Two of the most original theatre artists in America, the long-form improvisers TJ & Dave, will be presented at The Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, for the first time on Friday October 11 at 8pm. The unique theatrical event, presented by Barrow Street Productions and The Town Hall, will also incorporate the talents of special musical guest Ike Reilly, the Chicago-based songwriter and solo performer. Tickets for this exclusive one-night engagement, which are $42 (includes $2 facility fee), are now on sale through Ticketmaster. To order in advance call 800/982-2787, or visit www.ticketmaster.com (Tickets will also be available at The Town Hall's box office as of September 19.)
Since they began returning to New York for sold-out weekend stands at The
Barrow Street Theatre in 2005, the Second City veterans TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi have nurtured a passionately loyal downtown audience comprised in equal parts of theatre fans and fans and practitioners of improvisation. Now these Wright Brothers of the Unwritten, who create full-length, hour-long plays from scratch (without audience suggestions) are bringing their daring brand of theatre uptown. Their hour-long instant plays, which materialize before our eyes, are often insightful, multiple-character stories with deeply moving outcomes. And what makes them all the more remarkable -- fans attest -- is that these dazzling feats of literary and acting ingenuity NEVER recycle stories or characters.
The two-time Nightlife Award-winning duo has been called "the Mt. Everest of improv" (Jane Borden, Time Out NY); "masters of their genre!" (Frank Scheck, NY Post); "among the very best at what they do" (
Martin Denton,
nytheatre.com), and "a sublimely creative duo!" (Griffin Miller, City Guide Magazine). The NY Times calls it "an impressive feat of mental athletics," and Time Out NY has deemed what they do "the best 50 minutes of improv comedy that we've ever seen."
Named Improvisers of the Year at The Chicago Improv Festival in 2006, TJ & Dave have scored two
Del Close Awards for Best Improvised Show, and the Chicago Reader named them Best of the Year in 2008. The two have been working together since 2002.
A former hotel doorman and gravedigger, Ike Reilly is a popular musical provocateur with an ax to grind, who is well-known in Chicago's indie rock scene. He is already familiar to TJ & Dave fans for providing them with their pre-show anthem, which they've used from the beginning. With a persona gravitating somewhere between
Lenny Bruce and
Woody Guthrie, Reilly writes songs, plays guitar, and also leads the rock band "The Ike Reilly Assassination," which this summer is completing its sixth full-length record. Reilly has opened for TJ & Dave (and TJ & Dave for Reilly) many times in Chicago over the past ten years. This is their first joint appearance in New York.
TJ & Dave are part of Just Words: A Spoken Word Celebration at The Town Hall, Fall 2013. Just Words is a series of groundbreaking performances by masters of language and renowned spoken word institutions. In a variety of exciting, thought-provoking shows, The Town Hall celebrates verbal expression and its boundless power to entertain and educate.
The Town Hall is among New York City's most historic venues. Built in 1921 by a group of suffragettes, The Town Hall began as a lecture hall and public debate forum and grew to be a landmark institution for arts, culture and education. Over the decades, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, Billie Holiday, Igor Stravinsky, Bob Dylan and MiLes Davis have graced the stage. Today the Hall boasts the hottest acts in rock, pop, folk, cabaret, classical and world music, comedy, and dance, including Elvis Costello, Rodriguez, Norah Jones, Regina Spektor, Bryan Adams, Lang Lang, Lila Downs, Nick Offerman, and Tommy Tune. For over twenty-five years, The Town Hall has hosted live broadcasts of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion, and produced a number of new and critically acclaimed musical series, including Broadway by the Year and the Spring Series.
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