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.
Piñata Party This Friday, Match 17 at The Ledge Theatre
LA is Latin America, y’all. Ain’t no ifs and or buts about it!
So once a month I gather my favorite Latinx comics and put up a banger of a show – The Piñata Party! (Because you know piñtas are filled with goodies?)
Every 3rd Friday of the Month, The Latinx Comedy Pachanga gathers at The Ledge Theater for a night of comedy, poetry, and everything in between. I’ve been trying to use the word ‘Sublime’ a lot more lately, so whatever it is, it’ll definitely be ‘Sublime.’
What is ‘Sublime?”
of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe (thank you, Google!)
So it’s going to be that!
And we gotta a killer line up to!
Featuring:
A character bit from Andres Parada
Stand Up from Darling Izzy, Carmen Scott, Ammy Ontiveros
Poetry from Raul Herrera Jr.
A bit from Victor Bryan Olivas
A sketch reading from Marlando (Marcelina Chavira + Fernando A. Funes)
A character from Karla Espino
Music from St. Trois
Improv from Los Tamales Dulces + A Special Guest! (Los Tamales Dulces: Fernando A. Funes, Julio Urquidi, Gracie Gilb, Maia Villa, Samuel Solorio, Marcelina Chavira)
I was hesitant to write this poem because I don’t want to write controversial things that may make people in my feed uncomfortable, but every time I tried to write a different poem yesterday for my poem a day project, I couldn’t. And I think that’s because this poem was waiting to come out.
When you’re a writer, there are certain things in you that are already fully formed but just need a push to get fully formed and delivered.
I’ve been thinking about these things lately because the old is new again, and when you think something is in the past — old foes, trauma, ways you were wronged and taken advantage of, people you couldn’t help but wanted to — it’s just lurking and waiting to seize you in a heightened manner with underlying themes revealing new depths and layers. It’s not that your done with a thing; it’s that a thing has new levels that need to be explored and dealt with.
So I wrote this poem about being a POC in improv and sketch. That first line came to me while journaling, and then the rest just kinda fell into place like a pyramid that is built brick by brick. When David Escobedo asked me if he could turn this post into a graphic for The Improv Boost, I was honored, so I said, “Yes.”
To think I almost didn’t write this poem, but that I had to because there was no other way to stay true to my Poem-A-Day Project and Promise: to write a poem for every single day of the year. I support and encourage all diverse voices out there to create the comedy they want to see, to create art where they see themselves reflected, and to find those spaces — and if they don’t exist, to create them — where their voices can fly free with nothing holding them down.
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 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
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.
I Have Amazing Friends: How They Made The American Dream
I’m lucky to work with amazing people.
I’m Elevated By The People Around Me
I wrote this off beat, deeply personal sketch about my life from the perspective of my dad as a young man about to cross the border.
There’s no gimmicks to it. It’s just brutally honest.
I read it for Moonshot (our Pack Theater House Sketch Team based out of Los Angeles) and to my surprise, they liked it. Not that they wouldn’t. It’s just because this sketch is intimate and revelatory, I was vulnerable and nervous about their response.
We put it up at the Pack Theater in front of a live audience. I didn’t know what to expect. Mike Hughes, our Moonshot team mate, came out as Mr.Richards, a coyote, and said, “Alright, Mexicans…” The laughs came in like drizzle before rain – the sketch hit.
And it was electric. Probably the best stage experience of my life. I couldn’t keep it together. I was breaking. The energy between Victor Lopez, Giuseppe Restrepo, (two other Moonshot team mates) and I with the room was amazing.
After that amazing experience, Valerie Vasilas volunteered to produce a filmed version of it. I was hesitant at first because I had personal doubts about me, but her passion and selflessness convinced me to say yes.
We needed a director. I thought of Baldev Sandhu because he had become the defacto Moonshot video sketch director. Luckily, he said yes, and now we could launch this project.
And then Valerie and Baldev took care of all the details. I just had to worry about being an actor. They literally handled every detail to make this shoot happen, along with the great crew they recruited for the shoot.
I was elevated by them like no other team before. I’m very lucky to know them and call them friends. They saw my idea and believed in it, and more importantly, they believed in me, and that’s a gift I’m never going to be able to pay back because of how generous it is.
Thank you Valerie and Baldev, Moonshot, and everybody who believed in this film. Iove you all.
Well, anyways, this winning awards and that’s cool.
Fernando's Improv Blog 