Spare Times: For Children
By LAUREL GRAEBER

‘LIVE FROM TIMES SQUARE’ (Sunday) It’s a brave parent who would take children to the typical stand-up comedy show in New York. This one, however, by the Manhattan Comedy Collective, promises to be family-friendly, with games, sketches, celebrity impersonations and lots of participation by theatergoers. The comics know their audience: included are parodies of “Hannah Montana,” Harry Potter and “High School Musical.” (Also on Aug. 25.) At 7 p.m., the Sage Theater, 711 Seventh Avenue, near 48th Street, second floor, (800) 838-3006, brownpapertickets.com; $17.99; $14.99 for under 18.

October 10, 2005

Figuring Out Their Equation

The Manhattan Comedy Collective (MC²) adds a dash of character and writing to its improv performances and sums its ideas in sketch shows.

From left, Napier, Wedo, Casa, Ragsdale, Doucette, Mayer, Capella, Murphy & Harrison

As artistic director of the Manhattan Comedy Collective (known as MC²), Stacy Mayer -- wearing a blonde bob wig -- delivers what seem like flighty introductions to their Thursday night “Big Bang” shows that put together improv, sketch and solo performances.

But as an artistic director of the group, she has figured out a way to systematically bring out the best in the performers. To do this, Mayer set out the goals of performing improv in a fashion that is more theatrical, presenting solo character shows that have been ‘broken in’ but have not yet run extensively, and giving audiences a comedy education by presenting shows that are a succession of different comedy genres.

“It captures the chaotic nature of comedy,” says Mayer of the group’s shows at Juvie Hall in the Gene Frankel Theater in New York, which typically begin at 7 p.m. Thursdays with “Character Dog Run,” an improv show with six performers from a 40-member rotating or alternating cast performing all their improv in character and in costume. That is typically followed at 8 p.m. with a sketch performance and 9 p.m. with a solo stand-up or character oriented show, although the 8 and 9 slots sometimes are given to comedic plays or other formats rather than sketch or stand-up.

“Plenty of people stay the whole night,” adds Mayer. “If we ask them what their favorite part is, most of the time it comes down to what genre they like the most. But hopefully the standard is the same for all that the group does.”

The company members are: Dave Adams, Andrea Alton, Susan Atwood, A.B. Carney, Robert Connor (who also directs for the group and contributes carpentry skills to sets and props), Dewey Banks, Robin Gelfenbien, Amey Goerlich, Joe Guercio, Todd Isaac, Tim Kavanagh, Nicole Maffei, Mayer, Haseena Napier, Nicola Piggott, Devon Ragsdale, Chris Sullivan, Phil Wedo and Lauren Zinn. Also performing with the company and pictured above: Christina Casa, Samara Doucette, Pete Capella, Jeremiah Murphy and Alana Harrison.

Not all shows are limited exclusively to MC² group members, but most of the time have at least some members as performers, or at least as director or writer of the performance. Character Dog Run puts a spin on its improv by giving the performers a chance to write and deliver a one-minute introduction to their character, which provides some material to begin with as they then react to each other and the suggestions solicited from the audience. Character Dog Run is also performed with sound and light technicians highlighting what the performers are doing as they go.

Mayer believes improv is an art form in and of itself, not just a means to produce sketches. However, she developed the Character Dog Run format to make it more accessible to general or theatrically oriented audiences. With a Chicago background, Mayer found that Chicago improv groups tend to focus just on entertaining and meeting that city’s rich improv comedy standard -- but by comparison, New York performances and the demands of a theatre audience require a much more commercial approach.

“When people do a montage in improv, it can be like the audience is forced to watch a class exercise,” she says. “With us, all the dialogue can be improvised, but we’re building a show. The improvisation is done with a purpose.”

MC² began producing the “Big Bang” shows in May, and Mayer and several other company members have been part of the Saturday Night Rewritten shows also performed at Juvie Hall -- since those shows began in 2003. The Character Dog Run portions of the shows began so company members and others could have a showcase for their work to be scouted by “Mad TV,” Fox’s sketch comedy show.

“If you go into an audition with three characters and three impersonations but you’ve never workshopped them in front of an audience -- you’re going to be nervous anyway in an audition -- and this helps,” says Mayer. Since the showcase turned into MC² and its Big Bang productions as a “happy accident,” other such “happy accidents” have come along, she adds.

“The best things come when you’re not looking for them,” says Mayer. “So much of the stuff we create happens by accident. It’s being able to capitalize on accidents or making yourself available to accidents that takes us to the next level.”

The group put some those “accidents” to good use in its sketch hour “MC² and the Proper Tease of Love” performed during the “Big Bang” nights in September (and reviewed on Jester). Its next production of sketches to feature company members is just beginning to be written and will be staged in March.

“We didn’t know [Proper Tease of Love] would be about love,” adds Mayer. “But we noticed that was there in most of the sketches, and cut the ones that didn’t fit that.”

Playing off MC² and “Big Bang” as themes, the company also uses an image of Einstein as part of its identity. “The science theme is helpful,” says Mayer. “We’re exploring a new world of comedy.”

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October 6, 2005

The Big Bang announces it's participation in The Third Annual New York Underground Comedy Festival. The universe's only collision of film shorts, solo improv with Poland Spring and Red Bull, NYC vs. the rest of the USA, an unpredictable comedy trio, and the infamous mutts of Character Dog Run!

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September 15, 2005

A Proper Comedic Tease

Manhattan Comedy Collective puts influences to good use in sketch compilation show

It’s almost criminal that the Manhattan Comedy Collective isn’t getting bigger audiences. The 17-member ensemble, versed in both improv and sketch comedy, is currently running The Proper Tease of Love, a compilation of original sketches that fulfills the promise some of the group have shown in Saturday Night Rewritten shows at Juvie Hall, their home space.

The writing and acting of the group is strong, with the performers, nine of whom appear in this show, showing versatility by playing a range of characters. The writing is mostly well-focused, even deploying clever transitions between sketches in the first half of the one-hour show.

Christina Casa and Stacy Mayer (a director of other shows by the group) update Gilda Radner’s Lisa Loopner character as a duo to great effect, using the freedom of performing for a select audience to go further about sex than even 1970s Saturday Night Live could. The duo have formed their own private club called SSASS -- smart, socially awkward and sex-starved -- and you can guess where they may take it from there.

With Dewey Banks as the officiating priest and Mayer as the widow, a host of surprises are revealed in the sketch “The Funeral,” all original and all off-kilter enough to make them funny. Banks is this group’s Phil Hartman -- a utility player who can fit a lot of different seemingly normal personas.

Performer Phil Wedo pulls off both spoof characters like a pimp in a takeoff on MTV’s Room Raiders show, and everymen like those he summons up in an improv set the group does preceding the sketch show.

SSASS is written to segue right into another sketch, “Yours Now and Forever,” featuring Andrea Alton and Robin Gelfenbein, by focusing on a similar object or element, like Monty Python used to do. And this sketch, by comparing and contrasting two women from American Colonial and modern eras both pining away for lovers disappeared, skillfully build the humor by escalating their plights over time.

So if you like the influences evident in the Manhattan Comedy Collective’s work, do them a favor and help them build their audience. Your time will be well spent.

-Michael Shashoua, Editor in Chief

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September 2005

It isn't that Stacy Meyer, artistic director of the Manhattan Comedy Collective, doesn't feel the city’s comedy companies aren’t good—she's worked with them all. It's that they tend to limit their genres and she wants to tackle them all. That’s why her goal—“to create a professional-level comedy theatre in New York”—is so straightforward. The group's newest effort, The Big Bang, runs Thursdays in September at Juvie Hall, and attempts to illustrate her point, fusing bits of sketch and improv. with solo performances and short comic plays. Some evenings feature the 17 company members, some don't, but her larger hope is to synthesize the city's fertile comedy scene into a mirthful behemoth. Since many company members have special skills—one standup comic takes production photographs, for example—overhead stays low, which keeps tickets inexpensive. And let’s be honest: a $7 ticket (including a drink) does make everyone smile.

Written for United Stages by Leonard Jacobs, associate editor at Back Stage.

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June 27, 2005

Inside With: Stacy Mayer, Artistic Director of the Manhattan Comedy Collective


This Wednesday, June 29th, is the official grand opening of the Manhattan Comedy Collective, a new, non-profit comedic theatre ensemble made up of many of the familiar faces at Juvie Hall. For their premiere gala, they will be hosting a full night of sketch, improv, videos, stand up, and musical acts. The Apiary contacted Stacy Mayer, the collective's artistic director, for details about the MC².

Why is it important that the MC² is non-profit?
I checked into it and out of all the venues in New York, we are the only one with that goal in mind (UCB, PIT, Juvie Hall, Second City, Chicago City Limits). It is important to me that we are producing quality comedic theatre. My goal is not to make money but to add a level of professionalism to the already fantastic talent we have in this community. I also have a theatre background so I thought, why not add plays into the mix? With Dad's Garage in Atlanta as a model, my long term goal is to create a regional League of Residents Theatre in New York that creates, produces and promotes improv, sketch, plays, solo shows, stand-up and films. There is nothing like this that exists in New York right now.

Will the MC² be exclusively at Juvie Hall?
The Wednesday night shows are always at Juvie Hall.

Are Manhattan Comedy Collective and Juvie Hall interchangeable? Have they merged to become the same thing?
Not in any way whatsoever. We are the Manhattan Comedy Collective performing at The Juvie Hall Theatre.

Okay. This all sounds intriguing. We're ready to join the collective! How do we sign up?
The collective has three different levels of commitment: ensemble, consultant and intern. Our ensemble is comprised of people with multi-disciplines. For instance, they perform but also have carpentry skills. They also have creative input regarding all of the shows we produce and the company decisions. Meetings are held once a month and it is their duty to volunteer in some capacity every month. Consultants are there to advise on specific projects but not the company as a whole. They may perform and volunteer for shows but are not required to volunteer every month. Interns are those who want to work closely with our ensemble to perfect a trade. They do not perform in the shows. We are currently seeking a technical intern. If someone is interested in joining the collective they should contact me at manhattancomedy@yahoo.com.

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June 24, 2005

After two months of previews, a caravan of live comedy performers is finally making it official. The Manhattan Comedy Collective, whose credo is to present high-quality comedy, stitches together sketch, improv, stand-up short films and more into the grand opening of what will be their weekly Wednesday show at Juvie Hall. Led by artistic director Stacey Mayer, the ensemble (also known as MC Squared) is made up of about a dozen New York and Chicago comedians, some of whom have appeared in Saturday Night Rewritten (also at Juvie). Divided into three programs with a variety of performers, this grand opening show includes improv sets by Character Dog Run (pictured), Freestyle Love Supreme and The Mighty Afrowhitey, which is actually Robin Gelfenbein singing her gripes about the daily grind in New York. Expect excessive energy, audience participation and enough subversive political jabs to make George W. Bush and Condoleeza Rice think twice about appearing on-camera together again. Admission includes one free drink. -- Yon Motskin (Photo: Stacy Mayer)

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June 24, 2005

New York, NY -- Manhattan Comedy Collective has just been nominated for three Emerging Comics Awards: Best Director (Stacy Mayer), Best Technical Director (Joe Guercio) and Best Venue (Juvie Hall).

This great news comes on the heels of our successful preview month in May. Now the Collective moves its weekly comedy sampler to Wednesday nights. Starting June 1, the volunteer-led organization continues its commitment to high-quality comedic works, presenting a new lineup of sketch comedy, improv, stand-up and short films. -- Lauren Zinn

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