Chicago Improv Festival College Improv Tournament 2008 information is out

September 29, 3:02 PMChicago Comedy ExaminerRachael Mason

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2nd Annual COLLEGE IMPROV TOURNAMENT

“All against One and One against All!!!”

Saturday, October 11th through Saturday, November 15th, 2008

CIF Productions' is proud to present its 2nd annual College Improv Tournament as 30 college improv teams from across the nation are set on a comic collision course to compete in the upcoming tournament. To find the funniest improv college team, 3 regional competitions will take place in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. The winning team from each region will advance to the finals in Chicago to compete for the national title. All tournament matches will feature 3 rounds of improv: a short-form game, a 10 minute mid-form, and a musical scene. The championship winning team will be invited to perform at the 2009 Chicago Improv Festival and the 2009 Aspen RooftopComedy Festival, not to mention, bring home a pretty sweet trophy.

The National Finals and Semi-Finals will be telecast as 3 hour-long shows on Chicago public television. The shows will be shot with 5 HD cameras, and like sports, edited fully live-to-tape, along with anchormen/analysts, sideline reporters, coach interviews and slow motion replays. All of the matches will be available for on-line viewing at www.RooftopComedy.com
   
To make this happen nationally CIF Productions has partnered up with comedy and media organizations from across the country. The tournament’s television partner is Columbia College Chicago’s Television Department. The tournament’s on-line partner is RooftopComedy.com. The tournament’s co-presenters are Chicago’s ComedySportz, Boston’s Improv Asylum, and Los Angeles’ The Westside Eclectic.  

Currently scheduled to compete are improv teams from Arizona State University, Boston University, California Polytechnic State University, Chapman University, Clemson University, Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, Florida State University, Loyola University Chicago, Illinois State University, Indiana University, Indiana State University, Northwestern University, Suffolk University, University of Arizona, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Chicago, University of Dayton-Ohio, University of Illinois, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Southern California, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and William & Mary University, with more teams to be added.    
Tournament Play

The tournament’s round by round match-ups will be released soon on CIF Productions’ website:
www.chicagoimprovfestival.org/web/ccc_home.php

East Coast Regional Finals
Saturday, October 11, 2008 @ Improv Asylum
216 Hanover St., Boston, MA 02113
Box Office: (617) 263-6887
Tickets: $8 for college students & $10 for adults
Round One @ 12pm
Round Two @ 2pm
Round Three @ 4pm
Finals @ Midnight
The judges include Improv Asylum's co-owner Norm Laviolette, ImprovBoston's owner Will Luera and Boston Globe comedy writer Nick Zanio. The emcee/referee is Julia Gustafson.

Midwest Regional Finals
Saturday, October 18, 2008 @ Northwestern University’s Forum Auditorium
1870 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208
Tickets: Free for college students & $10 for adults
Round One @ 12pm
Round Two @ 2pm
Round Three @ 4pm
Round Four @ 6pm
Finals @ 8pm
The judges include DePaul University Theatre School's improv teacher Nick Johne, and IO & Second City teacher Jet Eveleth. The emcee/referee is Nick Hausman.

West Coast Regional Finals
Saturday, October 25, 2008 @ The Westside Eclectic
1323-A 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Box Office: (310) 451-0850
Tickets: $8 for college students & $10 for adults
Round One @ 12pm
Round Two @ 2pm
Round Three @ 4pm
Finals @ 6pm
The judges include Second City Training Center Los Angeles' Artistic Director Josh Funk, Mission Improvable's Aaron Krebs and Sean Monahan. The emcee/referee is Dan Foster.

National Semi-Finals & Finals
Saturday, November 15, 2008 @ ComedySportz Chicago
929 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, IL 60657
Box Office: (773) 549-8080
Tickets: Free to the public as the shows are being taped for local television.
Semi-Finals #1 @ 11am
Semi-Finals #2 @ 12:30pm
Finals @ 2pm
The judges include IO & Second City teacher/performer Jet Eveleth, DePaul University Theatre School's improv teacher Nick Johne, and Director of the IO Training Center Rachael Mason.

Partner & Presenter Bios:
Chicago Improv Festival Productions is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to celebrate the present, honor the past, and showcase the future of improvisational theatre, in all of its multi-disciplinary expressions, through local, regional, national, and international perspectives; by presenting and producing performances and workshops for both the general public and practicing improvisational theatre artists. CIF Productions accomplishes this by producing the Chicago Improv Festival, College Improv Tournament, Teen Comedy Fest; touring two improv shows (Storybox, World Tales) to Chicago area schools; directing the All State Improv Team for the Illinois High School Theatre Fest; and teaching a six week summer theatre camp to south side Chicago Park District children. (www.chicagoimprovfestival.org)

Columbia College Chicago’s Television Department holds the distinction of being the premier stand-alone college Television department in the country.  The department serves a student body of more than 300 majors, offering a curriculum structure with four concentrations: Writing/Producing, Directing/Production, Post-Production/Effects and Internet/Mobile Television. Columbia's TV Department boasts 3 fully equipped production studios utilizing industry standard production and post-production tools.  In addition, Columbia’s School of Media Arts has built a state-of-the-art, high-definition, multi-camera remote production truck that is used by the Television Department for a wide variety of classes and productions. The mission of Columbia College Chicago’s TV Department is to offer an education in Television that balances creativity, technology and ethics in an environment of collaboration and support for the individual creative voice. The department’s faculty combines the best of academic and professional skills, enabling and encouraging their students to contribute to both the local and global communities in order to inform, entertain and inspire us all.  (www.columbiacollege.tv)

ComedySportz Chicago is an improv-comedy entertainment and business services company. We provide smart, fast comedy in our theatre and on the road; and we use the fundamentals of improv to provide creative business solutions. Our theatre products and services include live shows in our theatre, improv training for life and work, and hosting events for small to large groups. Our creative business services include: customized corporate workshops and individual skills training; a traveling ensemble for private and hospitality events; talent/spokespeople for consumer events, trade shows and guerilla/street marketing; and other innovative, improv-based business solutions. (www.comedysportzchicago.com)

Improv Asylum has shows Wednesday through Saturday nights in Boston’s historic North End. They also offer unique corporate training, customized corporate shows and a fun adult training center. Featured on HBO and named Boston’s Best Comedy Club, Improv Asylum’s Main Stage Show features a cast of actors who bring together improvisation and sketch material in front of a live audience. The show has been described as a “hilarious mix of ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ meets Saturday Night Live!” The cast takes suggestions from the audience and creates comedic scenes on the spot – nothing is predictable, anything can happen and it’s never the same show twice! (www.improvasylum.com)

RooftopComedy is the leading distributor of interactive comedy programming and original comedy productions.  RooftopComedy records live comedy performances every night of the week, 365 days a year from its network of comedy clubs throughout North America, Europe and Asia, distributing original comedy programming to mobile, web and broadcast outlets that include Motorola, Nokia, iTunes, Yahoo!, Sprint, YouTube, Hulu, DailyMotion, Buzzwire, Lexy, mSpot, MobileStreams, and Optus.   Working with more than 3,000 professional comedians, RooftopComedy maintains a growing video library of tens of thousands of hours of stand-up comedy, sketch comedy, improvisational comedy and comedic short films.  RooftopComedy produces a range of local and national events programming, including the annual National College Comedy Competition and the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival. (www.RooftopComedy.com)

The Westside Eclectic is Los Angeles' fastest growing comedy theater and creative community.  Located in the heart of Santa Monica's famous 3rd Street Promenade, the WE offers a full calendar of comedy classes and nightly improv, sketch and stand up comedy shows. Recently named by Variety as a top spot to scout talent in LA, the theater is committed to fostering a down-to-earth, supportive, and professional environment for the many talented performers working within their community.  In addition to the theater, the Westside Eclectic is also the home base to The Independent Comedy Network (www.icn.tv), which is dedicated to producing, licensing and distributing high-quality comedy content for the internet and beyond. The Westside Eclectic is proud and honored to be hosting the 2nd annual College Improv Tournament’s West Coast Regional Finals. They are looking forward to meeting all the bright, young, improvisers who will bring their talents to their stage. (www.westsideeclectic.com)