Arts
Expect the unexpected at the Out of Bounds Festival; after all it's improv
By Sarah RigdonSept. 1, 2005
Performing an improvisational show in a moving vehicle might not seem logical, but logic is often the enemy of comedy.
Jeremy Lamb and his colleagues in Well Hung Jury, a disbanded Austin comedy troupe, staged the moving-vehicle show a few years ago on a No. 7 Capital Metro bus. In Chicago last week, the Jury-infused troupe Available Cupholders performed in a standard size van, where patrons called ahead for reservations because of, well, limited seating. In the end, exactly four people showed up. "We got to know each other," Lamb says.
It's a performer-spectator bond the troupe craves. Lamb's group describes improv as "an art form cloaked in natural communication," calling it "the theater of everyday existence." In other words, comedy can happen anywhere, any time.
That's what Lamb reasoned when in 2002 he hatched Out of Bounds, an annual grass-roots Austin improv comedy festival and mini-golf tournament, now in its fourth year. Lamb, not so logically, also thought he could launch a festival on a nonexistent budget.
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Photo by Deborah Cannon/AA-S The Jury is back in: Disbanded troupe deliberates again as a group and in solo projects. Out of Bounds Improv Festival and Miniature Golf Tournament When: 8 and 10 p.m. Wednesday-Sept. 10 Where: The Hideout, 617 Congress Ave.; Putt 'n' Funn Zone, 301 Chisholm Trail Road, Round Rock Info: www.outofboundsimprov.com. Tickets: $10 per show; $50 festival pass |
Festival co-producers Mike D'Alonzo (of Maestro theater) and Shannon McCormick (of No Shame Theater) promise this year will be the most unpredictable yet, with up-and-coming troupes from all over the country, as well as a new mini-golf venue, the svelte Putt 'n' Funn Zone in Round Rock.
This year also features a Jury reunion performance. It's reason enough to come to the festival, let alone the more than 20 troupes flying and driving in from around the country.
The Jury first disbanded in 2003, before Lamb and three other Jury artists moved to Chicago. Lamb started the Jury just before graduating from Westwood High School in 1998 with a group of fellow students. In 1999, the troupe helped gut and rebuild the Hideout Theater in exchange for performance time once it opened, earning the Jury a regular space. In 2000, the Jury unofficially broke the Guinness Record for longest continual improvised narrative, clocking in at 27 hours.
Along the way, troupe members made friends with Austin comedians. Collaborating with other artists, they quickly realized the benefit of working organically, independent of industry pull.
Lamb and his colleagues designed Out of Bounds to contrast with its gargantuan predecessor, the Big Stinkin' International Improv and Sketch Comedy Festival, which died in 2001. It was the SXSW of comedy. By its last festival year in 1999, it had acquired millions and lost as much.
Though fun, it didn't encourage camaraderie among comedians, according to Lamb's group. Like a giant industry audition, it was rigid, cutthroat and exciting. Out of Bounds is purposely more relaxed.
The festival invites comedians to get acquainted before traveling back to day jobs. The result: Troupes go home inspired to create their own comedy events. Jester's Ink, a troupe from Richmond, Va., that performs Thursday night, now hosts an independent comedy fest, and D'Alonzo says he is moving to Los Angeles next year to start another.
"Our primary goal is to make sure that everyone has a really good time," he explains. Co-producer McCormick says, "It's not about getting discovered, or about getting on 'Mad TV.' "
Indeed, it is not at all about getting on TV. At this point in their careers, most artists performing in the festival would rather not be associated with television comedy, because what they can offer does not translate well to the small screen. Festivals such as Out of Bounds exist to encourage experimentation.
Though a relatively small festival, Out of Bounds does share one feature with the usual Austin megafests. Making a choice between acts performing at the same time on the same night will be tough, with all shows at about equal caliber. McCormick and D'Alonzo are particularly excited about the Thursday night all-sketch triple bill at the Hideout with the Sicks and the Plurals, both from Austin, plus L.A. duo Keilly and Roeters. Also, a one-man show by Marty Barrett (whom D'Alonzo affectionately describes as a genius 7-foot-tall Marty Feldman) called "Mavervorl's Space Island," the contents of which neither producers could predict.
And of course the Jury reunion show is on everyone's list. Jury member Ace Manning will sing a song as he's done for all big Jury shows. Since it's improv, nobody knows what to expect from the lyrics.
McCormick and D'Alonzo's dream lineup for future fests: a triple threat of Lady Bird Johnson, Earl Campbell and Major Applewhite performing "The Vagina Monologues."
Logic tells us it'll never happen, but everyone laughed just thinking about it.
