The 2nd Annual College Improv Tournament
EVENTS 2008 Update: September 26, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The 2nd Annual COLLEGE IMPROV TOURNAMENT "All Against One and One Against All!!!" Saturday, October 11th through Saturday, November 15th, 2008 Chicago, IL (September 26, 2008) CIF Productions' is proud to present its 2nd annual College Improv Tournament as 24 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 Sheldon Patinkin CIT Championship Trophy Cup). 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 RooftopComedy 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 Boston University, California Polytechnic State University, Chapman University, Columbia College Chicago, ComedySportz Los Angeles College Team, DePaul University, Emerson College, Loyola University Chicago, Illinois State University, Indiana University, National Comedy Theatre College Team, Northweastern University, Northwestern University, Salve Regina University, Suffolk University, University of California-Los Angeles, The University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Illinois, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Massachusetts, University of Southern California, University of Wisconsin-Madison and The College of William & Mary. Tournament Schedule East Coast Regionals @ Improv Asylum
Midwest Regionals @ Northwestern University
West Coast Regionals @ The Westside Eclectic
National Finals & Semi-Finals @ ComedySportz Chicago
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 For Young Auidences; 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. 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? 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. 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. Improv Asylum has shows Wednesday through Saturday nights in Boston? 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? never the same show twice! 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. 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. Photos & Interviews Hi-Res & Lo-Res color digital photographs from the 2007 tournament are available from CIF. For media interviews regarding the tournament, please contact CIF Productions' Executive Director Jonathan Pitts at 773.935.9810 or Tournament Interviews There are no new special events currently planned for the 2008 College Improv Tournament. http://media.www.thesuffolkvoice.net/media/storage/paper1060/news/2008/10/21/News/Seriously.Bent.Named.Best.Improv.Troupe.In.The.East-3495517.shtml EVENTS 2007 Team Brunch with Mick Napier & Rachel Mason
All 16 teams competing in the College Comedy Championship are invited to iO for a free brunch. The food will be supplied by CCC's Sponsors: Chipotle and Whole Foods. The brunch will be a chance for the players and the teams to hang out and socialize. Special guest Mick Napier, actor, author, director, teacher, and Annoyance Theater founder, will be there to meet and talk with the teams, as will Rachel Mason, the Education Director from the historic iO Comedy Theatre. Chicago Improv Festival's Artistic Director Mark Sutton will be the emcee of the panel discussion. Please note: This brunch is a private event and the general public will not be able to attend. Update: 10/15/07
OSTN TEAMS WITH CHICAGO IMPROV FESTIVAL ON COLLEGE COMEDY CHAMPIONSHIPS
CLEVELAND, OH. - October 11, 2006 - The Open Student Television Network (OSTN) today announced their partnership with the Chicago Improv Festival Productions to bring the biggest college comedy competition in the world to it college audience. The College Comedy Championships (CCC)First Round matches will be held live at Loyola University Chicago's Mundelein Auditorium. The Quarter-Finals through the Finals will be taped at Columbia College Chicago's Television Department on November 2nd - 4th. CCC is a competition of comedy troupes from colleges and universities around the United States including troupes from Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin. CCC is the largest student comedy competition in the world that will showcase the top comedy talent on campuses. Many professionals in the industry see the competition as a scouting opportunity for the next generation of writers and talent for TV. Some of the troupes in competition are Barren Mind from ASU, Seriously Bent from Suffolk College, 45 Kings from Loyola College, the Cosby Sweaters from DePaul University, Awkward Science and Full Frontal from Indiana University, Charred Goosebeak from Colgate, Mock Turtle Soup from Clemson, Dropping $cience from Columbia College, On the Fly Improv from Dayton, Charles Darwin Experience from Arizona and the Titanic Players from Northwestern University. "The 1st annual College Comedy Championship is going to be a wonderful event that will showcase the hilarious talents of tomorrow's stars today."- stated Executive Director of the Chicago Improv Festival Productions, Jonathan Pitts, "That we get to highlight the quarter-finals through the finals by telecasting them nationally and internationally on OSTN makes this opportunity for the college players and college teams that much more fantastic!" Julia Gustafson from Suffolk University shared her enthusiasm, "This is an amazing opportunity for Suffolk University's comedy team Seriously Bent, and for everyone else involved too. We're really excited for the experience that we'll gain from participating in the College Comedy Championship and for being on OSTN!" "OSTN is the minor leagues for film and TV that will benefit Hollywood? top talent agencies like CAA, William Morris, UTA and ICM. If you are looking for the stars of tomorrow, watch our channel." - commented VP of Programming and Head of OSTN Studios, Shane Walker. "I saw CCC as a valuable event that had to be taken to a national audience and we are happy to do that." OSTN features a wide variety of programming genres ranging from news like "OSTN News" to soap operas like "Ivory Tower" from HRTV at Harvard University to dating shows such as "Blind Date" from YTV at Yale University to talk shows such as "CU@USC" from Trojan Vision at University of Southern California to news shows like "Northwestern News Report" from Medill? School of Journalism at Northwestern University. The Open Student Television Network uses Abilene, Internet2 nationwide high-speed backbone network, to deliver the OSTN student-produced programming to Internet2? three million users at 208 university member campuses and 34 state education networks. Internet2 members have the advantage of receiving OSTN programming from the Abilene network, which operates at speeds 100-1,000 times faster than average household broadband connection. About Chicago Improv Festival Productions The Chicago Improv Festival Productions is a non-profit organization that produces the Chicago Improv Festival, the Teen Comedy Fest, and the College Comedy Championships. CIFP's 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 theater artists. For further information go to www.chicagoimprovfestival.org About Open Student Television Network OSTN is the only 24-hour global channel devoted exclusively to student-produced programming. For further information about OSTN go to http://www.ostn.tv |
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