Poupak's Parisian Life in New York

News and Events May 2012

ucbdifference:

• UCB Training Center Diversity Program Meet-up and Practice
  Saturday, May 19; 1:00-3:00 pm - Meet Up; 3:00-5:00 pm - Improv Practice Session.
  Both events are the at UCB Training Center: 145 W 30th St, 4th Floor. Everybody is welcome to attend, whether or not you have ever taken a class at the UCB Training Center. The meet-up is pretty informal - there will be food and a chance to meet other students or ask questions about the program or classes. You can stop in anytime.
   
• FREAK DANCE movie - Saturday midnight at UCBEast
  Come to a special screening of Matt Besser’s FREAK DANCE with a live appearance by the writer/director/star himself, MATT BESSER! There will be an audience Q&A, a real b-boy dance squad, and a party at the Hot Chicks Room Bar. Get your tickets here: http://east.ucbtheatre.com/performances/view/23170

• Free Besser improv lecture - Sunday 1pm at UCB Chelsea.
  On Sunday 5/20 from 1pm-3:30pm, Matt Besser will lead a workshop at the Chelsea theatre on the topic of improv comedy. Free for current performers and students. In case you don’t realize, Besser is one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade and also of this theater. His workshops are always smart and great and if you haven’t studied with him, try to check it out! No reservations necessary, just go.  (UCB Chelsea is at 26th St and Eighth Ave)
  
  
• The Soul Glo Project
  Saturday May 26, 7 pm, UCBEast
  Join Keisha Zollar and Poupak Sepehri as they host the Soul Glo Project, a comedy variety show featuring a diverse cast of performers bringing to the stage the very best stand up, sketch, improv, video, dance, and music. Just let your SOUL GLO!
  http://east.ucbtheatre.com/shows/view/2434
  
  
• Training Center Guide - We’ve written a 20-page guide to the training center that any student who plans on taking several classes should read. It has an overview of the main courses we offer, lists of performance opportunities, general advice for getting the most of out of the program. There are printed copies available in the Training Center lobby or you can download it right here:
  http://antoine.ucbcomedy.com/files/staging/wiki/HowTheSchoolWorks.pdf

@UCBDifference: So much happening between this weekend and next! Not to be missed!!

18 May 2012

• Tags
• UCB Difference

UCBT NY - May announcements

ucbdifference:

Hi all, 

A few announcements for May. Read the bold heading of each to see what is relevant for you. 

New 3v3 improv opportunity at UCBeast - THREE FOR ALL

Starting in May, Fridays at midnight will be a new 3v3 improv competition show, hosted by improv team J. Leno. Show link. 

Stand-up Smackdown! 

Aspiring stand-ups, check out this monthly show at UCBeast - next show Monday May 14th. Show link. 

Creative Control - screenplay finalists

Congratulations to our screenplay finalists, Dan Chamberlain & Halle Kiefer’s I.O.U. and Morgan Evans’ Survival of the Fittest. A staged reading will take place next Monday at UCBeast to determine the winner, who will return to an industry showcase in early June, along with the winners of the pilot and web series events. Show link   

May 1st - 99 Comics For The 99% - hosted by The Tony and Johnny Show

This should be a gigantic fun spectacle. Stop by. We’re selling tickets ahead of time for this one, so buy tickets here. 

Training Center - office hours

Did you know that the training center does office hours? It is true! Spread the word to your students and people you coach/direct. If you direct people to the training center message boards, they times will be listed, like here. Anyone is welcome to come with questions/concerns/ideas/suggestions about anything they want. 

Del Close Marathon - when will we hear if our team/show was accepted?

Soon. I am finalizing the schedule this week. 

WHAT I DID FOR LOVE - new show that is free for students for a limited time

Starting in May, a new improv show called WHAT I DID FOR LOVE, UCBeast Fridays at 7:30pm, will be free for students for a limited time. Please let your students know. Show link. 

Karaoke Night for UCB Community - 4/28 6pm

Alan Starzinski is organizing a karaoke night. See below for a blurb from him with details about the event: 

“Come on out to the UCB Karaoke night.

April 28th starting at 6pm

6pm-7pm OPEN BAR!!!
7pm-9pm 2 for 1 drinks
FREE KARAOKE SONGS ALL NIGHT!!!!!!!
*****Pulse Karaoke lounge is located at 135 West 41st Street between 6th ave. and Broadway*****
Come out and get to know your community a bit better.  If I forgot anyone just invite em’ this thing is open to all!
FB Invite here.”

Thanks all. 

-nate

—

Nate Dern
Artistic Director

UCB Theatre NY

145 30th Street, 4th floor

23 April 2012

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• UCB Difference

UCB Difference: Shows and Events - April 2012

ucbdifference:

MANEATER:  The True Story of the Champawat Tigress 
Thu. Apr. 19 6:30 pm - UCB Theatre NY (307 W 26. @ 8 ave) - $5
Written by/Starring:  Josh Sharp (a homosexual!) and Matt Dennie (a straight, married man…).  Directed by:  Brandon Gulya.  Choreography by:  Kassia Miller.

ANGEL & FRIENDS! 
Mon. Apr. 23 8pm - Parkside Lounge - Free
COHOST Melissa Gordon! Featuring: John Poveromo, Jessica Rionero, Becky Yamamoto, John Flynn, US National Improv Team, and The sketch group all the way from Philly: CAMPWOODS.

Pou & Nic: You’re Welcome
Sat. Apr. 21 7 pm - Peaple’s Improv Theater Underground (123 E 24 St. Bet. Park & Lex) - $5
Our Monthly show is back at its regular venue!! We wanted to celebrate by bringing you original comedy by a bunch of super talented teams!! Clowns: Everybody Nose!; Sketch: Pirate Sugar; Improv: North Coast.  And as usual, a surprise veteran improviser will be leading the jam. You know what we say: you bring the peanut butter, we bring the jam! Hosted by Poupak Sepehri & Nicole Lee.

The Soul Glo Project
Sat. Apr. 21 Midnight - UCB East (153 E 3 St. @ Ave A) - $5
Join Keisha Zollar and Poupak Sepehri as they host the Soul Glo Project, a comedy variety show featuring a diverse cast of performers bringing to the stage the very best stand up, sketch, improv, video, dance, and music. Just let your SOUL GLO!  This Month Features: Stand-up by Abbi Crutchfield and James Smith III; Improv by P.I.G; Music by People With Teeth; Sketch by Gay Bomb: The Musical.

The Lady Jam
Sat. Apr. 21 Midnight - UCB Theatre (307 W 26 St. @ 8 ave) - Free
Once a month something special will happen. We will all improvise together. If you want to perform in this lady only open improv jam come to the theatre, put your name in the bucket and get ready! Everyone who puts their name in will perform. All levels of experience are welcome and encouraged to participate. Guys are welcome to watch, just don’t be a creep about it.  Hosted by Shannon O’Neill (THE STEPFATHERS) and friends! 

Yes!!! 

19 April 2012

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• UCB Difference
• Diversity

Shows and Events This Weekend - March 17-18, 2012

ucbdifference:

Just a quick reminder:

• The Soul Glo Project is THIS Saturday, March 17, at midnight at UCBeast.  That’s right - it’s our St Paddy’s Day edition!  There’s a great line up of improv, sketch and music.  Hosted by Keisha Zollar and Poupak Sepehri.  After party in the Hot Chick Room, the bar adjacent to the theater on Avenue A.
• The next meet-up for the UCB Training Center diversity program will be next Sunday March 18 from 2:00-5:00 pm at the UCBeast: 3rd St and Ave A; Everyone is invited, whether or not you’re enrolled in a course or have ever done improv or written sketches.  We’ll provide the food, and the bar will have cheap drinks.

Yep! I am co-hosting the Soul Glo Project and we do have a great line up!! Check it our here!!

16 March 2012

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• Shows
• UCB Difference

Harold Auditions: Interview with Nate Dern, Artistic Director of UCB Theatre NY

I figured, talking about Harold Auditions and advice, we might as well talk to Nate Dern himself.  I did a quick interview with him for UCB Difference… ENJOY!

ucbdifference:

This is your first Harold Audition as the Artistic Director of UCB Theatre NY.  Obviously, you’ve been on the other side of things.  Tell us about your approach.

We did an invite audition in October, but you are correct that it is my first time running an open audition. And actually I haven’t been on the other side of things - I was out of town for the first audition I was eligible for, and then I was one of those schmugadoos  who was placed on a team between auditions when someone stepped down from a team. I also submitted to be an actor on a Maude Team but wasn’t invited to have an audition, but then was placed on a team when someone stepped down. So I never auditioned for either but was on both. What a jerk!

This blog is mostly supporting the diversity initiative at the UCB.  Is there any particular advice you would like to give individuals in this community?

Advice: try to relax, have fun, make your scene partner look good. Make choices that you think are fun, don’t try to do what you imagine the people in the room think the “correct” move is. Anyone reading this has heard this before, and it sounds cliche, but of course there is no secret advice I can give that you haven’t heard before. I could write even less and say this: do your best, that is all you can do. Be realistic - there are hundreds of people auditioning and only a handful will get on. Statistically speaking, the odds are you won’t get on.

Is there anything else you would want to add?  Any general advice to improvisers / comedians out there?

I think that for Harold Auditions, as well as anything that you want but for which there is a limited number of slots, you should have the mentality that you are so good that of course it will be given to you, while simultaneously practicing a Buddhist-type detachment that you don’t need this thing for your self worth or happiness in a sort of Orwellian doublethink. We have reached a point as a community that there are more qualified people than we have slots for. Like the space program with astronauts. Them is the breaks. It is both good and bad. I think Harold Night is a great thing, obviously, but I also don’t want to overstate its importance. The UCB4 didn’t wait around to be put on a Chicago theatre’s house team - they formed their own comedy team and worked hard and got a sketch show on TV. Follow their example. Do the work/comedy/art that you want to do with the people you want to do it with. Right now. Don’t wait. Life is short and time goes very fast, especially your mid to late twenties I am finding.

9 March 2012

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• UCB Difference
• Harold Auditions
• UCB Theatre