Creating Our Own Chaos and Joy - The BellingHams

Hey everyone! A few months ago, I had an idea for a project I wanted to do, and even though I knew almost everyone at the Upfront, as well as some funny people outside the theater, I was at a loss for who would be interested in joining up. When I thought about it, any project I had an idea for suffered from a severe lack of like-minded individuals (maybe it's because I live in boring Burlington?).

So, the idea came up that we have an improv forum, partially to discuss improv and further our ideas and learning, but also to have a resource for people who wanted to be involved in comedic endeavors, but didn't know who to ask. Imagine if Dave wanted to write some sketch comedy, and Galen was just itching to film something, or if Billy had a neat idea for a show, and Nick had been having similar ideas.

So now we're here, and I have your attention, so you're obligated to listen!

If you're not familiar with groups like Improv Everywhere (IE) or Prangstagrup, you're missing out! These groups are usually started by, or include, improvisors who stage events, pranks, or scenes in public, usually designed to make people laugh or think. Some events I can remember include getting 80 people to dress in khakis and blue polo shirts, and walk into a NYC Best Buy, running a faux art gallery at a subway station, or starting a seemingly-improvised musical in the middle of a lecture hall.

While most of these groups are far away (Improv Everywhere, for example, was started by some of the UCB, and is in New York), some are local, like the Seattle-Tacoma Improvement society. They've done things like gathering a large group of people in Pike Place Market for a three minute pillow fight, or running an IE-like MP3 experiment, where a large group of people listen to the same MP3 at the same time, in the same place, and follow directions ranging from walking in a line and high-fiving strangers, to playing color coordinated games of freeze tag.

So. With all of that said, I'll give you a few links. The first is to the group that I started, called The BellingHams. It needs some more people, and I think we're just crazy enough to do something like that. The second link is to the the Seattle-Tacoma group, and the third is to the one that started it all for me, Improv Everywhere.

If you have any questions, please ask, and if you have any ideas, please post on the BellingHams' site!

Love,

Marc

Hey Marc,

The idea seems really cool, so thanks for organizing it. Would you be willing to create a mailing list (or is there a way to setup a mailing list of events or something from within that forum?) so as to send out event notifications via e-mail? So much going on that it's hard to check all kinds of forum for school and work and improv and such, so, if you sent out periodic e-mails that might be a good way to increase communication/motivation --- at least for me, but, I'd imagine for others, too. You know, man -- the internet is awesome, but at the same time, sometimes there's just so many forums and things to check on that it gets hard to keep track. So I'd be all for being on a mailing list if you do create one. And if you've gotten any weekend events planned for the BHams thing, I might be able to do it...

Yeah, I hear you. I think that if we plan some events, we might use the feature that allows us to send a newsletter to all members. Because the Seattle-Tacoma group doesn't use it, I tend to miss some really cool events down there.