Kevin McDonald Performs At Unexpected Productions This Month

Kevin McDonald from Kids in the Hall just agreed to perform at Unexpected Productions with Artistic Director, Randy Dixon in After...Words, an original improv show created by Dixon. This special performance is ONLY on July 26th and 27th at 8:30. Tickets $12 - $15.

"We are excited to welcome back Kevin to Unexpected Productions to teach and perform. Kevin just agreed to do After...Words with us. Kevin McDonald is here teaching the Kids in the Hall method of writing sketch comedy through improv 27th & 28th. I was able to finagle him into performing with us after his workshop while he is here," said Dixon. "This is a rare opportunity to see one of the Kids in the Hall performing live. It is even more exciting since he will improvise based on the audience's suggestions."

This is the fourth time McDonald has joined Unexpected Productions as a guest instructor and performer. "I think it is even more significant that Kevin is back at UP since we are now the home of SketchFest Seattle, which is taking place in September. Kevin and the Kids in the Hall had such a huge impact on sketch comedy as an art form and like many sketch companies they used improv as part of their process in creation," Dixon noted.

After...Words is a unique improv format created by Dixon through the Orcas Island Project. a multinational group of performers assembled under the direction of Randy Dixon. The goal of the ensemble is to develop, explore, and investigate interactive theatrical forms in an effort to promote international exchange through live performance globally. This noted group is comprised of improvisers and Artistic Directors from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Columbia, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the US. After...Words was first performed by the Orcas Island Project in Germany in 2016.

After...Words is a night of laughter, action and intertwined improv scenes. The audience creates the title of the show AFTER all of the improv scenes are played out. Each scene is independent of each other. The audience defines the meaning of each scene after seeing it and comes up with a WORD to describe it. All the independent scenes are combined to create the theme of each night. The theme of the show and the title only become clear for everyone in the theater...AFTER...WORDS.

"This improv comedy show is spontaneous, entertaining and hilarious -- and it all starts with just a suggestion. From there, nobody, including our improvisers, know what will happen next. No two shows are ever alike -- but you can count on your night to be fun, fast-paced, and totally unpredictable. But like all great things, you'll have to see it first hand to fully experience and appreciate it," concluded Dixon.

McDonald has written for The Kids in the Hall, The Martin Short Show, and Saturday Night Live. This is his fourth collaboration with Unexpected Productions. McDonald founded The Kids in the Hall with his friend Dave Foley. They met in Toronto at the Second City Training Center, and the two wrote and performed in sketches together more than any other pair in the group. In the troupe's TV show and stage shows, he portrays several favorite recurring characters, such as the King of Empty Promises, Sir Simon Milligan, and Jerry Sizzler. Still, it's a frequent running gag that McDonald is the least popular member and always struggling not to get kicked out.

Since The Kids in the Hall's end in 1994, McDonald has played many roles in movies like Boy Meets Girl, Agent Pleakley in the Lilo & Stitch series, and Harry Potter in Epic Movie. On TV, he has appeared on The Martin Short Show, Ellen (as a radio personality), That '70s Show (as a confused young cleric, Pastor Dave), Seinfeld, Friends, NewsRadio (on which Foley starred), MADtv, Arrested Development, and Corner Gas. McDonald has also done voice work for various animated series, including Invader Zim (in which he did the voice for Almighty Tallest Purple), The Angry Beavers, Catscratch (in which he voiced Waffle), and Clerks: The Animated Series. He also played an imaginary friend named Ivan in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode Sight For Sore Eyes and appeared in the music video for "Roses" by Outkast.

In 2006, McDonald hosted a CBC Television special, featuring several of Canada's best-known sketch comedy troupes. "Sketch with Kevin McDonald" won a Canadian Comedy Award (Best-Taped Live Performance - The Minnesota Wrecking Crew), with The Imponderables nominated for the same award.

He was recently in Montréal as a part of the Just for Laughs Festival with the reunion of The Kids in the Hall, and also with his show "Hammy and the Kids" with Craig Northey, based on his two dysfunctional families, his father ("Hammy") and The Kids in the Hall.

Randy Dixon has been developing improvisation in Seattle, since 1980. He was one of the founding members of Unexpected Productions and has served as its Artistic Director since 1988. He has produced over 100 productions involving improvisation. During his tenure, Unexpected Productions has established a reputation for presenting high-quality shows, classes, and workshops. In 1983, he began producing TheatreSports, the first of its kind in the US and the longest-running show in Seattle.

For his efforts in expanding programming and operations at Unexpected Productions, he was given an Evergreen Award in 1992 from the Evergreen State Society of Washington.

In 1985, Dixon created the first Improv School in Seattle. Former students have been featured in TV shows such as Talk Soup, Friends, Bill Nye, Almost Live, and Frasier. He has notable improvisers to teach in Seattle such as Alan Arkin, Kevin McDonald, Joe Flaherty, Rachel Rosenthal, Stephen Nachmanovitch, Keth Johnston and famed improv guru Del Close.

Dixon created what is now known worldwide as "the Seattle style" of improvisation, which combines short-form games based on the work of Keith Johnson, the long-form spontaneous storytelling based on the work of Del Close & the improv philosophy of Viola Spolin, which see the audience as a fellow player. He has taught improvisational theater all over the world. This year he taught in Germany, Italy, and England.

He has developed team building and improvisation workshops for many multinational corporations based in Seattle, like Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing, and Starbucks.

Randy created the Seattle International Festival of Improvisation, now in its 19th year. He has brought improvisers from around the world to Seattle. After the festival, they bring back to their homes the styles and expertise that they learned. Past participants traveled from, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Columbia, England France, Germany, Holland, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland.

McDonald and Dixon perform After...Words at Unexpected Productions' Improv July 26 and 27th at 8:30.

After Words Improv featuring Kevin McDonald & Randy Dixon

Unexpected Productions Improv

Unexpected Productions' Market Theater. 1428 Post Alley, Seattle, WA 98102

July 27 & 28

Tickets: $15

Buy: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/after-words-a-hilarious-improv-tickets-62671044782

To post a comment, you must register and login.