Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Transactors Improv for Families

Need a couple laughs in those days after Christmas when your kids are stir crazy, you can't see the carpet for the wrapping paper and fallen Christmas tree needles? This year we got the chance to see Transactors Improv Group's Improv for Families show! 





Transactors Improv Company's tagline is "If you laugh we're doing comedy, if you don't we're doing drama." Spectator said that Transactors is a "great example of how comic genius performs under pressure." longest-running improvisational theater in the south. Our work focuses on emotion, physicality, character, commitment, teamwork, and fun. The company formed in 1983 at The ArtsSchool in Carrboro, N.C., as a children's theater. Much of its work was scripted, but over time the group metamorphosed into a professional touring company performing improvisational theater for audiences of all ages.

Transactors invited us to their "Day-After-Christmas-Pajama-Show!" where the entire audience was allowed, nay, encouraged to wear PJ's, so you can imagine that kiddos (and even some adults) loved it! This event was at Common Ground theater which I love for how close you are to the show, just feels intimate. The improv comedians came out (in their pj's as well!) and made the audience feel comfortable, and gave us instructions on how to be part of an improv show. They would take suggestions from the audience for different scenarios and just roll with it, and the surprise component of it and general goofiness make the kids guffaw. A lot of the scenes and situations were holiday themed, and made it even better. My favorite bit was when they took lines that the audience had written down on slips of paper in the lobby before the show. They took the slips of paper with famous lines from movies, silly phrases, and more that we had written and scattered them around the floor. Then throughout the skit they'd pause their improvised line like "Donna I've always loved you but there's something I should tell you..." and pick up one of these audience written paper slips to finish their line. It was brilliant! My kids were cracking up. They also had volunteers from the audience of all ages come up and be part of skits. The hour seemed to fly by because it was such a laid back, silly time. There were kids and adults of all ages there, and I heard everyone laughing, so it's a great event if you've got extended family in town as well. 



Lucky for you Transactors has family shows every couple months! The next one is this Saturday, January 16th. "Surprises" is the theme and as they say "Its a new year full of new experiences waiting to happen. Join us as we explore different types of fun surprises, like parties, adventures, and gifts!" The cast is director Anoo Brod, Bart Hubbard, and Jane Allen Wilson. It's at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro and you can buy tickets through etix here
Here's more information about the event on their facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/160774114289031/

(FTC required disclosure: In exchange for a blog post, I was given a two free tickets to a show so that I could sample their services and write a more accurate review. However, the opinions are my own.)

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