Relational! Gripping! Awkward! Comedy improv group Nudge, featuring veteran improvisers and friends (Butch Roy, Katy Kessler, Rita Boersma, Tim Hellendrung, Taj Ruler, and Jen Scott) create, and record, one long scene of improvised comedy. Nudge Makes A Movie before your eyes and nachos. Featuring opening music by our favorite, James Rone.
Nudge is a veteran group of improvisers, who came together at HUGE Theater, as part of the super-group Show X cast. We perform monoscenes: one long scene, grounded, relational, often awkward, and truly funny.
Butch Roy (@fivemanjob) loves improv. It all started in 1996 at a show at the legendary Brave New Workshop, which turned into studying improv at the Brave New Institute, which later led to becoming the Technical Director at the Brave New Workshop, a position he proudly held for eight years. Somewhere in there he also earned his B.F.A. from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, got married, had some kids.
In 2002, Butch founded Improv A Go-Go, a weekly, all improvised showcase of some of the best local and national improvisers. Now in its sixteenth year, this Sunday night show still manages to sell out on a regular basis. In 2006, Butch started the Twin Cities Improv Festival (TCIF), a five-day event featuring shows and workshops. Held each June, TCIF has grown every year, attracting some of the most well respected and talented improvisors on the continent.
Tim Hellendrung (@hellendrung) one-half of the duo Gay-Staight Alliance, is a ComedySportz veteran, and has performed for decades around the Twin Cities in both improvised and scripted theater. If you ever get the chance, you should have a beer with Tim or watch him be literally ANYTHING on stage: these are life-improving things.
Eighteen-year veteran performer and teacher in the Twin Cities Improv community, Rita Boersma (@ritaboersma) can be seen improvising weekly in The Mess at HUGE Theater. Recent scripted credits include Adam/Rita in Complete Works of Williams Shakespeare (Abridged) at Daleko Arts, directed by Shana Custer, and the top-selling MN Fringe show, Couple Fight 3: Weddings! Rita spends summers on the mic as a PA Announcer for the St. Paul Saints at CHS Field.
Brave New Workshop mainstage regular, Taj Ruler (@rulert) has been performing on the stages of Twin Cities theaters since elementary school. Some theaters include Pillsbury House Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center, and Park Square Theater.
As an improvisational actor, she’s worked at a number of improvisational theaters around the country including HUGE Theatre and The Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis, Second City in Chicago, Jet City Improv in Seattle, Two Friends Theater in New Orleans, Denver Improv in Colorado, Femproviser Fest in San Francisco, and The Magnet Theatre in New York. I additionally trained at The Groundlings in LA and Second City in Chicago.
Katy Kessler (@kekessler) is a genius, and I will fight anyone who says different. ComedySportz veteran and Huge Theater regular, Katy Kessler was Art Director and Editor of the NU Project, publishing two books designed to support a more positive self-image in women. She is the co-owner of Matt Blum Photography and the co-founder of National Machine, a design-driven tech collective. She eats books for breakfast, and is truly, deeply funny.
Jen Scott (@octoberdandy) is a Twin Cities based theater maker and teaching artist. She's worked as an actor, improviser, performer, playwright, director, storyteller, talk show host, producer, and musician. She's taught theater and art making for a long time, and has a special love for the Twin Cities improvised theater scene.
She’s a COMPAS teaching artist, has been an artist-in-residence at Pillsbury House + Theater, and also has taught for HUGE Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Park Square Theatre, the Brave New Workshop, and others. Recent on-stage credits include work with HUGE Theater, Uprising Theatre Company, Hennepin Theater Trust, Red Eye Theater, Four Humors Theater, and others. You can also catch Jen and her millions of 2 minute songs at @pennyandthebandits.
James Rone (@jamesronemusic) is a songwriter, performing artist, and educator. During the last two decades, Rone’s music has ranged from power-pop (The Seagraves) to soul-revival (The Robinson Caruso Organization) to pop-rock (School For Girls). His music has been used in podcasts (Filmspotting), short films (Bookman), collaborative theater (Sandbox Theater’s Unspeakable Things) and children’s musicals (I Don’t Want To Go To Bed). “Precious Creature”, his collaboration with Floex, the musician best known for the Machinarium soundtrack, appeared on the album Zorya.
You can also catch James performing with The Mess, Saturdays at HUGE Theater.
WEBSITE/SOCIAL MEDIA ADDRESSES:
https://www.facebook.com/nudgeimprov
Butch Roy @fivemanjob
Rita Boersma @ritaboersma
Tim Hellendrung @hellendrung
Katy Kessler @kekessler
Jen Scott @octoberdandy, http://www.octoberdandy.com
Taj Ruler @rulert, http://www.tajruler.com/
James Rone @jamesronemusic, https://www.jamesrone.com/, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNUVJ_jf7CgWVIPoJtIduBw
Tickets are $12 in advance/ $15 at the door
Doors are at 6:00 PM, come eat and drink in the theater before the show!
Proof of vaccination with matching ID or lab-certified negative COVID-19 PCR test with matching ID is required for entry. Click here for our current COVID-19 policy.