Improv troupes come and improv troupes go. We shuffle and bounce from idea to idea. But Austin quartet Parallelogramophonograph are a rare bird. A troupe that has not only stayed together for over 300 shows, but continues to thrive on story styles and narrative sets powered by a vigilant ethos of self inspiration.
French Farce anyone? PGraph from L to R: Valerie Ward, Kaci Beeler, Roy Janik and Kareem Badr
TFPC Ep6 -PGraph – The Trope of the Troupe
Right-click and Save As to Download, or Left-click to play. (Run time: 67:42)
In a thriving Austin improv community, P’Graph stands tall. In addition to performing their own weekly show, they blend and play in the many other shows and troupes that patrol the Austin scene and Hideout Theatre, a theatre, incidentally, that members Roy Janik and Kareem Badr run and Kaci Beeler designs for.
Here, they speak of their history and the collective sensibility that has developed over their years together. The P’Graph way.
The freedoms and burdens of genre, the thrill and opportunity of festival travel and the challenge of staying true to their vision while remaining open to change.
Also, what does it mean, really mean, to be inspired by audience suggestion? Do you leap, or lurch at onstage intimacy and just how does one keep the vigour in the craft with such a heavy schedule?
P’Graph.
Ep 6.
LINKS FROM SHOW
Video of Kaci and Kareen performing with Patti Stiles and Sean Fabri from Impro Melbourne
Feature artist, The Spaces website
The Spaces music on iTunes
Show Notes and Corrections:
This podcast is an edit of a two and a half hour interview conducted via Skype in Feb from New York.
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