In these times of Facebook and Snapchat we all live in our bubbles of like-minded micro-societies. When Roemer, John and Isaac decided to team up, they shared 40 years of improv experience between them, yet they felt like absolute opposites. What an opportunity. What a challenge. We like to present you our synergy based on opposites: Tex Avery meets Shakespeare meets Freud. Godot meets Dumb and Dumber meets Ghandi. The actors find each other in stylistic conflict, break through each other's comfort zones, sabotage expectations and thus craft a 2prov/3prov that is both heart wrenching, sweet and surprising.
We are one trio and three duo's, based in Amsterdam NL/Atlanta USA. "Forest & Shade" is a literal translation of a part of Amsterdam none of us lives in. |
Who is Who
Who cares? It's not about us. It's about the universe doing random stuff. We're just enjoying doing the same on stage.
Isaac SimonIsaac (1988) started his comedy journey with an underground sketch group in university, which led to a decade long love affair with improv that's still going strong. Somewhere along the way, some very fine folks taught him freeform improv, and since then he's sought out the wacky and unhinged, full steam ahead into fun. Isaac is a founding member of Tag Out Theatre and a driving force behind the Amsterdam Improv Marathon, and has done improv in Boston, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and several (many) other exotic locales. With Forest & Shade, Isaac hopes to plunge further into giddy madness, and continue to discover new things about his favorite art form.
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Roemer LievaartRoemer (1967) was originally trained as a screenplay writer in the national Dutch Film Academy and wrote a best selling book on film making. He started doing improv in 1999, and improv teaching in 2001. Four years of acting school followed. He combines the three disciplines (dramaturgy, acting and improvising) to find richer forms of improvisation and teaches his findings all over the world. Next to Forest & Shade he momentarily plays improv with the Dutch groups Rocky Amaretto (theatrical improvisation) and Vastgoedtoneel (improvised plays on location) and directs the group De Wereld (improvisers and actors), and plays text theatre as well. Inlcluding the ones above he has started in total ten improv groups and regrets none of them.
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John MabeyJohn (1977) is a certified mental health counselor and author of academic journal articles and book chapters in psychology. He started doing improv a decade ago in Amsterdam and then moved to both New York City, London, back to Amsterdam and finally (soon) to Atlanta. In all of these cities he played with over half a dozen improv teams of all sizes, including a solo act called Mabey Solo. In Amsterdam he performs weekly with Easylaughs and teaches improv classes and workshops for all levels and coaches several indie teams in the community. John is a professionally-produced playwright and serves as a dramaturg for new writing. He is also a featured true storyteller at the Mezrab and coaches storytelling both in-person and online. Performing with Roemer and Isaac in Forest & Shade allows John to combine all these interests in dynamic improv shows where the performers are often as surprised as the audience.
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<Lollipop>
Two/three men challenging, interrupting and cracking their own stories, thoughts, images in unexpected ways, to find truths that normally stay well hidden. Heart felt emotions and wackiness, acuity and emptiness: prepare yourself for the ride. |
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<Lollipop> is the ultimate improv show. Nothing is prepared: format, style, content, all is unknown before we begin. Even whether we ask audience input is unknown at the moment we enter the stage. |
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