Jet City Improv Bring Comedy to City Hall on Thursday Night

On Thursday night, Oct. 27 Jet City Improv will return to the plateau to perform at  from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Presented by the Sammamish Arts Commission, the show is free and suitable for all ages.

The interactive show features scenes and theater games, all based on suggestions from the audience. The group’s members perform funny, fast-paced shows that combine short-form improv with advanced storytelling and character depth. 

Jet City Improv member Phill Arensberg has been acting since he was 12. He has an impressive history of training and professional work in both New York and Chicago, where he studied at the famous Second City Theater. In 2001 he moved to Seattle and in 2009 joined Jet City Improv and the non-profit community outreach and education theater company that produces Jet City’s shows, Wing It Productions.

Arensberg said Jet City Improv shows are fun for both the actors and the audience and each show is unique.

“It is an engaging creative process and the show that is happening at the moment will never happen again.”

Arensberg describes the process as being like performing jazz music. “There is a general structure,” but the audience provides the specific suggestions, which the actors use to define their characters and create the scene.

Arensberg speaks highly of his fellow actors and says their most important tools include trust, openness and listening skills.

“Teamwork is absolutely essential,” says Arensberg, who observed that “You can’t take control of an improve scene.”

Arensberg offers tips to Sammamish families with kids attending the performance.

“Assure the kids that it is okay to yell things out,” Arensberg said. “Kids come up with the weirdest stuff,” he added, recalling that one of his favorite audience suggestions came from a child in response to the cast’s request to “give us a language the actor has to use in this scene that no one else speaks.” The child’s response was that the actor “speaks cheetah.”

For kids and adults who enjoy the show, Arensberg says that there are some great resources for theater games and improv exercises you can do at home as a family and he recommends the online site Improv Encyclopedia as a great resource.

The Sammamish Arts Commission is responsible for bringing Jet City Improv to Sammamish. Funding for the program is provided by the city of Sammamish and a grant from the non-profit organization 4Culture. 

Daphne Robinson is the current chair of the Arts Commission. She remembers how popular Jet City Improv’s appearance in Sammamish was last year. She enjoyed observing how the popular program brought “families with members of all ages together, laughing and having a wonderful time. Kids as young as four and five got the humor and were yelling out suggestions.”

Robinson said the program demonstrated “the power of humor” to create connections and was the “epitome of what art can do to build community.” 

Bringing more diverse arts programming to the plateau this year was a conscious effort by the commission said Robinson.

“When we started planning the 2011 calendar of programs, we wanted to branch out into arts other than the visual arts,” Robsinson said.

Robinson added, “We have a community of well educated, bright, busy individuals who are raising families and working and we are trying to give them a break from their routine and give our residents who are students opportunities to see performances without having to cross the bridges.” 

Robinson said that Sammamish residents who appreciate the diverse range of programs the commission has provided this year, including the upcoming Jet City Improv performance and the Nov. 5 Grand Bazaar, a celebration of Turkish Culture at Sammamish City Hall, can support the events by showing up. She also encourages residents to provide suggestions for what they would like to see and experience in the year ahead by emailing the Arts Commission at artscommission@ci.sammamish.wa.us.