In Our Prime

From Austin Improv Community Wiki


In Our Prime

In Our Prime Three.jpg

Years Active 2012-Present
Cast
Past Members Jessica Arjet (2012-2015)

In Our Prime is an improv troupe that focuses on grounded, dramatic longforms.

Summary

In Our Prime was the brainchild of Paul Normandin. Paul and Gloria Bankler became close friends after Kaci Beeler's Romance and Intimacy Elective at The Hideout Theatre in 2011. Gloria and Paul met Ryan Hill when they all took an elective workshop at The Hideout Theatre entitled Andy is Mean to You, wherein Hideout Education Director Andy Crouch would give very direct feedback to students. Soon after, Paul approached Gloria and Ryan with his idea for a troupe that would perform extremely grounded, even dramatic, improv with very little focus on comedy.

The troupe was briefly named It'll Come to Us until the name In Our Prime was decided on due to the older-than-average age of the cast and the primeness of their number (three). The trio performed a debut show at the Hideout.

Ryan was a teaching assistant for Hideout Theatre co-owner Jessica Arjet at the time. When he told her about the troupe she asked if she could play with them. The four rehearsed together once. Ten minutes after a very successful second show with Jessica guesting, the troupe asked her to join them. In March of 2015, Jessica left the troupe.

IOP is a house troupe for Alamao City Improv headlining a show in San Antonio (starting in 2016) on the first Saturday of each month. In Our Prime is also directing a main stage show for Alamao City Improv, Gone Tomorrow, with performances each Friday and Saturday July 14 through August 12, 2017.

IOP has played in the Oklahoma Improv Festival (2012-14), the Improvaganza Hawaii Improv Festival (2012), the District Improv Festival in Washington, DC, (2013), the WaffleFest (2012-13), Frontera Fest (2013-14), The Improvised Play Festival (2013-2014), Unscripted New York (2014) and The Out of Bounds Comedy Festival (2012-14). They played a regular monthly slot in The Free Fringe at The Hideout Theatre through 2013 and have also performed a month-long Threefer run there. The troupe's Free Fringe shows tended to be more humorous and less grounded.

They were coached for a period of several months in 2012 by Jeremy Lamb. Shannon McCormick also coached them for several months starting in June of 2013. Chuy Zarate and Christopher "Ceej" Allen have coached them in 2015.

History

Here is Paul Normandin's explanation of the name's origin:

In Our Prime came from a place holder name when we started (pre-Jessica) - Tripod - Everyone hated it. Later we used Late Bloomers - a reference to the idea that we were all coming late to the Improv scene relatively speaking. Satisfied that Late Bloomers was a false start, we changed it to, "It'll Come to Us." Turns out it did and not much longer. We all liked the play on words and it still had the air of late bloomingness. I am not sure who said "In Our Prime" first, but we all agreed on the spot.

2012 Shows

  • 03/01/2012 - Debut @ The Hideout ("Printing Presses")
  • 04/05/2012 - The Hideout ("Disobedient Daughter") w/ Jessica Arjet
  • 07/20/2012 - Improv Festival Oklahoma ("Survivalist Family")
  • 09/01/2012 - Out of Bounds ("Dating an Environmentalist")
  • 09/29/2012 - Hawaii Improvaganza Festival ("Art")
  • 10/04/2012 - Threefer Run ("Gay Boy")
  • 10/11/2012 - Threefer Run ("Drugs and Kids")
  • 10/18/2012 - Threefer Run ("The Car Accident & The Brady Bunch")
  • 10/18/2012 - Free Fringe Curve Ball Format Debut ("Hell")
  • 10/25/2012 - Threefer Run ("Run-Away Dad")
  • 11/10/2012 - Wafflefest ("The Affair")

Media

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