ComedyWorx Partners With I.O. Theatre To Bring Improvisation School To Downtown Raleigh

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ComedyWorx Partners With I.O. Theatre To Bring Improvisation School To Downtown Raleigh
Exploris Middle School Participates In Improvisation Workshop

RALEIGH, N.C. – Nancy Hormann, president and CEO of Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA), has announced that ComedyWorx has partnered with I.O. Theatre hosted an improvisation program at Exploris Middle School on Wednesday, Feb.1 at 10 a.m. and 11a.m. Exploris Middle School students will participate in two free improvisation classes taught by Charna Halpern of the Chicago based I.O. Theatre.

Halpern recently celebrated her twenty-fifth year as the founder and Executive Director of I.O. Theater Chicago and I.O. West in Los Angeles. She taught the students the important basics of improvisation, which include techniques on agreement and working together as an ensemble. The students learned to listen and reincorporate each other’s ideas through improvisational pieces.

“We are excited to have such an beneficial and rewarding program come to downtown Raleigh,” said Hormann. “This is an incredible learning opportunity for the students and I am sure they will take advantage of the professional talent that is at their fingertips.”

About Downtown Raleigh Alliance:
The Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA) is a non-profit organization comprised of individuals, associations, corporations, and partnerships who want to improve Downtown Raleigh. This leadership organization is focused on the revitalization of Downtown Raleigh, North Carolina and serves as a clearinghouse and advocacy group for all issues affecting Downtown. The organization also sponsors the Downtown Ambassadors and Sidewalk Cleanup Programs. For more information, please call 832-1231 or visit the Web site at www.downtownraleigh.org.

About I.O. Theater:
I.O. Theater has conducted classes in improvisation for 25 years and operates training centers in Chicago and Los Angeles. In Chicago alone there are more than 400 students in dozens of classes. I.O. Theater invented long-form improvisation. Improvisation was once considered a tool for actors. A style of improvisation known as long-form originated at the I.O. Theater. The theater has elevated improvisation to an art form. The I.O. Theater is also a performance venue where there are at lease six shows a night, seven nights a week. The I.O. theaters in Chicago and Los Angeles are the epicenter of training in the art of improvisation. They act as a recruiting stop for television shows supplying New York and Hollywood with writers and performers. Alumni of the I.O. program include Andy Dick, Kevin Dorff, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Neil Flynn, David Koechner, Adam McKay, Tim Meadows, Mike Myers, Amy Poehler, Andy Richter, Horatio Sanz, Chris Farley, Vince Vaughn, and many others. A third training center, I.O. South will open in Raleigh in March 2006. It will be jointly operated by I.O. Theater Chicago and Comedyworx of Raleigh.

About Comedyworx:
Founded in 1989 by Richard Gardner, ComedyWorx has provided the Raleigh, North Carolina area professional team-on-team improvisational comedy. ComedyWorx has laid the foundation for the area’s improv community that is thriving and growing.Audience members will see two teams of performers compete for points based on audience laughs by performing different scnes and playing different games based on audience suggestions. This audience interactive experience has something for everyone. Every show is unique. Several hundred individuals, most with no prior experience performing, have been trained over the last 16 years at ComedyWorx to be in their improvised stage show. Comic improvisers who first performed at ComedyWorx are now performing in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The artistic directors of both the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York and I.O. West in Los Angeles began their training at ComedyWorx. ComedyWorx is looking forward to its 4000th performance later this year. ComedyWorx began in north Raleigh at the New Yorker Restaurant. After the restaurant closed it moved to City Market where it remained for 12 years. In 2001, it was relocated to the Glenwood South District at 431 W. Peace Street. There are shows every Friday at 8:30 p.m. and Saturday at 4:45 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. For more information regarding ComedyWorx, please contact Richard Gardner at (919) 605-5233 or visit www.comedyworx.com


Media and Press Contacts:
Patty Briguglio
MMI Associates, Inc
919-461-3831
patty@mmimarketing.com

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