Magnet Theater Blog: News and Ideas about Comedy, Improv Shows & Classes in NYC

BEEES!!! turned 2 earlier this year! They are celebrating with a Two-Year Anniversary Show this Friday, March 29th, at 7pm, and you are all invited!

Formed in late December 2010, BEEES!!! gathered for the first time as a team at Mooncake, a few doors down from the Magnet Training Center.  Over dinner and cheap Sapporo beers, they got better acquainted with one another.  Some had taken the Magnet musical improv classes together, and were nervous and excited to be placed on their very first house team; others were seasoned performers, with years of improv and stage experience under their belts.  What they all had in common, was their musical improv training under the brilliant Tara Copeland and Frank Spitznagel.  BEEES!!! hit the Magnet stage for their first show on Tuesday, January 4th, 2011.

The meta show, November 2011. Photo by Keith Huang.

(Team Trivia: Michael Lutton came up with the team name, which won the majority of the votes, over gems such as “7 O’Clock,” “The Richard Cheddar Show,” and “Employee of the Month.”)

Inspirado winners! Dumb challenge (“Beethoven”), February 2012

Since then, BEEES!!! has performed regularly on Magnet Musical Tuesdays, survived two hurricanes (Irene and Sandy), won five Inspirado challenges, and performed in theaters and improv festivals throughout NYC and along the East Coast, including The Depot Theatre, Boston Comedy Arts Festival, North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival, NYC Improv Festival, and the New York Musical Improv Festival.

Harold Night at ImprovBoston, March 2012

The Depot Theatre in Westport, NY, July 2012.

BEEES!!! is happy and proud to call the Magnet Theater home. Come this Friday, March 29th, at 7pm and join them in celebrating 2 years of making beautiful musical improv together.

The BEEES!!! opening, artistically rendered by Desireé Nash

BEEES!!! is: Jamie Cummings, Michael Lutton, Desireé Nash, Steve Whyte, Catherine Wing.

Sleepytime at Chateau Whyte, North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival, February 2013.

Last night the Magnet expanded its musical improv program by doubling the number of Musical Megawatt teams. We saw the premiere of new teams Atticus, Legend, and the Montels, playing alongside vet teams Aquarius, Mint Condition, and BEEES!

Michael Martin kicks off Musical Megawatt

At the beginning of the night, the director of the musical program Michael Martin talked about how, seven years ago, Tara Copeland and Frank Spitznagel offered a musical improv elective, and how the program has since blossomed into six teams, dozens of performers, and hundreds of students.

New team Atticus took the stage first, telling the tale of Solomon Mann, whose spiritual journey brought him to indigent, indigenous, indignant Native Americans; to Arkansas’s only midnight improv theater; to Penelope the Corn Goddess.

Photo from the Magnet Theater’s Instagram feed

Drew Tarvin’s puns for this show are:

1. Tickets disappear in a puff of smoke, so be sure to make reservations.
2. So confident they’ll never Atticus Flinch.
3. Some of the best meta improv you’ve ever Arkansas.
4. A harrowing tale about taking on the Mann
5. If the show is sold out, better try to scalp some tickets.

Photo from the Magnet Theater’s Instagram feed

Drew Tarvin’s puns for this show are:

1. The perfect conditions for great improv–you’ll go mint-al.
2. Pony up $7 and saddle up for one heck of a ride.
3. Around award season, expect this team to win a My Little Tony.
4. They may talk abut the S.A.T. but you wont be sitting when this one is over.
5. Get schooled on performing improv with class, Mint Conditon packs some principow!

The worst picture of Lorraine I could find

Drew Tarvin’s puns for this show are:

1. Caution: funny times a head.
2. This little piggy went “Oui! Oui! Oui!” all the way home.
3. What a hoot!
4. This show will leave you in a body caste.
5. Get out a map because this is one Legend you want to see.

Musical Director Frank Spitznagel!

Musical Megawatt’s MOST VETERAN TEAM Beees went on next, performing a slice-of-life set taking place in a Rite Aid. From the suggestion of the theme of “jealousy,” we saw the Rite Aid manager who liked passing along his grandfather’s advice in “talksies” with his employees; Karen (the most veteran Rite Aid employee), who was unsure about the mysteries of sex; a gay couple who just broke up after two and half years. Remember: don’t dig a hole if you already have one in the backyard.

The Magnet’s Most Veteran Musical Megawatt Team

Drew Tarvin’s puns for this show are:

1. This team shows there aint nothin wrong with a little bump and Grindr.
2. They may be called Beees but I give them an A.
3. Stop digging for better improv, this team has the hole package.
4. Is this team from Nevada because they left me green with NV.
5. Bad improv left you feeling hurt? Beees has the Rite Aid.

New team the Montels were next, and from the suggestion of “candy” took us into Candyland, where tooth fairies worried for their existence, salads and health food were on the rise, people read Candy Gawker, and Colonel Custard waged war against Colonel Kale.

Colonel Custard and Colonel Kale battle for Candyland

Drew Tarvin’s puns for this show are:

1. Grab some popcorn because these colonels are ready to pop.
2. All kale the chiefs of great improv!
3. Funny as health.
4. With a team this funny, it’s no wonder Mon tells.
5. Yes We Can-dy.

Clean comic Brian Regan and an old couple waiting for a bus

Drew Tarvin’s puns for this show are:

1. It’s fun for Aquari-you, it’s fun for Aquari-me, it’s fun for Aquari-us.
2. This comedy equals tragedy + rhyme.
3. There’s nothing Rocky about this show, it’s out of this world.
4. The character impersonations will make you stand-up as they get the play-wright.
5. No need to shake your spears, this show completely works.

Congratulations to all the new teams who debuted last night! Musical Megawatt is now expanded to four shows a night: two shows at 7pm and two shows at 8:30pm. Check the calendar for showtimes!

As New York City Pride kicks off this weekend, the Magnet Theater is proud to present Pride Night 2012!  We’ve got a sparkly line-up of shows tonight that highlight LGTBQ issues and LGBTQ performers, with lots of sketch, music, and improv. Let’s take a walk across the rainbow, shall we?

At 7pm, we have the one-man show, Cock of the Walk. Written and performed by Athos Cakiades, and directed by Kelly Haran, Cock of the Walk introduces you to five characters that explore masculinity and the male psyche in ways that will tickle your funny bone. It promises to be “pretty dirty” and “rather gay,” which is our idea of a good time at the Magnet Theater on a Friday night.  Also, it’s a Time Out New York Critics’ Pick!

At 8:30pm, Gay Bomb: The Musical returns to the Magnet stage for its June run. Check out all the media attention, from the featured article on the front page of EDGE New York, to the blurb in Chelsea Now. There are only four shows left, so if you haven’t gotten GAY BOMBed yet, it is highly recommended that you come see the show very soon. And (shhhhh!) we’ve got a secret discount code for $7 tickets. Please enter “POTUS Felching” when you buy your tickets here.

Friday, 6/15, 8:30pm
Monday, 6/18, 8:30pm
Friday, 6/22, 8:30pm
Friday, 6/29, 8:30pm (Closing Night)

Directed by Michael Martin, with music by Frank Spitznagel, and book and lyrics by Chris Friden and Steve Whyte.

Starring: Andrew Fafoutakis, Dreagn Foltz, Ben Jones, Michael Lutton, Jen Sanders, TJ Mannix, Oscar Montoya, Dave Tomczak and Woody Fu.

At 10pm, we have a special Made-Up Musical with a cast of LGBTQ performers, all from Musical Megawatt house teams: Melissa Gordon, Oscar Montoya, Andrew Fafoutakis, T.J. Mannix, Michael Lutton, and Catherine Wing.   You can’t have a full night of LGBTQ comedy without musical improv, right?

The LGBTQ cast of tonight's Made-Up Musical

All the singing and dancing and Broadway jazz hands will get you nicely warmed up for the final show of the night.

At 11:30pm, There’s No Place Like Home presents a GLTBQ All-Star Improv Event.  Andrew Fafoutakis hosts a special night of homo hilarity with a cast of improv superstars: Bianca Casusol, Kevin Gilligan, Melissa Gordon, Scott Lawrie, Michael Lutton, T.J. Mannix, Michael Martin, Oscar Montoya, Louie Pearlman, Nathan Peterman, Emily Schorr Lesnick, Emily Shapiro, Steven Slate, Lauren Ashley Smith, Catherine Wing, and a Super Special Guest!  It’s a fantastic and fun way to end Pride Night 2012.  But don’t just take our word for it.  Check it out — There’s No Place Like Home is a Time Out New York Critics’ Pick!  Come on by and celebrate Pride with us tonight!

In celebration of its 7th Anniversary, Magnet held its first completely ridiculous and ironically meaningful award ceremony. It was the 1st Annual Maggie Awards and everyone played fell into their appropriate roles immediately; the winners were falsely modest and the nominees who lost pretended it was an honor just to be nominated. The presenters were sharp and read the prompter with varying degrees of skill and self conscious sexiness.

Here are some moments from the ceremony for those of you in the community who couldn’t be there, and those of you who were there and aren’t sure this actually happened.  Enjoy

Click after the jump for the complete list of nominees and winners.

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In a city of over 8 million strangers, it’s incredible to find a place that feels like home.  Yet, in it’s 7th year, the Magnet Theater continues to do that for many improvisers, actors and comedy addicts.  The Magnet’s supportive atmosphere focuses on  following your gut and “yes and”-ing in a grounded and personal way.  There is no fast track, improv is like anything else, it takes time to master.  At the Magnet, there is no pressure to be anybody other than yourself.  Much of that comes from co-founder Armando Diaz, who dreamed that the Magnet would “facilitate people making comedy and meeting each other.”  I sat down with Armando Diaz and inquired about this very important milestone:

Willy Appelman: What was the first show in the Magnet Theater space?

Armando Diaz: I was teaching an Evente class and we had our first show in the theater.  The stage wasn’t finished.  It was an experiment for all of us.  We (Ed Herbstman and Alex more