Three Hole Punch at WICF

"We met in college," is one way to describe what happened at the birth of Three Hole Punch.
 Tonight the girls are (literally) back in town and we're going to harness the forces of our collective quirk!
Three Hole Punch has dabbled in sketch, organic bullshit, interactive performance art, and  musical improv. But tonight we will bring you our long form, showing off what we do best: making stuff up.

It's all part of the Women in Comedy Festival which continues tonight at Improv Boston's mainstage, Improv Boston's studio space as well as Mottely's Comedy Club.

Check out the full schedule here.

My recommendations:

7pm on the Mainstage and in the Studio: Comedy All-Stars: This is the improv show that Rachel Dratch will be guest appearing in. If it's sold out consider buying half-price tickets to attend the SIMULCAST in the Improv Boston studio.

9pm in the Studio: The United Front of Improv Comedy. Catch Three Hole Punch doing our thang as part of this shared time slot. Also see some of my favorite local comedians in Reunion and Michelle and Micah.

10pm on the Mainstage: Comedy Spectacular includes the rapping improv group North Coast from UCB. (I don't know about you but I haven't heard Rachel Rosenthal rap nearly enough since she left Improv Boston to become a fancy New Yorker.)

Boston Improv Festival

The second annual Boston Improv Festival is taking place September 8th-12th at Improv Boston in Cambridge.

Stay tuned in a few days as I tell you my picks for what to see at the festival.
 For now, a shameless plug for myself since I am performing in three shows over the course of the weekend:

1. Three Hole Punch - Shannon Connolly, Liz Caradonna, Stephanie Jones, Amy Koske and I have been delighting audiences with our relationship based long form improv since we met in college. (Thursday 9p)

2. Hidden Falls - Directed by Steve Gilbane, Hidden Falls is a 40 minute fully improvised musical about life in a small town. The audience provides information about our town, and we'll discover the secrets and relationships behind closed doors, while singing about it! (Friday 9pm)

3. Improv Asylum Mainstage-  Improv Asylum Mainstage actors take your suggestions and turn them into   dreams (and scenes). (Sunday 8pm)

Three Hole at the Burren

This evening Three Hole Punch will perform along with our friends in Bastard's Inc at the Bad Habits Productions showcase.

Comdedy On Tap
5:30pm at The Burren in Davis Square.

This Guy Liked Our Show

Shannon was bored and googling the other day and came across the website of a man who saw our Three Hole Punch set at the Chicago Improv Festival and blogged about it.

As I said in my post about the CIF, Three Hole did a set we felt good about.
It wasn't out best work though, so to have some stranger write about us by name is kind of cool.

In a few weeks we're heading to Rhode Island for the Providence Improv Festival. Bloggers, start your keyboards!

Three Hole at the Burren

Tonight at 7pm Three Hole Punch is performing at The Burren in Somerville as part of the brand new Bad Habit Productions showcase.

I'll be absent from the stage due to a (scheduled) 12 hour work shift, but please stop by for some laughs and drinks and to wish Ms. Liz Caradonna good luck as she embarks upon her journey to Chicago!
I'll be stopping by after work to check out the rest of the showcase and support some awesome comedy so consider this your written invitation to join me.

Here is more info about the event from BHP:

BHP kicks off our new comedy showcase tonight at The Burren in Davis Square at 5:30 p.m.!

Hosted by Shannon Connolly, featuring improv and comedy talent from the greater Boston area and touring to bars all around the city, this is sure to become a monthly event you can't miss!

TONIGHT'S FEATURED TALENT

3 Hole Punch - Improv and Sketch Comedy
Don't Tell Mimi- Improv
Unexpected Turbulence -Improv
Tari Fanderclai -Stand-up Comedy
Rob Crean -Stand-up Comedy
Tim King -Stand-up Comedy

TICKETS AND DIRECTIONS

Tickets are $10 cash at the door. To get to The Burren (247 Elm Street,Somerville), take the Red Line to the Davis Square T stop.

NEED MORE INFO?
Check out our brand new website at badhabitproductions.org.
We look forward to seeing you tonight!

Women in Comedy

Today marks the start of the Women in Comedy Festival in Boston, MA.

From the website:

The ImprovBoston Women in Comedy Festival celebrates Boston comedy and the women who create it, support it, and perform it. Bringing together women from all walks of comedy: improv, sketch, film, and stand up, the festival gives Boston comedy audiences a chance to see comedians who have refined their act here in Boston and moved on to other cities, as well as local up and coming talent.

Check out the full schedule for the next few days, and drop in for some ladies and laughs.

Hopefully I'll see you there tonight! And don't forget to come out and support Three Hole Punch tomorrow night as part of Bastard Inc's regular 8pm show.

Three Hole Punch Update

After regretfully having to cancel our show tonight in Northhampton due to scheduling conflicts, Three Hole Punch is still pumped to announce some upcoming shows:

Thursday May 14th 8pm: @ the Women in Comedy Festival, Boston Ma

Friday June 26th at 10pm: @ the Providence Improv Fest, Providence, RI

We've recently submitted to the Del Close Marathon in New York, which will be August 14th-16th this year, so keep your fingers crossed for that!

Also watch carefully for one last night of Three Hole at Improv Boston in Cambridge before Liz Caradonna leaves us to make a new life in Chicago. It's an understatement to say we're sad that she's leaving. But don't you fear, gentle friends - thanks to the invention of aeroplanes, Liz hopefully won't be missing too many of our road shows.

How I spent my 21 hours in Chicago

It was mind blowing to look out into the audience at the beginning of the show to see people who had trained us when we were first starting out, as well as friends from Boston we've only started to get to know. At the after party my mind continued to whirl as I realized many of the friends I have kept in different cities actually know one another. And those who didn't already, did meet each other and they clinked cans and glasses and liked it.

As Three Hole warmed up backstage I remembered being in the same space in 2007 while on spring break with Mission:IMPROVable. We were there taking a workshop with Andy Hobgood. I had wondered, as I looked around backstage, if I would ever get to perform there.

For that reason, and for many reasons getting to make stuff up with my best friends at the Chicago Improv Festival was a huge big deal for me. Plus, Three Hole had a set we felt good about, which always sweetens the experience. But the best part of the entire thing hands down was getting to see old friends doing great new things and to meet new people who share the bizarre desire to play let's pretend almost all the time.

After the after party cleared out of the theater everyone walked a few feet to the Green Mill. We squeezed into 1930's style booths and enjoyed some of the most breath taking jazz ensembles I've ever seen. Jon Dick,* Steph and I decided to stay up all night. Although my dear friend Nick (also of Mission fame) discouraged me at first he stuck close by and then drove me and Steph to the airport a few hours before our respective flights where we napped at the terminal. Friends don't let friends stay up all night at cocktail clubs alone, which was evidenced by the large community of other improvisers who seemed to have the same idea.

Other highlights of the trip included a pet store full of puppies, Mick Napier remembering me from the Mission:Improv workshop he taught in 2006**, Nick taking us on the "Batman Run," (where you drive the same roads as in the movie), and finally having a dinner with my college roomie in a city where she lives.

Of course, in typical Jen and Misch fashion we started out trying to meet up with a friend of hers for deep dish, but instead ended up in an entirely different part of town eating Pho. This should surprise no one. Not even you.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* ... who was the producer of Mission when I was a freshman and is now a member of Dirty Water,
** Mick approached me to shake my hand, and then ended up patting the fur on my coat appreciatively instead. Then he said "thanks for coming over," as if we were having a barbecue and I said "thanks for having us." I'm not star struck, but I was floored.

Three Hole Punch Flies (on) Planes

I've scheduled this update to present itself in all its superfluous hyper-link glory right as I am boarding my flight for Chicago, Illinois.

As you read this I am walking next to Stephanie Jones onto a plane. Can you picture it? We each have one bag, my hair is probably a mess and Steph is drinking an Amp. Yes at 6am. We are both doing little dances of excitement and anticipation as we scootch past arm rests on the way to our seats.

But why? This is why!

Because Three Hole Punch is performing tonight, April 17th at the Chicago Improv Festival!

We'd love to see you at our show, which is billed with Boston's own Psychic Improv at The Annoyance Theatre at midnight. Tickets are here.

Check our website for a list of other groups we're looking forward to supporting while we're out there.

See you in Chicago!

Leap Blog

Today was the least stressful shift I've worked in a stretch of two weeks. The drama level has been scaled down, I think most of the administrative discharges are complete, and we can settle back into our roles as nurses instead of law keepers.

Tonight Three Hole Punch travels to UMass Amherst for the annual Comedy Jam. Three Hole Punch's first public performance was a Comedy Jam slot, back when the troupe had about nine women in it (all the lady comedians in Student Valley Productions). We're shunning sketch for the night to bring you wholly undiluted make-em-ups. And we'll be joined by group founder Amy Koske, so if you're in the area you'll be in for a rare treat!

Things that Go Dreamy

Ok, first: Three Hole Punch has been accepted into the Chicago Improv Festival which is huge and exciting news! Had to let you all know.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The past few days have been rough around the edges, clawing at the binding on my day planner trying to escape. I've had far busier weeks, but I feel knocked for a loop anyway. I imagine it was mostly the -- falling action surrounding the show at Thacher ending. (I almost just called it the postictal state which might have been more appropriate, the show then becoming something like an artistic seizure I had one night in this metaphor).


The stuff of dreams.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've been dreaming very vividly. I had a sequel to a dream I had a month ago about President Obama. But more often I dream of people I know, waking up feeling as though I just spent the last few hours in their company. Feeling like they just left my apartment. I chalk it up to sleeping hard after a month of not sleeping at all.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last night I had the night off completely and so after an eight hour shift and then dinner I put Left and Leaving up on iTunes, lit a stick of incense and crawled into bed with Motherless Brooklyn. By 6pm I was asleep. I had set an alarm against this so that I could still have a productive night.

Here is the key to taking naps in the evening (for me). I absolutely can't go to bed in the light and wake in the dark. It disorients me too much. It has induced actual panic attacks at the worst, and at the very least leaves me feeling foggy and generally useless.
The way I learned to combat this is to sleep with the lights on. It works every single time.

In this case, it hardly mattered because I slept through the alarm. I woke up at 10pm, completely oriented and decided to "nap," more. At 1am I called it an actual night, shut off the light and set my alarm for 5am.

Thus began a strange and unwieldy dream in which I was in various settings, but in each setting the time was between 2am and 4am and I was awake because I had gone to bed too early. I wandered around college campuses and my childhood home interacting with other insomniacs, including one where I just chatted with my Dad as he folded laundry.

At 6:30am the sun woke me up and I realized, to my dismay that despite twelve hours of good sleep I had missed my alarm and would have to take a cab to get to work on time.

I didn't touch a drop of caffeine today. And still going strong.

Three Hole Punch reminds you that we love you even if you don't come to our last Hump Night show.

Three Hole Punch is performing our final Hump Night show tomorrow night at Improv Boston! We'll be bringing back our favorite sketches from this month's run as well as revealing the final chapter of Hallo, Germany! If we're feeling share-y, we'll read real life diary entries to you, and as always, we promise to improvise the crap out of your suggestions.
Show starts at 8pm and will be followed by a very special final performance of Eight to the Table.

2006, Chicago, Il. (left to right) Carly Mandell, Natalie Baseman, Amy "Butts" Koske, Susan Messing, me, Liz Caradonna, Steph Jones and Calla Cofield.
Everyone here besides Susan Messing was involved in Three Hole Punch at the time. Susan Messing was just teaching us how to be ballsier. "Horny!" she yelled. "Horny horny!" we responded obediently. And so it was.

Mmmmm Soft Places

Not a lot of time to write anything substantial today. All my free time went to sketch writing for the new IA Mainstage show. At work, I costumed A Midsummer Night's Dream almost completely, which was unexpected. The students were super excited for their new digs. I have found that in school play directing there is a distinct kind of science to the production schedule, even in a truncated time period like the ones I operate within. The costumes are neither revealed nor handed off until all the lines are learned and the play has been run at least once off book. Then the costumes are a reward. However, it's my preference to wait until the show has been run several times off book with me nit picking and nagging the kids until they are almost sick of the show. Then WABAM! Costumes. Something to make the old new, and to rekindle the energy of the production process.

After work Keith and I drove to the MSPCA to pick up a sad package: the cremains of Princess Sabrina Diamond Fluffbottom. I haven't seen Keith in ages, but he emailed me and asked for the ride. I was happy to oblige and sad that I didn't have more time to spend. Keith told me the story of the night she died which had us both close to tears by the end. R.I.P Miss Fluffbottom.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three Hole Punch got another positive mention in a blog this week. The salty and dapper Neil Reynolds of Code Duello and IB Mainstage plugged our show's final week.
Code Duello is one of my all time favorite improv shows. I have seen them several times in Boston, and once in New York. The first time I saw them was at the Cantab during a Bastard's Inc. show. I immediately wondered, "If I get good enough will I get to work with those guys?" Even now, I can't believe I know Matt and Neil. When we were all at the DCM last summer 3HP sat for their set and talked about how crazy it is that we have the luck (and blessing) to know them. Needless to say, because my love of their show borders on fanaticism I am floored by Neil's plug and by the kind message he sent to us personally.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you all that my 13 day stretch of work got a nice little break up on the seventh day, Saturday. I took an early train to work, and after a harrowing experience involving a wheelchair, an old man, a discarded mattress and a can of soup in a plastic bag I arrived at work out of breath and sore, but still early for my shift. Ashley had shown up early too, but found out she was not on the schedule. Because the supervisor couldn't approve a float nurse (due to some program wide belt-tightening), Ashley was told she'd have to go back home. Since she needed those hours and I needed the time off she was easily talked into taking my team for the day. Before I knew it I was back at home cleaning my apartment and writing sketches. By noon I had accomplished so much that I even let myself take a nap before church and then had dinner with my adopted grandparents.
People ask how I handle working so much. The answer is that I count on miracles like Saturday all the time.

I'm just a girl, guess i'm some kind of freak...

Yesterday I worked a productive 8 hour shift and arrived home just in time to shower and hop out the door to IA Mainstage rehearsal. Invigorated and feeling warm, at 7pm Steph and I hailed a cab and jetted to Improv Boston for our 8pm show. We met Scott, Adam Brooks and the practical half of Three Hole Punch, practiced our new lounge singer format, rehearsed the new sketches, and then pulled off a successful show for a great house. The audience included friends from work, as well as some current and past members of the Umass comedy scene. We all hiked up to karaoke, where my past mingled with my present amid nachos and songs made popular by the band Asia. Today, a 12 hour shift and then a "preview" show at IA. I do live a charmed life. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I began to drink yerba mate again this week after an impulse buy at Harvest. I have relished the taste of a well brewed cup since I first tried it years ago, but I got out of the habit of drinking it last summer when I picked up chai again.
My favorite thing about yerba mate is that it creates an state of mental alertness that is second to nothing besides an actual good night's sleep. It doesn't make my heart pound or my thoughts race. I stay focused, deliberate. And I don't get jittery or "crash," the way I do with coffee or a red bull.
The downside? Like any CNS stimulant it is a highly effective appetite suppressant. Which is not useful to someone trying to maintain a BMI slightly above "danger zone."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chocolate Cake

I shall begin by plugging this week's Three Hole Punch Show.
It's at Improv Boston, at 8pm is part of the "Hump Night," and will feature:
- all new improv!
- an update from Germany's most esteemed secretaries
- musical interludes with four illustrious lounge singers and IB's own piano man, Adam Brooks
- secret journal reading
- and more!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last night I went out for dessert with the elusive Mr. Quinn at Finale. He and I had a lot of catching up to do. He is currently working in the South End food and bar scene and it's fascinating to trade stories with him. Feeling decadent, and not a bit self conscious in front of Quinn who has seen me eat entire bowls of brownie mix* in moments of desperation**, I took the waiter's suggestion of the chocolate molten cake. It was desiderata.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* In fact, we used to call it "Michelle Pudding."
** "Desperation" being loosely defined as any moment of any day when I was craving something sweet and did not have other options available to satiate this particular desire. (Or a stove).

The Improv Update

Three Hole Punch got some great publicity in blogs this week. Our show was mentioned in Transient Travels, as part of Susan Forshner's own take on the boston.com feature "25 things to do in Boston for Under $25." In addition to that, we managed to warm the impossibly icy myocardium of a certain "professor," and in doing so elicited a positive review here in his blog, Periscope Depth.

Come check us out this upcoming Wednesday for all new sketches, all new improv and all new secret telling!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last night I went to my alma mater, Boston Latin School to see the Yellow Submarines Improv Troupe perform. I was invited by a former camper from Thacher. I was her first improv teacher when she was no older than nine, and I had her in my summer classes until she was 12. Because of the casual nature of summer camp, she essentially became like a younger sister.
In high school, I was in the Yellow Submarines (briefly). The group was formed during my at freshman year at BLS by two of my peers, Josh Michel (of Mosaic) and Jack Ferris. Josh's youngest brother, Jesse was in the show tonight. As was Paul, the younger brother of Joe Gels of Boston's own Improv Jones. It was a great show overall. The players were very enthusiastic even through rough spots. The best part was that seeing how Josh and Jack's creation lives on. And also seeing Cam, Jesse and Paul in a new and upcoming generation of improvisers. What a seriously cool thing to witness, the next generation of comedy.
Oh, and if this wasn't enough generational name dropping for you, the new head of drama over at BLS is none other than Sean Sullivan of Friday Night Face Off and BNN, so I ran into him over there too.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It blows my mind to think that I never would have auditioned for Mission:IMPROVable in college if I hadn't been in the Yellow Submarines in high school. Josh is the one who dragged me there. I wasn't passionate about comedy until after I got into Mission. And Mission changed my life. I would be a completely different person now. I wouldn't be here.

Speaking of "here" - I had my second to last show with Friday Night Face Off last night. It was solid. Shan, Steph and myself went up against Dana, Michelle and Sean. Serpico played the ball, and Bobby MC'd. I had fun every minute, the audience seemed to as well, and it was a great house. It's hard to imagine that in two more weeks I won't be doing this anymore. In fact, I can't imagine it. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

everything was exact.

Last night during the 3HP show we did a structure we call "Diary River," where we got a date from the audience and we all read from our 2003-2004 journals (the year we all met.) It's golden. Every time.

And although I'm surprised and even shocked by some of the content, I'm not really embarrassed to share it because A) it's funny stuff, and B) it doesn't matter. It comes down to what Eggers refers to in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius when he writes:
What am I giving you? I am giving you nothing. I am giving you things that God knows, everyone knows...
These things, details, stories or whatever are like the skin shed by snakes, who leave theirs
for anyone to see.

But I feel like the same logic can be applied to keeping these journals in the first place:
So should the snake bring it with him, this skin should he tuck it under his arm? Should he? No, of
course not. He's got no f*cking arms!

I have this large, heavy box of notebooks, dating back to 1993. Literal baggage. But like Eggers' snake, I've shed these skins. So why carry them?
Well, that's easy. Fodder for comedy shows. Because is there anything so endearing as the following?

"A poem:
Shannon is not wicked drunk.
But she is hiccoughing [sic]." 11/16/08

When I read that I remembered the night it referred to, and also recalled a book of two line poems* I had completely forgotten about. Thanks, comedy!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Nice Hat. Thanks., by Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer whose signatures appear on the same page in my journal as this Shannon poem because I went to hear them read at a book shop in the Valley. And they improvised a poem based on my suggestion. Which I had also forgotten all about

I've got nothing.

Here is a photo of some weird girls dressed like bugs (circa 2004).

That was my real hair. We were in Shannon's room. Steph was a "love bug." Amy is still not single. Sorry, guys.
Liz C. is not in this photo because she was at a Frat house waiting for us to show up and perform an improvised choreographed dance number in her boyfriend's basement. Seriously.

Come see our show! We will not be dressed like bugs but we WILL be giving out hugs.

Plug

Three Hole Punch would like you to join us for our Hump Night show this Wednesday. All new sketches! All new improv! All new secrets! All at 8pm at Improv Boston.

I don't think this is sustainable... but it's fun!

My next day off is NEXT Saturday.

There is no room to fail. There is no down time in which to imagine not getting back up. There is no lowest priority to drop. "Lose Yourself" plays on repeat in my head at almost all times*.

However, the best intentions of my mind mean nothing to my body. When I didn't hit my bed until 2am this morning for the third day in a row, something inside me gave up. I shut off my alarm at 5am in my sleep today (I even remember the dream and the context of the alarm and everything) and got a phone call at 7:18am asking where I was. I was out the door in ten minutes, but because of the Orange Line Fiasco ended up at work at 8:15am.
This is why I can't have a dog.

I hit the ground running; I did not have my usual team of patients. I counted off narcotics all the while my mind racing to memorize names and meds quickly. For those of you with office jobs, this might be like if you got to work at 10:30AM and then someone said, "None of your clients are your clients anymore. You have all new clients. But they used to be your coworker's clients, they are not new to the company. The projects are in various stages of completion. You need to figure them out immediately and complete them."

I worked a 12 hour shift. We had a meeting at noon which took me off the floor for an hour, so I did not actually catch up to all of my day shift work until about 4pm when it was time to start evening shift business. But I got things done and at the end of the day I was proud of the work I did and the interactions I had with both patients and co workers. I used the Fart Machine. A lot. I took time to double check my work. I dealt with urgent situations. I took an admission. I had time to sit and listen when it counted (somehow), and I even threw down some dancing in the Atrium.
This is why I can't gain weight.

I didn't have any caffeine. I did the whole thing on adrenaline, prayer and chicken pot pie.
This might also be why I can't have a boyfriend**.

Tomorrow I'm going into Thacher to teach. And Saturday and Sunday it's back to work. And Monday back to Thacher. Three Hole needs to rehearse all new sketches for our show Wednesday. (I need to edit one of mine). I have IA rehearsal Tuesday and also on Wednesday right before the Three Hole Show. One of my former students wants me to go to her improv show this weekend and Mom spilled tea on the laptop I gave her last year and would like my help buying a new one.

I figure I can keep this pace up for another week or so. Then I'll have a weekend off. By the end of January my time teaching will be winding down and Three Hole will slow down too. February I can focus on work and Mainstage alone. In March I am going to Costa Rica and will think of few things besides what to name all the lizards I find.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*This is usually when "I'm Yours," by Jason Mraz isn't playing because it was on at work today and damn is that little ditty catchy!
** This, of course is what we in the business refer to as a "joke." The real reason I can't have a boyfriend is because I don't want anyone besides Laura and Johnny to know I wear glasses at night during the 10 seconds between showering and falling face first into my bed.