Improv! with Toby Britches at Cotuit Center for the Arts

For Immediate Release: Contact: David Kuehn, Executive Director Cotuit Center for the Arts Phone: (508) 428-0669 Email: [email protected] Website: ArtsOnTheCape.org

“Improv!” with Toby Britches at Cotuit Center for the Arts Cotuit Center for the Arts presents “Improv!” with the Toby Britches Improv Group on Sunday, February 8. There will be two shows, at 6:30 and 8 PM. Troy Davies will host the evening of short theater games in the style of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” complete with audience participation.

This is Toby Britches’ debut performance, but the 12 members of the troupe have a wide range of experience in improvisation, acting, playwriting, and musical theater. The group has been honing their improv skills since early fall and are looking forward to their first public performance.

Michele Colley coordinates the group, which includes Norbert Brown, Liz Brown, Kim Mitchell, Jim Pettibone, Jeane Lohnes, Kempton Parker, Kelly Depin, Jo Brisbane, Kaleigh Mason, Elliott Sicard, and Eli Woods. Troy Davies serves as their mentor and coach.

The name of the group, Colley said, comes from an experience she had at a local community theater. “I was told I asked for too much, that I was ‘too big for my britches,’ and Toby Britches was born,” she said.

Colley has been involved in community theater as a director, choreographer, and actor for over 20 years. She teaches Musical Theater Dance Workshop at Cotuit Center for the Arts; it was in a play production there that she met others with an interest in improv. Those relationships formed the basis of Toby Britches.

“It’s fun, it’s exhilarating, it’s exciting,” Colley said. “Some days we are so hysterically funny I just can’t stop laughing. We’re really looking forward to having an audience because, with improv, the audience interaction and participation adds so much to the experience.”

“We’re a very diverse group,” said Kim Mitchell, “and I think we complement each other really well. We have a tremendous kinetic energy when we get together, each contributing in their own way.”

Mitchell has been involved in theater her whole life as a singer and actor. She was in an improv group in college and has taken classes at improv Boston and Improv Asylum. She worked with Mike Devine and his improv group in Chatham, and is looking forward to performing with Toby Britches.

She credits Colley for getting the project going and Troy Davies with providing constructive and supportive feedback. “Michele devotes boundless energy to the group,” she said. “Troy has a wealth of experience and has been a real benefit.” Davies is a graduate of Second City and teaches improv at Cape Cod Conservatory. He has worked with The Franchise, GoComedy, Planet Ant, and performs with local theater groups on the Cape.

“I don’t teach them to be funny,” said Davies. “I show them that they don’t need to be ‘jokey’ or inherently funny to do improv. There’s little value in sacrificing the scene or their scene partners solely for the sake of a gag. The humor comes from relationships between the characters and between the characters and their world.”

Davies has been teaching the group various theater games based on the teachings of Viola Spolin. “I teach them the basic rules of improv and how to break them,” he said.

“Yes, and” is the most important rule in improv. “Anything my scene partners gives me, I accept and build on it,” said Davies.

Norbert Brown, an actor and writer, explained. “If someone says to you, ‘Hey, do you want to rob a store?”’ you would never say, ‘No, no, no, I don’t do that sort of thing.’ That would shut the scene down. You are always focused on making choices that say ‘Yes,’ that move you to new and interesting places.”

“I’m a big proponent of improv,” said Davies. “It is a great way to communicate with people, to be in the moment, to create something new, without knowing the outcome in advance. It can be exhilarating when it goes well. It’s like stepping off a cliff without a parachute, and I love that about it.”

Davies has been teaching troupe members to trust their own creativity, to listen and respond to their scene partners, and not to worry if a scene doesn’t work. “When it comes to improv, having the guts to fail, and to fail gracefully, is an asset,” he said.

The audience will often respond to a failed scene with just as much enthusiasm as one that works, Davies said. “They love the spontaneous nature of it, the frivolity, the sheer joy of watching people do this stuff, and the fun that the people are having on stage,” he said.

Brown agrees. “What happens on stage and what you can come up with can really surprise you,” he said.

“It’s a very interesting and fun group of people,” Brown said of the group, which also includes his wife Liz. “There is a big range of length and type of experience, from a 15-year-old girl who is so new at everything, but so original and fresh, to a man who has been teaching acting for years and years. We have dramatic actors and musical comedy actors, but when we are all on stage, we are all in the same place and it’s really fun.”

“It’s a very dynamic group,” said Mitchell. “The energy, the camaraderie, and the chemistry between the actors is great. It’s full of belly laughs—surprising, unexpected, and in many ways dependent on the audience.” The audience will actively participate in “Improv!” Davies, as host of the show, will ask them for prompts and settings that the troupe members will respond to in their scenes. Because the specific prompts will depend on the audience, each of the two shows will be different.

“It’s a high-adrenaline type of performing,” said Brown, “and having the two shows back-to-back, but completely different, is just a cool thing to do.”

Tickets are $15, $12 for members. Premium tables with wine are available. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit artsonthecape.org or call 508-428-0669. Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28 in Cotuit. # # # What: “Improv!” with Toby Britches

Where: Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Route 28, Cotuit

When: Sunday, February 8, at 6:30 and 8 PM

Admission: $15, $12 for members END