Upright Citizens Brigade Members Play CSULB Theatre Arts Department Today

Members of the Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company (UCB TourCo) - one of the most acclaimed improvisation and sketch comedy troupes in the nation - will bring their specialized training and performance skills to the CSULB Theatre Arts Department today, November 8. The visit begins with an improvisational comedy workshop offered exclusively to the students in the Theatre Arts Department, and concludes at 8pm with a free public performance by the UCB TourCo. The performance will take place in the CSULB University Theatre and is expected to last approximately 90 minutes. The UCB training and performance event is part of the CSULB Theatre Arts Department Affinity Series, a program committed to celebrating performance, discussion, and social engagement with local and global communities.

Improvisational theatre and sketch comedy have become staples of American theatre training, television series, and standup comedy venues. The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), founded 15 years ago by Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh, is one of the most respected and active training programs within the genre, along with the Groundlings and Second City. UCB alumni appear in every facet of American entertainment and in television shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Office, Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and countless other shows, films, commercials and theatrical ventures. The UCB Improvisational and Sketch Comedy Training Center is also the only accredited improvisation and sketch comedy school in the country. Over the last 15 years, the UCB has created a unique, unified curriculum that is constantly updated by the best improvisers in the world. For its Touring Company, the UCB selects the very best performers from their rosters in New York and Los Angeles and sends them to colleges, performing arts center and clubs around the country.

With the Affinity Series, CSULB has committed to presenting a series of performances, presentations, and panel events celebrating engagement on diverse, timely, and important social issues with our local and global communities. The 2014- 2015 Affinity Series season will conclude with Sparking Curiosity, a collaboration with the Carpenter Performing Arts Center's Arts for Life series that will be performed at CPAC on May 4 at 7pm. Led by Theatre Arts faculty member Andrea Caban, CSULB Theatre Arts Department students and local high school students will study the process of creating documentary theatre through an exploration of community issues in Long Beach, interviewing residents from both a personal and historical perspective. This project is a continuation of the immensely successful Questions for My Mother/Questions My Mother Can't Answer presentation from last year's Series.

The UCB TourCo Affinity Series event will be free of charge, although seating is limited and seats should be reserved prior to each event. The event begins at 8pm and is located in the University Theatre (behind the Theatre Arts building) on the CSULB South Campus, accessible via East Campus Drive. Convenient paid parking is located outside the Theatre Arts building in Lot 7. For information regarding reserving seats, contact the box office at (562) 985-5526 or visit www.calrep.org. For all other information, call (562) 985-4500.