The Minneapolis theater scene is growing with a new venue in Uptown. HUGE Theater opened December 5 and will celebrate its grand opening January 28 in the former Lava Lounge space at 31st and Lyndale. It’s the only place in town devoted to scenic improvisation, also called long-form improv.
HUGE was founded in 2005 by Butch Roy, Jill Bernard and Nels Lennes, three veterans of the local improv community, along with Mike Fotis and Joe Bozic (collectively known as Fringe Festival favorites Ferrari McSpeedy). It is artist-led and artist-focused.
“Scenic improvisation is more like a play,” Bernard said. “The scenes connect to each other to create a whole show, sometimes from just one audience suggestion.”
The first shows at the new space will be Ka-Baam!, an improvised comic book; and Overheard in Minneapolis, a comic exploration of random bits of eavesdropping captured on the website of the same name. The showcase Improv A Go Go will move over from the Brave New Workshop and the collaboration Show X will relocate from Bryant Lake Bowl. The Mustache Rangers, stars of a weekly podcast, will host a weekly show.
HUGE Theater will be at 3037 Lyndale Avenue. For more information: Butch Roy at 612.306.8340, Jill Bernard at 612.702.7910, www.hugetheater.com, jill@hugetheater.com.
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