Danger zone
By KAREN SHADE, 9/29/2007
Katrina Lofgren (left), April Marrs and Toni Willis do the unexpected by hosting two Austin-based improv groups for a night of unscripted antics at the Nightingale Theater on Saturday. Courtesy / Stephen Williams
SuperOVUM improv group will wing it with two more troupes
If Katrina Lofgren has learned to expect anything from her five years of working in the improv group Super- OVUM, it is to say "yes."
Make that two things, because saying "yes" to every situation thrown at her during a racing performance often means that players and audience alike will experience something special.
"It's nonstop fun. You’re trained as an improv-er to be a supporter and say 'yes,' because the golden rule of improv is to say 'yes' to your partner's ideas," she said.
"If you’re not saying yes to your partner's ideas, the scene will ultimately fail. That, I think, applies in life, as well. Say 'yes,' and things can actually happen."
Things are looking good for the group's trio of Lofgren, Toni Willis and April Marrs, who play hostesses Saturday night at the Nightingale Theater to visiting improv groups from Austin.
The "Variety Pack: Live Action Improv" packages SuperOVUM doing its experimental long-form improv alongside the antics of Girls Girls Girls and Parallelogramophonograph.
Lofgren and company met up with Girls Girls Girls a year ago on a visit to Texas' burgeoning epicenter for creativity and, through them, met the syllabically-adventurous Parallelogramophonograph.
Like SuperOVUM, Girls Girls Girls is an all-female improv group.
Named "best improv troupe" in 2006 by readers of the Austin Chronicle, the group has performed at numerous comedy festivals, including the Ladies Are Funny Festival, which the group founded, states a press release.
Girls Girls Girls specializes in improvised full-length musicals, while Parallelogramophonograph has fixed on narrative long-form improvisation and has taken its act on the road to a number of improv festivals across the country.
Lofgren said she and her partners look forward to the "big massive collaboration" called the improv jam session all three groups plan to do Saturday night. It’s only dangerous when the players do not know what they are doing.
"It's lots of fun to collaborate with artists you don’t normally collaborate with," she said.
"VARIETY PACK: LIVE ACTION IMPROV"
SuperOVUM with Austin's Parallelogramophonograph and Girls Girls Girls
When: 8 p.m. Saturday (followed at 10 p.m. by "Old Crow Confessions")
Where: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St. Tickets are $10. For more information, call 633-8666