ImprovBoston to Present THORNS on Valentine's Day

Anyone who believes "'tis better to have loved and lost" has clearly never had their heart ripped out of their chest and stomped into the ground. ImprovBoston presents the hilarity of heartbreak and the funny to be found in falling in love in Thorns, a unique, one night only variety show on Valentine's Day, February 14th.

In Thorns, some of New England's best artists perform improv, storytelling, standup, songs, films, and rants on torment or joy around love. "It's for couples, singles, and anyone in between. It's a perfect 'we've been dating a few weeks, and now it's Valentine's Day, and that's weird' way to spend the holiday. No pressure for romance - just every opportunity to get to know each other and see what you each find funny," explains ImprovBoston National Touring Company Director and Thorns Co-Creator Deana Criess. "We all deserve to laugh and feel love on Valentine's Day."

Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the TC Cheever Family Trust and The Tucker Gosnell Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Massachusetts General Hospital in loving memory of Thorns Co-Creator TC Cheever. Visit ImprovBoston.com/memoriam for more information.

In its ninth year, Thorns began with the theme of "love hurts unless you get lucky," when Co-Creators Cheever and Criess were both going through divorce. ("Not from each other. That was our favorite joke when we hosted that year," remembers Criess.) Cheever and Criess didn't want to spend that Valentine's Day alone, so they asked friends to put on a show with them for the night.

"Our friends helped insulate us from the heartbreak," explains Criess. "We felt so supported by friends and the audience. It was the perfect way to spend that night."

In the few years that followed, the show evolved from focusing on pain to hope to love and happiness. "In the last year we hosted together, TC found the love of his life."

A few months later, Cheever was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. "That year was brutal. TC found everything he wanted, and we knew it wouldn't last. He made me promise I would hold the show even after he was gone. TC passed away a few weeks before the show in 2013. His partner Gillian and I saw him off to his next stage," remembers Criess.

"The show in 2013 was tough. TC's love, Gillian, performed. I hosted alongside one of TC's closest friends. Once again, I needed to be surrounded by people I loved - and now people who loved TC - to get through that night," explains Criess. "Ironically, it would have been the first year we were both in amazing relationships with people who got us. We didn't tell the audience what happened until the end of the show. Instead, we filled the show with love and joy as we promised TC. It was everything we ever hoped the show would be."

Criess says each year since has been more hopeful. "This year, we feel love is worth all the pain and effort."

"Our friend Gerard angrily vented about his girlfriend in one of my favorite, recurring pieces from the first show. We called it 'Rants with Gerard.' He yelled about what bugs us about relationships: having a messy lover you live with, finding your car gone because your lover took it, pretending to like your lover's friends at dinner parties, and having to go to your lover's reunions when even she doesn't want to," explains Criess. "In his last rant, Gerard looked out at the audience and said 'right, hun?,' and his girlfriend, sitting there the entire time, said 'oh yeah!' The audience went from stunned silence to explosive laughter."

As the years went on, ImprovBoston sold couples tickets with bottles of champagne. At the start of the show, Criess offered coupLes Wanting to break up during the show a ticket refund and an extra bottle of champagne.

A crowd favorite, Cupid also visits every year. A full grown man with wings and a diaper lectures the audience about love.

"Thorns continues to celebrate loss and love," says Criess. "I've learned there's nothing we can't get through if we have the right people by our side."

Thorns runs February 14th at 8PM at ImprovBoston. Tickets are available at ibthorns2017.eventbrite.com.

For over 30 years, ImprovBoston has been New England's leading theater and school dedicated to the art of comedy in all its forms. Voted "Best of Boston" by The Phoenix, The Improper Bostonian, and The Weekly Dig, ImprovBoston performers, teachers and students have included film stars, Emmy Award-winning comedians, and acclaimed producers, directors, musicians and writers. ImprovBoston alumni are featured on Conan, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show, America's Got Talent, Funniest Wins, Playboy, Last Comic Standing and John Oliver's Last Week Tonight, to name a few. In 2014, the Independent Reviewers of New England honored ImprovBoston with an award recognizing its longstanding contributions to the Boston theater community. As a nonprofit arts organization, ImprovBoston serves the community through laughter with youth outreach programs, workshops for businesses, scholarships, a national touring company and, of course, performances at its theater complex in Central Square, Cambridge.

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