Improvables: Seventeenth Annual Halloween Show

After trick-or-treating concluded on Halloween night, I took my TuPac-o costume over to Backstage Performing Arts for that evening's annual Improvables Halloween show. Because of course I was gonna be there after missing last year's performance.

Yes, I'm (or I was for one night) the whitest white guy rapper you know—even more so than the guys who recorded "Mormon Rap." Which is something I happily embraced on stage. I had a few chances to improvise rap songs, so in true white bread fashion, I included lyrics about growing up in the 'hood (Mr. Rogers's, that is), shooting people ... with Nerf guns, and being good, responsible citizens by calling your Congressman to voice your opinion on important social issues.

Anyhow, the rest of the show was a blast. Poor, exasperated Parker struggled in vain to describe the murder weapon in "Mumbling Movie Murder Mystery," which was something from the movie Hocus Pocus ... a movie I haven't seen in far too long.

In other words, I didn't guess that part correctly. But I did get the other two things correct.

We also played "Campfire Tale," "Nightmare," "Tombstone," and other Halloween favorites.

The cast was rounded out by new Improvable Chris as a UTA bus driver (which also happens to be his day job), Claire as a Middle Ages peasant who definitely did not have the plague, Ian as a character from the TV show "Peaky Blinders," Keenan as Dad Peter Parker from Across the Spider-Verse, and Parker as Noir Spider-Man from the same film.

Liz M., as Dipper from "Gravity Falls," was MC, while Kyra, who ran tech, portrayed ... someone whose name/description now eldue me. Incidentally, Kyra added to the decor by carving this phenomenal jack-o'-lantern featuring the troupe logo:

And so ended another unforgettable Improvables Halloween show. If you weren't there, then you were likely doing something else.

Improvables: Moving Day

As of the first Friday in June, the Improvables have moved our home base once again!

BDAC had been a wonderful host and stage for us for more than six years (give or take a year or so, due to a pandemic). However, we were informed earlier this year by the top brass there that they were going to start scheduling other events on Friday nights, as these events tended to bring in more money. This change would require us to either have no show on those Fridays or to find another stage on which to perform. We began looking around locally, and Backstage Performing Arts, a children's/youth theater on the west side of Centerville, agreed to let us do a few trial run shows there.

The results were good, and Backstage was pleased with our being there. As it turns out, a family-friendly improv troupe fits in well with a youth theater, and thus the decision to move was made.

As of this writing, I have performed on the Backstage stage four times. The stage size is good for our type of show, and there is stadium seating, like we used to have at CenterPoint and Rodgers. The acoustics and sound are good. Best of all, many of our audience members have followed us there, and kids who have performed in some of the Backstage shows have also stayed to watch a couple of our performances now.

For those of you keeping track at home, the following have been Improvables hosts since our inception in 2008:

Rodgers Memorial Theatre, Centerville (2008-2010)

CenterPoint Legacy Theater, Centerville (2011-2018)

Playbills Theatre, Clearfield (2013)

Clearfield Community Arts Center, Clearfield (2013-2017)

Bountiful Davis Arts Center, Bountiful (2019-2025)

Backstage Performing Arts, Centerville (2025-present)

We've been all over Davis County these past 17+ years, and fortunately we've developed a fanbase wherever we have gone. Such appears to be the case now after two-plus months into our time at Backstage.