcase its fast-paced and fierce brand of improv Saturday night at the Nightingale Theater with "OVUM: Over Easy." The group plays improv games emphasizing character-driven storytelling that is equal parts dramatic, suspenseful and bizarre, Lofgren said.
"There's a guarantee of five good laughs. We guarantee that or your money back ... We'll count them," she said.
Lofgren is quick to add that SuperOVUM isn't made up of a bunch of "scary feminists."
"I think (people) think we're more into the fact that we're women and 'women power,' but that's not what defines us. It happens to be a perk," she said. "We're not leading a movement. We're just being ourselves."
SuperOVUM hopes to begin work on a Web-based "Monty Python-esque" show in the summer, but the group also has big plans for April. The group wants to travel to Austin to participate in an all-female improv festival on April 24.
"We're in the middle of the country, and on the West Coast and East Coast, improv is blowing up. I've even seen that with Austin ... They've gone from being able to support one improv theater to two. Hopefully we can see that grow in Tulsa," she said.
"There are funny women out there. They seem to be under rocks, and now they're coming out, and its really beautiful to see that happening," she said.
"SUPER OVUM IMPROV COMEDY "
When
8 p.m. Saturday
Where
Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
Tickets
$6. For more information, call 633-8666.