Parallelogramophonograph & Jodi Elliott

Parallelogramophonograph loves to make up dynamic improvised plays and theatre in the moment.

They have used their on-going weekly show, first at The ColdTowne Theater (Oct 2006-Feb 2010), now at the Hideout Theatre (Friday nights at 10pm), to create and experiment with new and original improvised play concepts.

In addition to their organic improvised narratives (no previous prep), their original improvised play concepts (researched and developed formats) have run the gauntlet of styles – from historic and highly stylized period dramas like “The 1930s“, “French Farce” and “Some Like it Improvised” to compelling relationship and character-based shows like “After School Improv“, “Family Portrait“, and “Unanswered” to the much darker, dramatic, and twisted tales showcased in “Villainy” and “GRIMM” to “Dick & Jane“, which is a combination of the darkness of Film Noir and the lightness of Jane Austen. And PGraph has now ventured into new arenas of storytelling, character, and relationship exploration with shows like “ERIS 2035“, a gritty and at first seemingly grounded journey into the void of space itself and “Reverend Goodman’s Cure-All Elixir Traveling Revue“, which puts the audience front and center at the feet of 1909′s seemingly innocent, elixir-peddling, vaudeville-esque, con-men and women.

Parallelogramophonograph is always playful and funny, yet never afraid to let dramatic moments add the bitter to their sweet improvised stories.

Parallelogramophonograph is Kareem Badr, Kaci Beeler, Roy Janik, and Valerie Ward.

Pgraph has performed nationally and internationally in over 30 cities and at many festivals including the Chicago Improv Fest, Slapdash Festival in London, Twin Cities Improv Festival, Montreal Improv Festival, Seattle Festival of Improv Theater, Toronto COMBUSTIONfestival, Out of Bounds, Out of Bounds West, The Big Ha! Festival in Omaha, The Providence Improv Fest, The Hawaii Improvaganza in Honolulu, and the Frontera Fringe Fest in Austin.

PGraph made their European debut at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, where they lived and performed together for an entire month, gaining new inspiration, rave reviews, and international friends along the way.

They also perform, teach, and direct shows at the Hideout Theatre, and generally make their presence known in the growing Austin artistic community. All four members have directed and produced some of Austin’s most popular regional improvised productions including Austin Secrets (twice nominated for a B. Iden Payne Award), Manhattan Stories (nominated for a B. Iden Payne Award), Holy 1960s Batman, Batman!, The Violet Underbelly: Improvised Film Noir, Dickens Unleashed, and After School Improv.

They are recipients of a prestigious B. Iden Payne award for Outstanding Work in Improvisational Theater and a 2012 “Best of Austin” Austin Chronicle Critics Award for ‘Most Continuously Innovative Improv Troupe’.

WEBSITE: http://www.pgraph.com/