Another Amazing Show at Company of Angels!

Love This New Ensemble

Just when I think I’m done with narrative improv, it pulls me back in.

Angel City Improv had an amazing show on Saturday for Our Welcome To The Vantage Point run at Company of Angels hq in Boyle Heights.

We got to do a show filled with fun characters, bits, and not so nuanced social commentary. The plot was moved from the steam created by the characters, a more organic way to move a story, with the right plot moves here and there to keep the whole thing on schedule.

I got to play with one of my improv mentors (and LA goats) Sean Michael Boozer, which is always a joy. He’s been doing a great job as our director, so playing with him was a special treat and surprise for me.

And this new ensemble is coming along! Nothing will bring a team together like doing shows!

We got two more weekends of shows, so come check it out! I got comps too if you need them!

What you love will love you back in ways you can’t imagine.

#improv #coa #companyofangels #angelcityimprov #boyleheights #theater #bipoc #bipoctheater

Show 38 of 2023

The Busiest June of My Life! 5 Shows in 4 Days

So Many Shows!

Lots of shows this week!

I’m hosting Kim & Eric and Miss Golightly at the Glendale Room this Thursday at 9pm (this is a free show!)

At last, I’m reading my pilot “Dream Warrior” at Rearte LA (a Chicano bookstore in Boyle Heights) at 8pm with the Latinx Comedy Pachanga + friends (this show is free too!)

On Saturday, I’ll be doing improv with Company of Angels at our home space in Boyle Heights along with other amazing BIPOC comedy (tickets are only $10)

And on Sunday, I’ll be doing improv with Nuisance at the Pack Theater at 8pm, and at 10pm we’ll be doing Cuñados, Cuñadas, y Carnales, our Latinx panel show!

If y’all come to all 5, I’ll take you to KBBQ in the future!

So check it out! 

#glendaleroom #kimanderic #missgolightly #reartela #latinxwriter #latinxcomedypachanga #companyofangels #BIPOC #bipocimprov #nuisance #cuñadoscuñadasycarnales #packtheater

I Love Company of Angels

Building a BIPOC Theater Company

Got to play a palatero who was trying to atone for his former life as sicário by giving away free frozen treats to his Boyle Heights community (Might turn that one into a play!?)

And that was just one thing among many funny moments tonight including really fun short form improv from Team Off Ramp, amazing stand-up from Elizabeth Covarrubias, and long improv from the COA House Team improvising through the lens of America’s preeminent BIPOC playwrights.

I love the community Company of Angels is building here.

In addition to creating a space for BIPOC artists, they’re also curating a space for BIPOC artists of all levels and entry points to go and learn their craft in front of a live audience, which I think is incredible.

This is going to sound controversial, but the fastest way to grow and improve is through doing shows.

Yes, please practice and take classes (I still do, so good study with Rich Sohn and Eric Moneypenny ASAP) but you’ll experience accelerated growth when you’re up in front of an audience and figuring it out then and there. TLDR – do shows.

Thank you to all the teams, our amazing director Sean Michael Boozer, our host and producer Nakasha M. Norwood, and our great and amazing leader, Corrine Chooey.

Don’t wait to be invited to the table; make your own.

#improv #bipocimprov #pocimprov
#companyofangels #comedy

The Improv Life Ep.8 with Shirley Rivera – Fernando’s Improv Blog Podcast

The Improv Life Ep.8 with Shirley Rivera  

Welcome to episode 8 of the Improv Life Podcast! 

My guest was the amazing Shirley Rivera! 

I’ve known Shirley for years! We first met up in the San Francisco Improv Scene years ago. 

I love Shirley. She’s an improv warrior. She’s out there doing the hard work and creating space for artists of color, and even more importantly, addressing why those spaces need to exist and why artists of colors need to be the ones leading them.

I feel a lot of kinship with Shirley because of her beliefs and advocacy, also Go Bears! (We’re both Cal Alumni).

Check out this episode where we talk about our old SF days, how Shirley got started, her experiences with Untold Improv, and more.

Listen on SoundCloud.

Here’s What We Talked About:

• How Shirley and I met in the San Francisco Improv Scene back in the early 2010’s 

• Shirley’s experiences being an older, BIPOC woman in the SF Improv Scene 

• Shirley’s journey through the Endgames Improv School 

• How Shirley and some friends started the biggest Facebook Group for Bay Area Improvisers – Improv Scene for The San Francisco Bay Area

• How this Facebook group has connected improvisers and created opportunities for networking and collaboration 

• How Shirley connected with Untold Group, an improv theater company dedicated to teaching and elevating artists of color, because of the Facebook Group she created with her friends! 

• Shirley’s awakening as an improviser of color when she discovered that she could bring her culture into her improv 

• Great quote: “If you have more diverse folks, maybe more diverse stories will show up.” 

• How Shirley conceived of “Colorized Improv”  – a type of improv that embraces your lived experiences as a diverse person 

• Shirley’s epiphany that Untold Improv was the place for her 

• How the leaders of Untold Improv, April Pascua and Otter Teng, drew on their camp counselor and social justice experience to create a safe space where Shirley and others felt welcomed, listened to, and empathized with  

• The amazing feeling she had when she found herself in a room where nobody had to explain what “Code Switch” meant 

• The expectations Untold Improv establish at the beginning of a class to get students to feel safe, comfortable, and encouraged 

You can follow Shirley’s Discoveries at her blog. 

Also, here’s a blog post Shirley wrote from a Facebook question I asked way back when in 2018 about what books changed your life and why. Check out her list here. 

I want to thank Shirley for being on the podcast. Make sure to follow her IG account to stay on top of all her recent projects and developments.