With Mopco's Crush The Game Series: don't just survive short-form games. Crush them.

Before the Improv Olympic was a venue in Chicago, it was a performance format invented by David Shepherd and Howard Jerome. One summer evening in 1978, our AD, Michael Burns, played on a Manhattan team in an IO match staged in the shadow of the Tappan Zee Bridge. A team called Stage Fright from Ottawa Canada was there. They performed their own signature “Freestyle Event”, and completely changed Burns’ mind about what was possible in improv. In a short three minutes or so, the four improvisers took one word from the audience and used it to weave a fantastic web of transformative ensemble discovery. This was 1979-- decades before many improvisers were even aware that thematic long form would be a thing.

A successful Ottawa demands that the players on a team are generous, have intense focus, engage in radical listening, and have the willingness to transform at the drop of a hat in service of the scene. When this format succeeds, (it doesn’t, always, which is part of the thrill!) audiences tend to be unwilling to believe that it’s improvised. This workshop is for improvisers with some experience--ideally, with some ensemble play and knowledge of thematic longform.

Masks are required inside the theatre.

Enhanced safety measures at The Mopco:

We have installed a heat recovery ventilation system, UVC light in our air handling system, and increased HVAC filtration MERV value to 13, the highest that our equipment allows.