Grease 3: Threase returns

Grease 3: Threase, the hilarious and dirty finale to the Grease trilogy will run for four more performances.

The show is directed by Tom Wojtunik, and features Katherine Bryant Flaherty, Gary Culig, Shayna Ferm, David Flaherty, Alex Goldberg, Jaime Hayes, Luke Manson, Heather Nicholson, Christopher O’Connor, Catia Ojeda, Bones Rodriguez and Livia Scott.

Shows are every Friday night in February at 8:00pm at the new People’s Improv Theater, located at 123 East 24th Street.  Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here.

Grease 3: Threase

Grease 3: Threase, the amazingly hilarious musical, is a modern day tribute to the worlds of Grease 1 and 2.  After premiering at SketchFestNYC, and an encore performance a week later, the show returns for five performances, every Thursday night from September 30 – October 28.

Music and Book by

Katherine Bryant Flaherty and Shayna Ferm

DIRECTED BY Tom Wojtunik

COSTUMES BY Michelle Holden

CHOREOGRAPHED BY Melinda Sharretts

WITH Katherine Bryant Flaherty, Jason Denuszek, Shayna Ferm, David Flaherty, Alex Goldberg, Jaime Hayes, Amy Heidt, Luke Manson, Chris O’Connor, Catia Ojeda, John Phillips and Livia Scott

SEPTEMBER 30, OCTOBER 7, OCTOBER 14, OCTOBER 21, OCTOBER 28

8:00pm • $8

at THE PIT (PEOPLE’S IMPROV THEATRE)

154 West 29th Street (btw 6th and 7th Ave)

get tickets here: http://thepit-nyc.com/index2.html

Industry Reading of I’m in Love With Your Wife screenplay

Anastasia Barzee, David Beach, Elena Berger & Jodi Collins

present

CREATIVE CONTROL 10    

The industry reading series with a beat

Requesting the honor of your presence at another under-the-radar presentation of New Works

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

7pm-8:30pm

(That’s Women’s Round Robin Curling Night in Vancouver so fire up your DVR)

BAR 13

121 University Place @ E. 13th Street

Rose & Thorne – A TV pilot by Chris Crockett & Andrea Rosen

I’m in Love With Your Wife – A Screenplay by Alex Goldberg

Cast to Include:

Matt Ballard, Chris Crockett, Kelly Deadmon, Christina Gausas, John Gemberling, Rob Lathan, Matt Lawler, Kate McKinnon, Andrea Rosen, and Ean Sheehy

Hosted by Rachel Dratch & Musical Guest Jesse Lenat

Seating Limited!  RSVP: creativecontrol.nyc@gmail.com

Vote for Noir and Peace

I acted in the short film Noir and Peace, part of the Film Racing Grand Prix.  Filmmakers Gary Culig and Dan Kuvalakis were awesome, and so was the rest of the cast and crew, including FEARSOME’s Katherine Bryant and Chris O’Connor.   The movie was written, shot and edited in 100 hours, and has made the finals of the competition.  The theme was privacy and the prop was a balloon.  Check out the film and vote:

http://www.filmracing.com/Films/competitions/grandprix2009.htm

No need to sign up for anything (or even watch the movie) to vote.

Heeb Magazine

Starting today, I will be writing content for Heeb Magazine online.  Up first, a series of interviews with comedians, starting with Seth Herzog.

FEARSOME at SketchFestNYC

FEARSOME returns to SketchFestNYC, New York’s finest Sketch Comedy Festival, for the fifth year.   The festival takes place June 11-13, and features all star comedy from across North America, and once again FEARSOME has been selected to close out the entire weekend.

One of the best aspects of a festival like this is the wide variety of what constitutes sketch comedy all together in one venue, with each act carefully selected out of hundreds of submissions.   Purchase a pass for the entire weekend, or get a pass for just one night.

But if you only have time for one group, make it FEARSOME.

Fearsome in a hot tub

FEARSOME @ SketchFestNYC

June 13^th @ 11:00pm

UCB Theatre

307 W. 26^th Street (between 8^th and 9^th Aves)

http://sketchfestnyc.com/

ECNY Awards Are Back

Last year I co-produced the ECNY Awards along with Jon Friedman, Carol Hartsell, Nate Sloan and Alex Zalban.  The awards celebrate New York’s rising comedy stars.  Last year’s show was a great success, and we are pleased to return as a team to produce the show again, now in it’s fifth year.

If you or anyone you know performs stand-up, one-person shows, improv or sketch, or runs a very funny website or creates amazing videos here in New York, go to the nominations page on the website and submit them for consideration.  And yes, you can nominate yourself!  Nominations will be accepted until midnight on December 19th.  More details are on the site, including requirements for nominations, how nominees are chosen, and past winners.  Or just read this press release:

2008 ECNY AWARDS NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN
AWARDS TO CELEBRATE THE COMEDIC PERFORMING ARTS IN NEW YORK CITY

New York, Nov. 18, 2008 – The ECNY Awards, New York’s original comedy awards are now open. Nominations will be accepted until Midnight on December 19, 2008. Nominees will be announced in February, 2009 and winners will be announced at the 2008 ECNY Awards ceremony, held March 9, 2009, at 8:00pm; at Comix NY; 353 West 14th St. The ceremony will be hosted for the second year in a row by Jon Friedman.

“Last year, the ECNY Awards returned to the comedy scene as a resounding success,” said ECNY producer Alex Goldberg. “In the intervening year, our winners have exploded on the national comedy scene; and now, it’s your chance to choose who from New York will explode next. What, too soon?”

Groups or individuals are eligible for nomination in fourteen different categories: Best Female Standup Comedian; Best Host; Best Improv Group; Best Male Standup Comedian; Best Musical Comedy Act (Solo or Group); Best One Person Show; Best Sketch Comedy Group; Best Technician; Best Variety Show; Emerging Comic Award; Outstanding Achievement in Flyer or Postcard Design; Best Website; and Best Performance in a Commercial or Episode of Law & Order.

In addition, The ECNYs will be giving out a Lifetime Achievement Award to one comedian/group/institution who has done the most over the course of his/her/their/its lifetime for the perpetuation and growth of New York comedy. This category will not be open for nomination. Last year’s winner was Eddie Brill (The Late Show With David Letterman).

The Awards, a mainstay of the New York comedy scene, returned in 2007 with a completely revamped production team, after an almost two year hiatus. After a sold out ceremony in January of this year, The ECNYs will continue to celebrate the comedic performing arts in New York City by honoring the best, funniest, and most creative performers, shows, and producers working in the field.

The ECNY Awards are produced by Jon Friedman (The Rejection Show), Alex Goldberg (Fearsome), Carol Hartsell (Drink at Work), Nate Sloan (The Apiary), and Alexander Zalben (Elephant Larry).

New York Television Festival

This week I attended the New York Television Festival, celebrating independent TV.  Months ago I submitted The Adventures of Rick Brickman, a pilot script I wrote with Mike Pace, to the FOX Comedy Script Contest, which is part of the festival.  In mid-July we heard that out of 880 submissions, we had made the cut of 25 Finalists.   From there it would be cut to 3 “final” Finalists, and the winner would get $25,000 and a meeting with FOX.  We quickly but deliberately read and signed the contract, all scripts remain “optioned” by FOX until mid-October, in case there is any internal interest in the script if it is not selected as the winner.

Get that camera out of my face!

 

 

 

The festival was a surprisingly good time, and very informative.  As finalists, we received artist’s passes, enabling us to attend any screening, seminar or discussion.  The heart of the fest is the screening of indie pilots in comedy, drama or non-fiction categories.  I probably saw 15-20 new shows over the 5 days.  However, the lungs, liver, kidneys and brain of the fest were the panel discussions and informal industry chats.  Mike and I attended many as possible.  The amount of information I don’t know is expanding exponentially, and that’s a good thing.

 

Here are a few highlights:

 

• The Theater 2 Television Panel, discussing transitioning a career from one to the other.  Playwright Theresa Rebeck told of her days of temping FOLLOWING getting her PhD.  Kristen Johnston told about moving to L.A. because she booked the Martin Short show, only to be replaced the day before shooting was to begin.  Fortunately for her, only a month or so later she auditioned for Third Rock from the Sun.
• The amount of comedy talent onstage for the late night panel was incredible.  Writers from Conan, Daily Show, Colbert Report, Letterman and Saturday Night Live all discussed how a typical week goes for their shows.  A few interesting facts: the average top ten list on Letterman is whittled down from over 100 suggestions per topic.  Also, Jason Sudeikis, SNL cast member and panel moderator, told of the idea he pitched for the opening week of SNL.  Since urine is considered a cure for athletes foot, he wanted to do a fake commercial which bottles and sells Michael Phelp’s urine.  Called Pee-elps.  Neither Lorne Michaels or Michael Phelps were too interested.  Apparently the pitches made in the first meeting each week are rarely written; they are pitched mostly to make the other writers laugh, and then abandoned.  All writers on the panel bristled when asked why there are so few female writers on staff.  SNL currently has four, not counting cast members.  That is more than any other show.  Late Night doesn’t have any.  It was an awkward moment while they answered this question.
• Ben Silverman, co-chair of NBC, believes that the future of scripted television involves product branding, or co-sponsorship of shows by corporations with their products heavily featured in the show.  Which reminds me, keep an eye out for my new pilot script, Marty and Carol Work at the Applebees next to the Macys at the Mall of America.
• While most of the pilots screened in competition ranged from pretty good to mediocre, the quality of content in the NBC Short Cuts competition was very high.  Most of the shorts were very funny and smart.  And I’m not just saying that because the party following the screening was fully catered.  Strange Faculty, about a three high school teachers who suddenly possess very strange and extremely limited super powers, was probably the best short I saw this week.
• Most of the people I met were disappointed that there weren’t more industry around at the open bar events at the end of the night.  While I did have a few great conversations with producers and panelists, I think those who came in from out of town on their own dime were expecting a rocket ride to the career of their dreams. 

 

Alas, Rick Brickman was not a winner at this festival, but we were consoled by the tons of free drinks, occasional free meals, the swag, the knowledge learned, and the new friends made from Seattle, New Orleans, and Atlanta, to name a few places.  Plus I got a free bottle of Malibu. 

 

If anyone wants a free bottle of Malibu, let me know.