Indigo Shift
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| Years Active | 2011-present |
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Indigo Shift is a musical improv troupe set in a cabaret at the end of the world.
Format
Indigo Shift follows a troupe of performers (Solomon Strange, Anita Deva, and Colin) as they perform one final show for the last night on Earth. Suggestions are drawn out through discussion of apocalyptic themes with the audience, which are then spun into a series of scenes, stories, and songs loosely threaded together by the banter between the three characters.
History
Shortly after Jordan T. Maxwell announced he was moving back to Austin from Los Angeles, Michael Brockman approached him about developing a musical format. Maxwell was inspired at a concert for the Brechtian punk duo The Dresden Dolls to create an improvised dystopian cabaret that would take place at the end of the world.
Here is Jordan T. Maxwell's explanation of the name's origin:
Stolen pretty much directly from the fourth issue of Neil Gaiman's "Books of Magic." One character's description of the end of the universe from the perspective of the Big Crunch. If the universe expands in red shift and contracts in blue shift, then the very end must be indigo shift on the spectrum. It sounded like the late shift at a cabaret to me as well, so kind of the perfect pun. ;)
Maxwell and Brockman recruited Kacey Samiee and Sarah Marie Curry to round out the troupe and they began rehearsing and hashing out the mechanics of the format. Curry soon had to drop out of the project and the remaining trio debuted on 10/8/11, opening for Get Up in The Saturday Night Special.
The troupe took a brief hiatus while Maxwell and Brockman fulfilled other professional obligations, but returned in 2012. Brockman left the group shortly before their show in The 2012 Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, but Maxwell and Samiee's long time friend and collaborator Jeffrey Amos filled in for the performance and officially joined as the troupe's new third member and musical accompanist. Because Amos currently resides outside of Texas, Indigo Shift has invited guest improviser/musicians to play, including Jeremy Sweetlamb, Cindy Page, Craig Kotfas, Ryan Hill, Lindsey McGowen, and Tosin Awofeso.
In 2015, the troupe performed a four show run at The Institution Theater billed as the Indigo Shift Cabaret, featuring guest acts such as Confidence Men, The Knuckleball Now, The Escorts, and Love Vigilantes with special appearances by Tom Booker as Mr. Morbid, Adriane Shown as Gentress Helena Black, Marc Majcher as Jean Paul from Hurly Burly, and Brently Heilbron as Milo from Fragile Rock, and musical accompaniment from a rotating combination of their past musicians.
They have also performed at The 2013 Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, Improvaganza in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Alaska State Improv Festival in Juneau, Alaska, The 2014 Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, and the Seattle Festival of Improvised Theatre. They are also frequently featured guests at the Hell & Back Cabaret and Mister Morbid's Moonlight Movie Mayhem Madness Massacre.
Dramatis Personae
Rev. Solomon Strange (Jordan T. Maxwell)
Anita Deva (Kacey Samiee)
Colin (Jeffrey Amos)
Former/Guest Artists
Brother Monkirk (Michael Brockman)
Doc St. Jenkins (Craig Kotfas)
Nigel (Ryan Hill)
Kitty Draco (Cindy Page)
Baby Doll (Sarah Marie Curry)
Lili (Lindsey McGowen)
Tommy Two Hands Tutucci (Tosin Awofeso)
Jeremy Sweetlamb played without an "in universe" character.
Media
Videos
- Video of 3/29/2012.
- Video of 12/20/2012 performance.
- Video of 4/26/2014 at Alaska State Improv Festival.
- Video of encore performance at Alaska State Improv Festival.
- Featurette with show and behind the scenes footage from 12/20/2013 performance.
Photos
- Photoset from 10/8/2011 by Steve Rogers.
- Photoset by Roy Moore of their 3/29/2012 performance in The Threefer.
- Photoset by Steve Rogers that includes their 8/28/12 performance in The 2012 Out of Bounds Comedy Festival.
- Photoset by Michael Yew that includes their performance in the 9/20/13 Hell and Back Cabaret.
- Photoset by Steve Rogers that includes their 9/27/13 performance at The Hell & Back Cabaret.
- Photoset by Michael Yew of their 12/20/13 performance in PGraph Presents.
- Photoset by Chad Wellington of their 4/18/14 show.
- Photoset by Michael Yew that includes their show at The 2014 Out of Bounds Comedy Festival.
- Photoset by Peter Rogers of their 10/10/14 performance in Mister Morbid, featuring Lindsey McGowen as their guest musician.
- Photoset by Steve Rogers that includes their 5/1/15 performance in PGraph Presents.
- Photoset by Roy Moore of their 9/11/2015 Indigo Shift Cabaret performance.
- Photoset by Steve Rogers of their 9/18/2015 Indigo Shift Cabaret performance.
- Photoset by Michael Yew of their 9/25/15 "Indigo Shift Cabaret" show.
More Information
- Indigo Shift's Facebook page
- Interview with the troupe on The Theft Forum.
