Magnet Theater to Host The 9th Annual New York Musical Improv Festival

Magnet Theater presents The Ninth Annual New York Musical Improv Festival from October 19 - 22, 2017 at 254 W. 29th Street, ground floor (between 7th and 8th Avenues), NYC. Most tickets are $5-$15 and feature performances by two to four different musical improv acts per show. Festival Workshops are also being offered to people of all levels of experience! Tickets and Workshops are now available for purchase at www.nymif.com.

This year's 4-day long festival will feature? ?musical comedy? performers from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Delray Beach, Miami, Austin, Boston, Pittsburgh, Providence, Washington DC, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, San Francisco, San Diego, Vancouver and Berlin, Germany - improvising everything ?from traditional musical? ?theater fare, à la Sondheim, to adrenaline-pumping rap battles and ?Hamilton-esque? historical "Hip-Hoperas!?" Every piece of music, lyric, choreography and dialogue is entirely made up on the spot!

Featured performers will include...

Baby Wants Candy (NYC), The Improvised Sondheim Project (Chicago), American Immigrants (San Francisco), NORTH COAST Presents ANYBODY: An Improvised Historical Hip-Hopera (NYC), Your Love, Our Musical (NYC), The Armando Diaz Experience: Musical Edition (NYC), Robot Teammate and the Accidental Party (L.A.), Vox Pop (Washington, DC), Mansical (Chicago), Mikki Hommel (NYC), Murder 'Til Death (San Diego), Olivia Benson (NYC), Wonderland (NYC), Hot Mess (Kansas City/Chicago), Good Catch (NYC), ImprovBoston (Boston), Premiere: The Improvised Musical (NYC), PYROS (NYC), IMMIGRANTS, THE MUSICAL! (PART 1) (Austin, TX), VERN (NYC), RoboPop (NYC), After Hours (Oklahoma City), Public Pool (NYC), Bookends: A Musical Journey (NYC/San Francisco), COMMITMENT PANTS (Chicago), Mr. Kitty (NYC), Hansbury and Slack Present THE MOMENT: An Improvised Musical Play (NYC), Oh My Lanta (Chicago), Girls Girls Girls (Austin, TX), Warm Blooded (NYC), James and Then Also Stoddy, Too (NYC), Pitch, Please!!! (L.A.), Grammalot (Pittsburgh), Eastwood (Chicago), SideCar (International Ensemble) and Trudy Carmichael's Musical Mixer (Las Vegas).

The New York Musical Improv Festival will also be featuring up and coming performers in the NYMIF I.P.O. (Initial Public Offering). Performing this year are Door #3 (Washington, DC), Large Mouth Bass (Providence, RI), Noice! (NYC) and Redshirts (NYC).

SPECIAL EVENTS:

Armando Diaz Experience: Musical Edition - On Thursday, October 19 at 9:00pm, a musical edition of the classic "Armando" form which originated at the iO (formerly known as ImprovOlympic) in Chicago. Musical improvisors will work off of the words of a special guest Monologist to create a fully realized One Night Only musical!

Musical Inspirado - On Thursday, October 19 at 11:00pm, the only MUSICAL improv competition in the world! This year four musical improv teams: Warm Blooded (Magnet, NYC), Hot Mess (Kansas City/Chicago), Oh My Lanta (Chicago), Mr. Kitty (PIT, NYC) will each accept one challenge and battle it out for the audience's approval. Once all of the votes have been tallied, one victor shall be awarded the highly coveted Dale North Memorial Trophy. Don't miss your chance to see what will be the best competitive meeting of improvised musicals of the century!

SideCar: International Ensemble - On Saturday, October 21 at 7:00pm, a team of improvisers from all over the U.S., Canada and Germany, will come together from their corners of the earth to create an exciting, (possibly multi-lingual,) One-Night-Only, completely improvised musical performance! Directed by Nikita Burdein

Trudy Carmichael's Musical Mixer - On Saturday, October 21, 2017 at 11:30pm, this late night festival favorite, now in its ninth year, challenges you to try your lady (and manly) luck at making up music with some of the finest Musical Improvisers in the country. Anyone can sign up to perform - even if it's your first time! Keep your bankroll stashed because admission to the Mixer is 100% FREE! Hosted by Las Vegas Lounge Legend and lush, Miss Trudy Carmichael and her trusty sidekick, T.J. with The Magnet Musical Mixer Orchestra, a 5-piece band led by the incomparable Frankie Keys, providing improvised musical accompaniment throughout the night!

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:

American Immigrants (San Francisco) is an improvised musical evening featuring two improvisers, two guitars and infinite possibilities. American Immigrants takes an audience suggestion and spins it into a brand new song on the spot, then creates scenes based off of that song while using the central theme of how we all came to America. It's long form improvisation with guitars. American Immigrants is made up of Anthony Veneziale, known also for his work in Freestyle Love Supreme (with Lin Manuel Miranda & other Hamiltonians), SF's own The Freeze and HUGE, and has appeared in various shows including Sex in The City and HBO's Looking. Vivek Venugopal is an SF-based stand-up comedian and improvisor.

After Hours (Oklahoma City) is a musical improv troupe known for their sharp harmony, playful yet emotional lyrics, and gorgeous music. Once Upon a time, three friends hung out after a rehearsal and solved all their life problems through song. Through the gift of a show, they would like to do the same for you!

Baby Wants Candy (NYC) has established itself in New York and Chicago as the only musical improv group to perform a fully-improvised one-act musical with a full band. Based on a single audience suggestion of a title the actors and musicians work together harmoniously to deliver a hilarious evening's entertainment.

Bookends: A Musical Journey (NY/San Francisco) is a bi-coastal Improvised Musical Theatre duo made up of long time improvisors and Un-Scripted alums Diana DiCostanzo and Clay Robeson. Diana DiCostanzo is currently a NYC based actress, improvisor, and singer/songwriter and Clay Robeson is a SF based improvisor. They first met performing with the Un-Scripted Theatre Company in 2011 and bonded playing leading roles one night in a Dickensian Musical inspired by "A Little Mermaid". Though now on both sides of the country, they have formed this brand new duo to continue the task of bringing cutting edge, dramatic, improvised Musical Theatre to audiences everywhere. Their show, "Bookends: A Musical Journey" is inspired by Jason Robert Brown's musical "The Last Five Years" and tells the story (exclusively through song) of two characters whose timelines criss-cross through time. We see one side of the story unfold backwards while the other unfolds chronologically through time. The audience helps establish the given perameters of the characters' relationship and the cast fills in the rest! This duo weaves together a rich musical tapestry that delves deep into the human condition and the ins and outs of relationships. Ben Brantley has not reviewed this show, but if he had, Diana and Clay are sure he would say something just as poetic as the last sentence. So come see "Bookends: A Musical Journey"!

COMMITMENT PANTS (Chicago) >From the fantastical to the everyday, anything can inspire a musical! Born from the humor-drenched depths of the Second City Training Center, COMMITMENT PANTS is a pulsating squib of improv goodness with an all-in brand of fast and unrelenting comedy! This ragtag team of melodious misfits is sure to leave you amazed with their engaging, grounded scene work and hilariously fun song-play!

Eastwood (Chicago) takes a refreshingly playful, sometimes dark look at characters through a long form musical show. Our shows are equal parts adorable and ridiculous but always sincere. We take our love of comedy, music, and dolphins seriously as we tell heartfelt, integrity filled stories through scenes that descend into chaos before ascending to beautiful melodies.

Girls Girls Girls (Austin) Join award winning Girls Girls Girls Improvised Musicals for a rip-roarin', yee-hawin' good time at the COWGIRL CABARET. This fully improvised musical comedy takes place in Smalltown, TX USA and centers around the town social hall, where you'll find lots of singin', dancin', talkin' and a few rough-around-the-edges town rowdies.

Good Catch (NYC) Good Catch is a musical improv team that takes a suggestion from the audience and creates a completely made-up musical narrative through original songs, scenes, and dances for a unique, fun, and one-of-a-kind performance!

Grammalot (Pittsburgh) - is an improvised musical art piece. Starting with three randomly chosen objects from a bag of miscellany and concluding with three or more developed characters, Pittsburgh Magazine's 2016 "Solo Tour de Force" Best of the 'Burgh performer Ayne Terceira and her accompanist take audience members on a journey that spans gibberish preludes, memorable refrains, genre and social commentary. Part dumbshow, part morality play, Grammelot draws from clowning and commedia in order to tap a deeper level of comedy that edges closer to satirical truth-telling. While the settings are often fantastical and fairytale-esque, Grammelot uses these backdrops as playgrounds for allegorical narratives. This proscenium-breaking exploration of the stage quickly erodes the distance between actor and audience. All in good fun, audience members find themselves immediately complicit in the creation of the piece from the onset and may be brought into the action at anytime as backup singers, observed bystanders, or unwitting third characters. What emerges is always playful, soulful, and unflinching daring."

Hansbury and Slack Present THE MOMENT: An Improvised Musical Play (NYC) - Based on a suggestion from the audience, Beth Slack and Brian Hansbury will improvise scenes into songs and look to dig a little bit deeper into the relationship between two people. They focus on the real deal stuff of life with songs and heart and mirth throughout.

Hot Mess (Kansas City/Chicago) Life is a Hot Mess - These improvisors make up songs based on your messed up suggestions.

IMMIGRANTS, THE MUSICAL! (PART 1) (Austin, TX) is a chance for the cast to tell their story (Hamilton-style!) through an improvised musical reaching from their varied backgrounds: Dominican Republic, India, Ireland, Nigeria, the Philippines, Vietnam. Each of them has personal experiences to pull from, guided by the audience, into a unique tapestry of what it truly means to be American, or at least try to blend in.

ImprovBoston (Boston) Showcasing their unique approach to improvised musical short-form, the ImprovBoston Musical AllStars expertly blend games, scenes, music, lyric, rhyme, "choreography," harmony and audience participation into an unforgettably hilarious performance. This elite ensemble representing Boston's best musical improvisers explores a niche that is as impressive as it is funny. Under the direction of IB Artistic Director and founder of Second City's Music Program, Mike Descoteaux, the cast combines the best of improv with the best (and maybe the worst) of Broadway into a fast-pace tour de musical force. With over 30 years in the art of comedy, ImprovBoston makes the impossible look easy...and really fun.

Improvised Sondheim Project (Chicago) performs completely improvised musicals in the style of Stephen Sondheim. No scripts. No sheet music. No pre-planning. Just a suggestion from the audience and the muse of Mr. Sondheim to guide them as they make up a brand new musical each night right before your eyes.

James and Then Also Stoddy, Too (NYC) is an entirely improvised, live performance featuring original music, characters, and anything else that comes to the absurdly multi-faceted minds of comedian/musicians James Manzello (MTV's Joking Off) and Stoddard Blackall (Broadway's Next Hit Musical).

Mansical (Chicago) This group of misfits has grown into a tight-knit team that loves harmonies and fully embraces the oddities of life on stage. MINT Eastwood is composed of 12 individuals who are ready to blow your mind with their relationship-driven scenes and improvised melodic tunes.

Mikki Hommel (NYC) puts a soulful pop singer/songwriter twist on her musical improv. As a musician and recording artist, she can't resist a good hook or the glimpse of creating the ever classic pop song. She takes multiple suggestions and creates a song, secretly hoping that it might land her a Grammy. Hey, a girl can dream right?!

Mr. Kitty (NYC) What happens when you combine big Broadway tunes with big Broadway tuna? Mr. Kitty. Come see the PiT's kitties on stage for a fraction of the cost of a Cats ticket.

Murder 'Til Death (San Diego) Think sultry nights in the big city: smoky dive bars, hot jazz and murder. This married couple will create an Improvised Film Noir Musical with Django-style jazz guitar accompaniment from one audience suggestion.

NORTH COAST Presents ANYBODY: An Improvised Historical Hip-Hopera (NYC) Fresh off their Off-Broadway run at The Connelly Theater, NORTH COAST'S explosive performances have been packing comedy venues, universities, and festivals nationwide since 2009. Named one of the "Top Ten Best Comedy Shows" by Time Out New York, North Coast has been featured on Vh1, in Slate's Podcast The Gist, The Village Voice, and The New York Times Comedy Listings, North Coast is dropping knowledge. History knowledge. New York City's premier hip-hop improv team, has long been known for their seamless melding of freestyle rapping and long form improv comedy. But in the heat of Lin Manuel's smash Broadway hit Hamilton, North Coast is taking your favorite historical figure and perform a full, factually-accurate, fully improvised Hip-Hopera to satisfy your hunger for hip-hop history. Nikola Tesla? Bawse. Ida B. Wells? Flawless. Louisa May Alcott? Mic drop.

Oh My Lanta (Chicago) is the perfect combination of silliness, support, and musical ability! This energetic ensemble of skilled improvisers is never afraid to get a little weird. Their fast-paced storytelling will warm your heart and leave you humming!

Olivia Benson (NYC) In the improv world, musical improv shows are considered especially unique. In New York City, three of the dedicated performers who make up these improvised musicals are members of an elite squad known as Olivia Benson. This is their show

Pitch, Please! (L.A.) creates a fully improvised, a cappella, one-act musical out of thin air. Armed with a single suggestion from the audience, Pitch, Please! delves into scenes, songs, dance breaks, heart breaks and character breaks all without the help of a piano. When it comes time to sing, the improvisers on stage create all the accompaniment they need with their own vocal cords, laying down bass lines, melodies, harmonies, ooo's, ahhhhhh's, and beats on the spot. If you liked Pitch Perfect, you'll love Pitch, Please! If you hated Pitch Perfect, your opinion is wrong.

Public Pool (NYC) The Magnet Theater's very own purveyors of quality, Public Pool creates improvised musicals that are equal parts head and heart. Public Pool is now open for the season. Grab a suggestion and dive on in!

Premiere: The Improvised Musical (NYC) features NYC's top comedy performers and instructors! Each week the cast takes a suggestion from the audience and turns it into a fully crafted musical - each character, song and dance number is entirely made up! Led by legendary Magnet Musical Director Frank Spitznagel, and with a cast whose professional credits include Second City, Baby Wants Candy, HBO and Comedy Central.

PYROS (NYC) sets the stage on FIRE every week with a combustion of incandescent songs, sizzling characters burning with desire, and rapid oxidation. But never fear: we're safety-minded Pyros! If you CAN stand the heat, check us out, Tuesdays at the Magnet Theater!

RoboPop! is NYC's high energy hip hop improv team! See what happens when the beat kicks in and we freestyle our way through our improv sets! Robopop has performed at The Hartford Improv Festival, The Human Beatbox Festival, The Midtown International Theater Festival, The NYC Musical Improv Festival, The UCB Theater, The PIT, The Magnet Theater and tiny bars and theater spaces across the five boroughs. Individual members of Robopop are members of Hip-Hop educational organization BEAT Global, nationally recognized education/comedy company Story Pirates, and many current and former Magnet Theater improv/sketch/musical improv teams.

Robot Teammate and The Accidental Party (L.A.) Since 2012, LA-based musical comedy collective Robot Teammate has entertained and inspired audiences with their otherworldly improvised musicals at venues such as UCB, Nerdist, Westside Comedy, LA ComicCon, and on a weekly live stream show on Geek & Sundry Twitch.TV. The singy-song automatons set a world record in 2014 for most consecutive cage match wins after 86 weeks of competition at iO West, and have since kept the bots on the road, teaching and performing regionally, including a "Best in Fest" run at the San Diego Improv Festival 2016. With their powers combined, they've created three award-winning scripted musicals based off of their improvisations, TIMEHEART, THUG TUNNEL, and TURBULENCE!, winner of Best Musical, Best World Premiere, Outstanding Songwriting and the Critics Choice Award at the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

VERN (NYC) Unapologetically enthusiastic and obsessed with good melodies, Vern will show you a kick-butt time and leave you with a song stuck in your head. Vern formed as a house team at the PIT in May of 2014, and currently performs every week on Super Free Wednesdays. Their interests include narrative structure, sweet harmonies, and long walks on the beach. They are Vern (VERN!).

Vox Pop (Washington, DC) picks up where the spoken word leaves off. These accomplished musical improvisers bring audiences to new heights where eagles cry on a mountain high. Where you have to say "I love you" in a song. Where regular improv simply won't get the job done. Come watch them explore the ins and outs of complex human relationships using the simple tool of music. Vox Pop will rock you.

Warm Blooded (NYC) a Musical Megawatt musical improv house team at the Magnet Theater in NYC!

Wonderland (NYC) hails from the Magnet Theater in New York where they perform regularly as part of the Magnet Musical Megawatt. They take a suggestion from the audience and create a rich and colorful world filled with characters from all walks of life.

Your Love, Our Musical (NYC) is a LIVE musical improv show about... love! Musical improvisers Rebecca Vigil and Evan Kaufman interview a couple from the audience about their love life, than create a fully improvised musical about that couple's love story! It's just like Hamilton... if Hamilton was about how you met your boyfriend online dating.

The NYMIF I.P.O. (Initial Public Offering)

Door #3 is a cooperative of Washington, DC area musicians and improvisers with a variety of comedy, improvisation, musical theater and vocal performance backgrounds dedicated to performing meaningful, memorable, narrative improvised musical theater. Formed in Spring 2014, they are known and recognized for their elegant harmonies, earthy rap, emotionally real stories, and a bit of blood thirstiness. Since its inception, group has been performing to rave reviews at Washington DC area festivals, and theaters including a championship run in Laugh Index Theater's 2014-2015 Improv Wars.

Large Mouth Bass (Providence) is the musical house team from the Providence Improv Guild. Headed by the musical expertise of Keith Munslow on keyboard, Large Mouth Bass performs a pop-opera format where every line is sung. LMB has been performing at PIG since 2013, and has been featured in various festivals such as Austin's Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, Magnet Theater's Musical Improv Festival, and the Providence Improv Festival.

Noice! (NYC) brings high energy and musicality to their brand of Hip Hop Improv!

Redshirts (NYC) the only all-women Star Trek: The Next Generation inspired musical improv comedy team in the known universe!

For more information, visit www.magnettheater.com.