FuzzyCo

Near the end of the Friday workshop/rehearsal in Salt Lake City we were running out of time before we were going to be kicked out of the space and so I sent the crews out to film three 2-minute scenes as quickly as they could. Each crew had a prop to inspire their scenes and the direction to try to give their scenes an arc of a beginning, middle, and end. I sent Logan Rogan, Joe Rogan, and Danny McDonnall off with a bag of Southwest Airlines peanuts and this what they came back with...

<a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7842668096111383022&pr=goog-sl">click here to view video</a>

And speaking of Neutrino, the Phoenix Neutrino Project has finally posted the show that Shaun, Greg, and I sat in on during the Phoenix Improv Festival back in May. Prepare for some terrible overacting on my part. They've got a bunch of past shows in their Video Gallery.

But we weren't just in Utah to go running (nor just to eat) -- Greg and I, and Jose from Phoenix, were there to teach two groups of Utah improvisors how to do the Neutrino Project and then help them perform a show each. We also did a performance of The Sickest F***in' Stories I Ever Heard.

I was really impressed with the two casts. We had blocked out 8 hours of rehearsal for each cast (and they had previously rehearsed with Joe and Jesse from Jokyr and Jesster, working on general concepts like working in pairs, in the real world, and thinking about where the camera was) but we were able to let both casts go early. And both shows were really good. Friday night we had one SLC shooter, Logan Rogan, who's a film student and really took to the format, pulling out some great shots under the time constraint. Saturday night the whole show was really tight. I'm digitizing both shows and I'll share them as soon as I get them tidied up.

I was a little worried about Sickest Stories -- part of what makes the show a show instead of just people reciting their stories to the audience is the sense of intimacy that comes from the veneer that these are friends playing poker in someone's house. The 'theater' space at the University was awesome for the Neutrino Project, but I thought it might be a bit sterile for SFSIEH. As well, we couldn't drink (other than pop) or smoke. The show, I'm happy to report, turned out fine. Jesse asked the small audience to move to the first few rows, the lights came down, and we really talked like friends. I don't think anyone got out a real lengthly story, but we bickered and shared much like we really liked each other :-)

Friday we had the whole day off and Greg and I walked down from the Guest House, where we were staying, to downtown, taking pictures along the way. I think it's the first time I've been out for a walk with another photographer. Usually I feel bad for my walking companions, because I'm always stopping to take a picture of some dumb little thing. Greg, not so much, because he was taking pictures of the same dumb things.

Thanks to the Slapstick Association for bringing us out, Joe for organizing everything, Jose for driving all the way from Phoenix by himself (and bringing the Phoenix MagicBox(tm), Heather for feeding us a home-cooked meal, and all the actors and runners for giving their all to the shows.

Our six hour (!) rehearsal/workshop went fine today, so I'm really looking forward to the show tomorrow.

Jose had a flat tire at 3:45 am outside of Page, Arizona, which led, as such things do, to a series of small adventures. He managed, in the end, to arrive halfway through the rehearsal and actually made cogent contributions -- far better than I would have done under similar circumstances.

This weekend Greg Inda and I will be heading off to Salt Lake City Utah to meet up with Jose Gonzalez (and maybe Mark Jordan) of the Phoenix Neutrino Project for a whole mess of teaching and shows. We're going to be teaching workshops to two different casts on Friday and Saturday that will each culminate in a performance of a Neutrino Project improvised movie.

The Friday show will be preceeded by a Zombie March and feature a showing of my short film Zombies! and a performance by the Thrillionaires.

The Saturday show will feature a performance by my old friends JoKyR and Jesster and will be followed by an all-star Sickest F***in' Stories I Ever Heard.

Details of performance times and locations are on The Slapstick Association's MySpace page.

(Also, that weekend is when I should be doing my 8 mile training run -- but I'm a little concerned since Salt Lake City is at 4,000 feet and it's supposed to be around 100°ree; this weekend. Maybe I'll wait until Sunday night when I'm back in ol' sea level Chicago.)

Lastlast weekend the Chicago Neutrino Project bundled into three cars (plus Dan down from Michigan and Alison flew up from Texas) and drove over to Oberlin, Ohio for the Oberlin Improv Conference. The show was plagued by some technical difficulties, but a fun time was had by all -- and I was happy to see my sister Jeanne and her still-newly-wed husband Jeff who drove all the way from Cleveland to see the show and then hang out with us at Brewster's at the Oberlin Inn (one of two bars in town).

Most of the folks left Saturday morning, but Sean Cusick and I stayed to teach workshops (and Erica stayed because she likes me) and panel discuss and then watch improv long into the night (with, I'll freely admit, a quick trip to the bowling alley next door -- with as long as I've been doing improv, if I watch too much in a row I get twitchy).

We're big fans, now, of The Feve (Oberlin's other bar), and the albino squirrel, and hanging out on Tappan Square, and everyone at Oberlin. Yay!

Oh, and pictures.

A quick reminder for my north-eastern Indiana, northern Ohio, and southern Michican friends -- we'll be performing the critically acclaimed film/improv hybrid The Neutrino Project at the Big Show of the Oberlin College Improv Conference in Oberlin, Ohio tonight (Friday) at 8 pm.

You can watch the last several months of the Phoenix Neutrino Project on Google Video: October, November, December.

New York Neutrino member Bob Wiltfong was interviewed by the New York comedy site The Apiary. Among other things, we learn which Neutrino he'd eat post-Andes plane crash:

I would probably eat Donnelly first. He's meaty.

The Neutrino Project went up to Ann Arbor without me (sniff) this weekend to perform at the Michigan Improv and Laugh Festival. (yes, the MILF. It's good to see that having a child has not changed Dan Izzo's classiness.) Kristen has posted a Flickr set of important things like... Guitar Hero in the backyard*. Arm-wrestling in the Improv Inferno basement. Awesome, guys. Did you bother doing a show?

* Kristen informs me that that image was eroneously in the MILF set.

Our northern cousins, the Toronto Neutrino Project are performing at the Fringe of Toronto Fest and got a nice little shout-out from Toronoist: 6.5 out of 8 ISTs.

It looks like the Three Penny Cinema has closed for good, which takes our chances of getting paid for the Neutrino Project shows we did there back in 2003 from so-incredibly-slim-it's-not-worth-thinking-about to none.

We probably shouldn't have let them get away with breaking our contract the way we did, but even back then it seemed pretty clear to Shaun and I that even taking them to court and winning wouldn't really increase our chances of getting any actual cash -- blood from a stone and all that.

Another way we were spoiled when we arrived in Phoenix was with an official festival goody bag. There were schedules, guides to local eateries, toys, and a festival coloring book, with a page for each group in the festival. Our two pages were:

by Michelle Edwards of The Remainders.

It's true, you know. I do like photography. And Shaun does like strip clubs.

by The Original's Jacque Arrend

This is the secret story behind an otherwise ordinary Neutrino Project publicity photo.

Saturday morning brought some pressing news -- Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles, my annual Phoenix after-show dining spot -- was now only open until 10 pm, so if I was to get in some chicken AND some waffles, it was going to have to be now. Troops who were conscious (I guess the second poker game went until 7 am) were rounded up and breakfast was had. Man, I love those waffles.

We got back from Lo-Lo's just in time for me to go teach my workshops. Originally, the workshops were scheduled to be taught by Shaun and I together, but we decided that it would make more sense for both of our careers if I concentrated on teaching workshops and Shaun concentrated on hanging out by the pool. Well, it made sense the way Shaun explained it.

In any case, I had a great time. The first workshop was full - 12 students - and we cranked through the mass of information I was trying to jam into their heads about making bold character choices. Of course, I have no idea how much value any of them got out of it, but it felt really productive. For the next workshop, I guess I had lost some students to the Bingo Jam, so I only had 3 people. Intense would be the operating word for this session, as we went the full two hours, meaning everyone was up for 2/3 of the time.

Post-workshops, I had to run back to my hotel and change to get over to the venue for our Bare show.

The Phoenix Improv Festival spoils the performers unlike any other festival I've ever been to. They pay for all the performers' hotel rooms, which, frankly, is the best you're do financially from a festival unless you're a headliner at a huge festival. Every group is assigned a "den mother" - a local person who can drive you around and help with any questions or problems. And they're incredibly patient with our unreasonable requests and last-minute changes. This year, for example, Shaun jokingly asked for two custom t-shirts for Greg and Starcevich, and they produced them. And when, on Friday afternoon, we decided that our show would be a combination of Hotel and Screwed (our version of Michael Delaney and Andrew Secunda's Nailed Down) and so we would need two pairs of extra-large shoes and a drill, Jose just said, "I think I know where we can get those."

"Jose," I said after Shaun was done with his laundry list, "if I was running a festival, I wouldn't take that kind of crap. That's a ridiculous list."

But, Jose produced, and so half of the show was slow, patient near-us conversation between two characters, and the other half was a frentic, absurd mass of at least a dozen characters, each running off their own suggestion. We ran back and forth between the two sides of the stages, occasionally occupying both sides of the stage at the same time. That, Shaun and I agree, was the only part of the show that didn't work. It was easy enough to be by yourself on the Hotel side of the stage, but on the Screwed side it was really difficult to get into the rhythm of our conversation alone. Anyway, I give the show a B+.

And then we were getting ready for our second Neutrino Project show. I do feel a little bad that I didn't see more of the other groups, but it really did feel like I was always getting ready for- or recovering from- a show of my own. So, I missed all the groups between Bare and Neutrino Project. Sorry.

During this break, Shaun blithely told Kristen and Chuck, as though we did it all the time, "Go knock on some neighborhood doors and see if we can film in someone's living room." Well, they went wandering around the immediate neighborhood of the theater and found a house where they were holding public garden tours. Zing, and yay for Shaun's chutzpah.

I did my set of scenes with Alison and with Matt Martin. Matt is now an Air Force Major, but back in the day he was already a part of National Velveeta before I joined that group, and he introduced Shaun to improv at a summer camp they were both counselors at. He also co-founded, with Shaun, Bare Essentials, the group that eventually transformed into Bare. So it was cool to be back performing with Matt.

Greg, as usual, was the only one of us who got to see the whole show and he said it was even better than Friday's. So yay.

Here's how you know I was really busy all weekend -- I hardly took any photos. Selections of the ones I did take are in a Flickr set.

Kristen Freilich also has a Flickr set of 65 photos.

And Kevin Patterson has posted an astounding 656 pictures from the festival (there's also a smaller set of his best 65 shots). He even took pictures of the Neutrino Project while it was being projected.

It seems I didn't pack my camera USB cord, so pictures will have to wait.

On the plane here I went through the festival schedule and realized that a) I'm going to be in Phoenix just a bit less than 48 hours and b) in that time I have three shows, a tech, and am teaching two workshops. So there's not going to be much time for sightseeing.

There's an official festival coloring book, with pictures of all the groups to color in. It's pretty freakin' awesome.

Yesterday we did our first of two Neutrino shows. Greg, our usual arbiter for such things (since he's the only one of our group who sees the whole show) says it was pretty good. I'm just going to have to trust him on that, because nobody pushed record on the VCR. Sometimes I really try to let go of my control-freak-iness and then something doesn't get done because I didn't do it... Anyway, I climbed a tree for my scene, and ended up 'stuck' there for the rest of the show. I 'fell' out of the tree right at the end of the show, but Shaun was already fading out the shot and so didn't get it. Ah, improvised film.

After our show I watched Apollo 12 do a really spectacular show and then the up-since-4-am-chicago-time hit me all at once, so I regretfully went back to the hotel and took a nap. But what's important at a festival is not the shows, but the partying, right? Well, anyway the crew came back to the hotel and woke me up and we went over to the Bikini Lounge. Four years ago when we started coming to Phoenix, the Bikini Lounge was an empty, grimy little dive bar. Now it's a super-crowded, grimy little dive bar. Yay, progress.

At the bar, Jose said I needed to come next door to The Trunk Space gallery and see a show. Indeed I did need to see that show. Travis Nichols does some amazingly cute, fun art. Art is fun! Yay, art!

OK, I'm off to get some breakfast to have energy to teach some workshops. Oh, impressionable minds, bend to my will!

Shaun and I are headed to Phoenix, AZ this weekend for the Phoenix Improv Fest. This will be our fourth PIF (and I believe we've performed at every PIF that featured performers from outside Arizona).

Also coming along with us are some of the Chicago Neutrino Project cast. Last year we realized that Election Show 2004 was going to be performing at the PIF, and that Election Show had a strong overlap with the Seattle Neutrino Project cast. So we put together a special combination cast Neutrino Project show for the festival.

This year we're bringing along some of Detroit's Neutrino Project cast and pulling some of Phoenix's finest improv actors to create another All-Star Neutrino Project.

Bare performs Saturday night (4/22) at 7:00 pm
Neutrino Project performs Friday (4/21) at 7:00 pm and Saturday (4/22) at 10:00 pm

All shows are at the Viad Center (1850 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ)

I'll also be teaching two workshops on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 pm and 4:00 pm. The workshop listing says I'll be covering "Risk Taking Performance: Break out of safe choices, focus on you as a performer, and learn to better take care of yourself on stage. Decide what rules apply to you and which don’t." Which sounds about right.

Eye Weekly: Fast Film

In a matter of three years, James Cameron wrote, directed and produced the epic blockbuster Titanic. Let it be known: James Cameron is a lazy son of a bitch. Every month at the Drake Hotel, the Neutrino Film Project simultaneously shoots and screens an hour-long improvised movie in the time it takes a live audience to watch it.

Toronto is the newest Neutrino Video Project "franchisee" and they've started off with some good press in the Toronto Star.

We finished up our 5th full run of the Neutrino Project in Chicago with another daaaangerous show. Normally, the different camera crews leave the theater as soon as they've gotten their audience-supplied object and head in different directions, and then we meet up at the end of the show to see how we can connect the disparate story lines. For some time, I've been wanting to try reversing that -- to start by showing all the actors together in some situation and then having them break off to pursue their own stories. I'd like to do it with an extended first scene at a dinner party or something, but that would, given the nature of the show, require some math that I just didn't have time to work out before Friday night.

So we did something perhaps even more complicated -- we started the show by having cameras 1 and 2 film their intermingled actors leaving the theater together and then breaking off, and then cameras 3 and 4 doing the same for their actors. Further, we stayed within a block of the theater and each crew was given the challenge of interacting with the two teams that they hadn't just left. So it became a very tangled show, with many scenes being filmed twice, from two simultaneous perspectives, and tons of connections between the different scenes. Some people who've seen the show before gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.

So now we're on hiatus again. We might be taking the show to the PIF again (if they'll have us) and I've got some ideas for a summer run. Or, we might never do the show ever again (I say that every time...).

First off, we're never extending a Neutrino Project run again -- it's just never worth it. I mean, I love doing the show, and our over-all quality doesn't change, but audiences always fall off immediately and everyone's schedules are all full up suddenly with projects they had put off until after the original end-date of the run. The last three weeks of September, the show was running like clock-work. Last night, between everyone's now-busy schedules we were really light on actors and camera people. And cameras -- everyone in the show is willing to step up and be an camera-person, but we had forgotten to secure an extra camera and so we only had three cameras for four teams.

So, we tried something new and different -- we used the Improv Kitchen's green screen studio as our fourth camera. Of course, we had never done it before, so it required a lot of frantic pre-show tech setup (cheers to the IK's Liviu who really stepped up and made it happen and to Ryan Stone for stepping in on tech). And, because of the green screen processing, it couldn't be taped, so we were live. Whenever it came time for team 1's "tape" to be played, Ryan would cue Shaun and me in the studio and we'd just go live for 2 or 3 minutes (once I saw Ryan give us the universal "stretch it out" hand signal, as evidently a tape was late) until they cut us off.

There were plenty of bobbles with our lapel mics (oops -- we're still live!) and more blue screen between tapes than I usually like. But it worked, the show happened, and I think it was pretty good.

We also stuck a group in a cab, which I think has been done before by other Neutrino casts, but we've never done (I think).

A little Neutrino Project story I don't want to forget to get down...

If you know me, you know I'm somewhat of an authority-phobe. I often get nervous when we're doing the Neutrino Project, especially in cop-heavy Wrigleyville, that some police officer is going to decide that what we're doing is illegal and hassle a crew, which would, if nothing else, screw up the timing of the show.

So when we were up in Ann Arbor a few weeks ago, my team had just come out of the BP where we had been filming* and as we were filming out by the "$5.78/gallon" sign I saw some cops across the street. I got my usual little twinge, but they walked by. We finished shooting and headed to meet the others for the final scene. As we were headed down the street, I noticed that the cops were a few feet behind us and keeping pace and I started to come up with all my Neutrino excuses: "It's a theater project" or "it's a student film". (Crap! Does Michigan have a film department?) The cops caught up with me at an intersection.

"What's that you're drinking, there?"

What's that I'm drin...? But, I... I was so flummoxed that it wasn't about the cameras that I couldn't say anything and just turned my AriZona "Caution" energy drink so that they could see the label.

* It's unusual that we get to film in chain or corporate stores. It made my little post-punk heart sad when I was location scouting in a chain sandwich shop (rhymes with Jimmy John's) and the tattooed and pierced lone employee didn't want us to film there because of what "corporate" might think. CORPORATE?! That's The Man! Aren't we supposed to stick it to him?

Thanks to Dan, Trish, and Sabrina for being the best hosts in the universe, and to Mark for helping out with tech, and to Erik, Clif, and David for running.

I haven't watched the show yet, but Greg tells us that Porcupines Float was a pretty good Neutrino Project movie. And I think that the X Show was 33% less cluster-fucky than the last time we Chicago barbarians invaded that Ann Arbor stage.

Tonight! The first of extension shows for the Neutrino Project at the Improv Kitchen. We'll see if people pay attention to closing dates and assume the show is done, or if people keep coming in the same sorts of numbers.

Tomorrow! We drive to beautiful Ann Arbor, Meechigan for our second show at the Improv Inferno. Allll you Michiganers, come see the show!

I realized that I've been mainly talking about the Neutrino Project when we have external validation. An extension isn't really external -- we decided to do it -- but we wouldn't have extended unless people were coming to the shows, which they are. So, there you go. What?

Whatever, I'm too busy to make sense. Four more chances to see the Neutrino Project. One more chance to see us in Ann Arbor, this Saturday at 8 PM. Awesome.

Well, I was going to gear up to try and guilt you into seeing Neutrino Project this Friday, if you haven't already, because it was going to be our last show of the run. But then we went and extended. So, the clock is reset. You only have five more chances to see the show, and this time we're serious -- it's gonna start getting chilly and we've vowed never to do the show in winter again, so we're not extending past the end of October. Ooohh... that's Halloween. Maybe we'll do a special costume show or something.

Life is precarious when you're #5 of Newcity's "5 Shows to See Now". Something knocked us off the list last week, but now we're back. Three weeks left, kids, so hurry up if you wanna see the show!

We had a very special guest at this weekend's Neutrino Project: Automated Workflows' Benjamin Waldie (AKA Erica's brother's brother-in-law -- hooray for extended family).

The show he got to see was, modesty aside, pretty darn good. Greg, who sees all the shows from the control booth, said it was the best one yet (of the run or ever? I forgot to ask).

I've been following my own advice for the last couple shows. That is, when the question of "what to wear?" had come up with previous casts, our answer has always been that, since the Neutrino Project restricts you to the reality of what kind of body you have and what you're actually wearing, that cast members should either dress neutrally, so that they can play a variety of characters, or make bold choices with costuming and then come prepared to back them up. Last week, I wore a cowboy hat and shirt but it didn't affect my character much beyond an accent.

This week, I wore my new $10 yard sale tuxedo (with a $40 tux shirt from H&M). On the way to the show, I was trying not to plan ahead, but I was thinking of the possibilites that a tux includes: on my way to or from a wedding? An awards show. And, I was going to be on a team with Bob Ladewig and Brian Goodman, so I'd be the odd-man-out in my fancy duds.

When I got to the show, I was reminded that Ben Taylor was out of town, so Bob was going to be taking over DJ duties. So it was going to be just Brian and me. And Shaun assigned our team the "location" of his motorcycle. And then, in the theater, our audience-supplied object was a Mayor of London business card holder stuffed with business cards from "Scott Wild". So, naturally, we became international action heroes Scott Wild and Hank Savage. Done and done.

If you only go to one comedy show this weekend, it should probably be one of the Laughing Matters: Katrina Relief shows.

If you go to two shows, well then you should hit up the special Saturday midnight Don't Spit the Water show, which is a fund-raiser for their planned trip to New York to do a show at the UCB Theater. Rumor has it that a certain Ms. Cutie Bumblesnatch will be performing.

If you see three shows, my goodness that's a lot, and I'd be pleased as punch if the third show were the Neutrino Project tonight. We've only got four shows left. I think I'm going to wear a tux tonight. How could that not entice you?

Time Out Chicago says (sandwiched between Robert Klein's headshot and a plug for his show) "Don't Miss! Neutrino Project (See Fri 9) This improvised movie's run at the Improv Kitchen won't last forever. In fact, it won't last past the end of this month. Do yourself a favor and check it out while you can."

Though this one could be a poster pull-out quote: "Newcity's 5 shows to see now." ("Surprisingly well"? I'll take that as a compliment...)

Another brief mention of Neutrino Project, this time in this week's Newcity cover story, "Seeing Stars".

... and this month, FuzzyCo is back with the Neutrino Project, its improv-movie crossbreed.

As I said, brief. But it's in the context of "there's a lot of good improv going on around town." So I'll take it. Besides, it's our name in print. Whee! We're in the paper! Look, ma!

I realized I've said nothing about how the show is going. Very well, thanks. This last week we were sold out, so I encourage you to make reservations in advance if you want to see the show.

Monday there was a piece in the Red Eye with the notion "Can't get a ticket to the I.O. Anniversary Show? Well, here are some other funny shows around town..." The Neutrino Project was one of thirteen shows mentioned. Don't Spit the Water got a nice mention with a big picture of Timekeeper Willis.

Oh, and three of the shows listed are all directed by Lillie Frances (Neutrino Project, Sirens: Paso Doble, and Improvidate). Lillie's the shiznit.

And I was watching for the article to come out, but somehow missed last Friday's Daily Herald (if anybody has a copy, I'd love to have/borrow it). Jack Helbig wrote an article about "improv shows inspired by reality TV" and Neutrino Project is featured along with pHrenzy, Justice is Served, and The Improv Match Game. For some reason that I'm sure makes sense to the Daily Herald's web system, the article is spread across two webpages: the introduction and the groups.

And, of course, it's time for an installment of FuzzyQuibblesWithAnArticle. I understand that Jack was trying to make things fit into his theme, but I wouldn't call the Neutrino Project Reality TV -- we're explicitly making works of fiction. And before you start wondering when you're going to see the Neutrino Project on your regular TV, because the article says I'm "investigating the idea of turning the show into a real reality TV show" -- Jack must have misunderstood my mentioning previous inquiries we had from television producers (which never went anywhere) and my musings about what it would take to turn the Neutrino Project into a TV show.

And if you read that article and want to find the Chicago Improv Network, it's actually www.chicagoimprov.org (cin.org is the "Catholic Information Network").

And since I'm in Quibbling mode, I think that in the otherwise-excellent Tribune article a few weeks ago, the actor "standing in a parking lot alone and conspicuously undressed, drawing befuddled stares from the lot attendant and occupants of a passing car" was actually Bob Ladewig. I just wanted to say that out-loud for Bob, especially since that scene is called "the best one of the night".

It's a big weekend here at FuzzyCo HQ. Which I've started calling FuzzyCo HQ. I think you'll all just have to deal with it.

Friday night, Erica's improv ensemble KOKO will be performing at The Playground at 8 PM (Mustang Repair, Show Pony, and American Dream also appear). If you're a fan of those ladies, you'll be delighted to know that all 5 members will be at the show, which hasn't happened in awhile.

Then, at 9 PM it's the Neutrino Project at the Improv Kitchen. You've read about the show in the Tribune and Time Out. I've been yapping out the show for years. Just come see it and get it over with.

Saturday morning the Little Corner Restaurant is open again after the owner's three week vacation and it may not affect you, but it brightens our whole weekend.

Saturday night, Erica is doing a short play as part of the Abbie Hoffman Theater Festival. Change goes up at 8:15 pm. It's only 20 minutes or so, but there's plenty more going on during the festival -- plenty of good stuff and undoubtedly some crap. But at $25 for 41 hours of theater, that's about 61¢ per hour. How can you pass up such a bargain?

And since you'll already be up late at the Abbie Hoffman, you can duck down the street at midnight to see Documentary South, at The Playground. We only have three shows left and it's really a different improv show, so please come out. And this week we have special guests The Franchise opening up for us.

And my friend Lawrence is visiting this weekend. Again, doesn't affect you, just thought I'd mention it. Whew. I'm worn out just typing it all.

This week's Time Out Chicago has an article (pg 42 - not online for non-subscribers) on the Improv Kitchen, the venue for our current run of the Neutrino Project and we have the briefest mention in the article. (Literally, the briefest: "In addition to Special Affect, about four groups perform monthly, including ... the Neutrino Project (through the end of September).")

It was pointed out to me tonight that Neutrino Project's listing in Chicago Magazine has a star. The legend notes that a star indicates "a listing of particular interest." I'm not sure if that's a pull-quote for a poster or anything, but it's a nice treat, for me, for a Tuesday night.

Our cousins the Detroit Neutrino Project had their opening night reviewed. It isn't a bad review, but the reviewer spends the last 1/2 of the article on suggestions of ways he thinks the show could be improved, which immediately raises my "if you're so damned smart, why don't you go direct your own show" hackles. I mean, please do point out things you didn't like about the show -- that's part of a review -- but a laundry list of suggested changes tells me more about the reviewer than the show. ("why not have us vote for the team with the best plotline and video?" -- Why not go home and watch American Idol if that's the kind of entertainment you want.)

(I probably shouldn't say anything. I normally have a grin-and-bear it policy with reviews I don't like. I'm feeling emboldened because it's not my show and it's a different city. But with my luck, the moment I post this, that guy will move to Chicago.)

If you've only read the online version of our Tribune article you missed two great pictures by Tribune photographer David Zentz, so here's scans (it says "Party Boy" on Bob's chest).

Making a movie in Wrigleyville. Without a script. by Nina Metz. The article has some nice pictures, so pick up a copy (or wait for the inevitable scan).

Do you like responding to imaginary questions, Fuzzy?

Yes, I do!

Is that because you're too lazy to write interesting sentences?

Shut up, imaginary questioner.

Fine, be that way.

I'm sorry, imaginary questioner. Ask your questions, please.

... Oh, alright... So have you had an interesting week so far?

Yup!

Is it all stuff you don't feel like you can talk about publicly?

Yup!

Monday I had a meeting with someone who's putting up a play pretty soon. They had asked me to direct it (I know I was their second choice behind Steev Gadlin. I have no idea how far down the list he was. Homer once told me I was his sixth choice to direct Fratricide) and I had declined. But I agreed to have a few meetings and help advise on the show. I was a little worried that it was just a wimp-out way to direct the show but wash my hands of the show if it wasn't a smash hit. But it really was just advice -- the arrangement gave the writer/producer the freedom to reject my advice if they wanted to. Which they did, sometimes. "Does the show really need to open with a giant chicken doing the robot?" "Yes, it does." "Well, alright then." But I think we hammered out some important questions about the overall structure of the show and I'll be coming back for more advice-giving after they've had a few rehearsals.

Over the weekend I did some follow-up stuff for one article on the Neutrino Project and today I did a phone interview for another. I don't know why, but I feel like it's somewhere between uncouth and unlucky to mention the publication until the article actually comes out. Is that right or am I just dumb?

Don't ask me.

And tonight I'm headed off to Funny Ha-Ha 4-Ever at the Hideout. I've got my good camera and I'm hoping to snap a few snaps.

Well, good luck with that.

So, Neutrino Project: The Instant Movie finally opens in Chicago tonight. 9 PM at the Improv Kitchen. A lil' secret just for you, my web friends -- we're having an opening night thingy at the Town Hall Pub (3340 N Halsted) around 11 PM. Since the cast never gets to see the show while it's happening, we'll be watching the show on their TVs. I wrote up a list of reasons the show rocks.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Saturday night at 10:30, Erica will be co-hosting Don't Spit the Water as Patricia Montgomery, Sasha and the Noobs therapist. (The Noob is taking the week off.) I'll be helping Noah perform a bit that will make no sense to anyone not privy to a ton of complicated background.

And at midnight, Documentary South rides again. For the next two months, we'll be doing shows every other week at midnight during DSI's Afterparty slots at the Playground. Tomorrow night we're joined by a guest ensemble, The Glass Joe Project: Jim Buelow, Ben Duerr, Jason Kollar, Mike Kosinski, Jamie Landolfi, Tyler Lansdown, Nat Miller, Deanna Moffitt, Jeff Sevener, and Emily Tamblyn.

Well, that interview I said I shouldn't talk about -- the article is out now. Time Out Chicago has a nice article about the Neutrino Project. Go buy a copy of their fine magazine, if you live in Chicago, but here's a scan:

I just finished making the intro video for the Neutrino Project. We wanted to have something that would explain and introduce the show a little - kinda like this flash animation that Neutrino made (it's all Scottish because it was for their trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Ol' Leave-Everything-To-The-Last-Minute Gerdes, that's me.

It doesn't mean anything. It was just a little blurb. And it was last weekend.

I guess I just want to brag a little and if you can't brag on your own website, where can you?

Chicago Neutrino Project was one of the Detroit News and Free Press' Top Ten Things to Do This Weekend on Saturday, July 30, 2005.

That's all.

Gah, I'm (supposed to be) editing the intro video for the Neutrino Project show (opens Friday! 9 pm! Improv Kitchen!) so no time to tell you about our great trip up to the Improv Inferno and how great it was to see Dan and Trish again. And Sabrina. And Shirley. But I do have the pictures for you.

If you're up in Michigan, the Detroit Neutrino Project opens this week at the Improv Inferno. Check 'em out.

Hey, our Neutrino Project trip to Ann Arbor this upcoming weekend got a mention on the brand new Detroit Metblog. And there was no cross-metblog nepotism to it at all. Much. Except for all the nepotism.

Saturday, July 30 at 8 pm
Improv Inferno
309 S. Main St, Ann Arbor, MI

Special Izzo-guests! Super fun times! Maaaaybe special Chicago guests in the X Show later. Who knows!

And work continues for getting the show up for the run here in Chicago. We finally got into the space at the Improv Kitchen to deal with all their ker-azy tech. Which really isn't that ker-azy, but it's the little differences that threaten to trip us up. For example, all the times we've done the show in the past, Greg switched between our video decks with a simple Radio Shack A-B switcher, which switched both the video and audio signals. So Ben just had a single slider on the audio mixer marked "video" which he used to mix in with the music. Well, at the Improv Kitchen we're using their video mixer, which makes the transitions between scenes look 100x better. But it means that Greg isn't touching the audio signal at all, so Ben has two sliders -- video 1 and video 2 and will need to switch between them during scene changes. Which is, of course, not very complex and certainly within Ben's awesome abilities. But it's new and different.

I also need to finish the Intro Video -- we decided to up the professionalism a bit and have our explanation of how the show works be on video. I have over an hour of footage to edit into a 5-10 minute preview of the show. Neutrino (NY) has a Flash Intro that is our loose inspiration (this version of it is tailored for their Edinburgh shows last summer).

I've been mentioning lately (in person, at least -- I don't know if I've mentioned it here) how much I enjoy having Lillie as a director. Among other things, she's taken full control of rehearsals and it's been really liberating for me to just show up to a Neutrino Project rehearsal. Well, tonight that bit us in the ass a little when I realized that while the actor-Fuzzy can just relax and show up to rehearsals, the tech director-Fuzzy needed to have planned ahead for tonight's rehearsal. It worked out OK for the cast, but I had to leave the rehearsal in the middle to have a talk with the Improv Kitchen tech guy who's going to be working with our show. Which screwed actor-Fuzzy out of some of the rehearsal.

I'm wearing three hats in this run of Neutrino. I'm an actor in the show, which as I've said means mainly just showing up to rehearsals. I'm also a co-producer of the show, and Shaun's so busy with his game that I've taken over a number of the press-liason duties he usually covers, in addition to the graphic design work I usually do (though maybe that's a fourth hat). And I'm the technical director of the show. Out of all the different parts of the show that I've tried to delegate over time, it's the hardest to give up -- I have the gear, I know how the show works, and I just don't trust that anyone else understands it as well as I do. Which is silly -- there are plenty of very technically competent people in the FuzzyCo family. It's just... my baby.

The Neutrino Project is chugging along. Lillie and I did an interview today with a publication that I think I'm not suppposed to say what it is until the article comes out, so I won't. I talked so much that I only ate half of my Corner Bakery D.C. Chicken Salad sandwich -- and I love those things. I hope I let Lillie get a word in edgewise. Anyway, I'll be plugging it to pieces once it's published.

The rest of the Neutrino Project PR seems to be in place: I got a big 24"x36" version of the poster to the