pH Productions

The new regime

This weekend is the start of our new guys in the shows. Last night Ben Palin started in pHrenzy and tonight Eric Oren steps into pHucked.

As I sat watching Ben last night, I was super encouraged and very happy on where we’ve come over the last 10 years. Still attracting great raw talent. Still doing great shows. And most importantly still exciting me.

The best part was when I looked over and saw our new guys Cole, Dan, Garrett and Ben chatting with Mary and just laughing and looking like they always belonged.

2012 is going to mark a lot of firsts for us and big leaps into being something much larger. But for now we’re still just a scrappy little 10 year old family. I’m going to hold onto that thought for a little longer.

So Eric, as you get ready to get violated in your first pHucked show just remember - there’s plenty more where that came from.

Hopefully for a long long time.

pH 2011 Recap

As we start to wind down 2011 and gear up for what is sure to be pH’s best year yet, I want to just reflect on another great season for us. These were my top 11, 2011 moments (I did 11 to keep with the 2011 theme…anywho).

11. Fresh new leadership. 2011 saw found Jeff Ford step down as Executive Director and Ed Gass step down as business manager. Both were integral parts of the growth of pH, but the search for a new Business Manager and Executive Director proved to be a great thing for us. Brett Mannes stepping up to take on the ED role was an unexpected breath of fresh air and he has already made huge strides as an ED - we couldn’t be more lucky. Our head house manager, Karen Murphy, stepping up into a leadership role as Business Manager really excited everyone. It’s been amazing to watch Karen go from fan, to house manager, to leadership - just because she loves the company. Both Karen and Brett are leading us into an important time. In addition, three new board members Joe Jasper and Chris Novoa, as well as StudioBe founder Aaron Shapiro joined us to help make pH’s 10th year amazing. 

10. Low cast turnover. 2011 saw almost no turnover in the cast. An audition group that retained all but 2 people and the strongest, tightest cast pH has ever seen. For the first time in a very long time pH didn’t have an open call audition.

9. pHrenzy better than ever. Everyone in pH will tell you that pHrenzy is a tough show, and a hard egg to crack. But once you do it becomes one of the most freeing and wonderful shows to play in. This year saw pHrenzy becoming a powerhouse longform show with exciting speed, players who embraced the form and some of the best hosts we’ve ever seen.

8. Brad Kemp joining as Head Musical Director. Even though he’s a young guy, Brad has proven to be a driving force for pH and a welcome addition to the team. Starting out with us during The Breakfast Club Musical, Brad has grown and grown and grown into being a great MD. In addition to his playing chops during pHamily the Musical and Santa Stories - his composition chops are finally being put to the test in 2012. Watch out!

7. More corporate and touring then ever before. Relations Director, Kayce Alltop really reeled in some big fish for this year and got us some very high profile gigs this year, one of which was at North America’s largest food manufacturer. Kayce also booked our first out of town gig where we are being paid to fly somewhere and teach and perform. Another highlight was being invited back to the Oberlin Improv Conference for the second straight year - groups are never brought back more than once. Kudos to Kayce. 

6. Zombie Pub Crawl 4! What started as an experiment in 2008 has become a full-fledged force by 2011. More zombies then ever before, new bars continuing to join the crawl and the first non-rainy day since 2008. Next year is ZPC 5, which coincides with pH’s 10th Anniversary - so it’s gonna be epic. 

5. Santa Stories 2.0. Last year we created Santa Stories so we would have a “show in a box” and could pull it out every holiday and perform it with little to no prep. This year reunited director Drew Current with most of the cast from last year. The Kids version was identical and ready to go - but a new change to the dirty version made it an especially quick rehearsal process. At the end of the day the Dirty version had amazing crowds this year and the changes paid off. Tristan Tanner and Nick De Fina joined the cast, along with  myself and couldn’t have been more excited about our second year of success with Santa. 

4. Adding 2 new pHarm Teams.  The pHarm team system has long been a passion point for pH and in 2011 we added two new teams: Loyola and Dominican. Not to mention that all 4 will be competing in the 2011/12 College Improv Tournament. A very exciting growth point and the opportunity for new coaches Austin Campion, Anne Murphy, Jason Hodge and Patrick Serrano to step up.While we are on the subject of pHarm Teams - both Columbia’s Droppin’ $cience and Depaul’s Cosby Sweaters dominated Chicago Regionals - Columbia won and Depaul got second - and both qualified for Nationals. Columbia went on to make National Finals and place 3rd overall in the nation. Coaches Kenny Metroff and Amy Couey could not have been more proud. 

3. PWNERS. Cast members Nick De Fina and Drew Current pulled off the most impressive feat I’ve seen in a long time - they set out to make a feature length movie, using all of their friends and a lot of improv. This doesn’t ever work. Ever. But it did. And oh was it glorious. A movie that was actually riveting, funny and superbly performed. To top it all off we premiered the movie at a private screening at an actual movie theater. There’s nothing cooler than that. Nothing. Start watching this movie, you’ll be hooked: http://vimeo.com/31822708

2. pHlip Cup. Sometimes we launch new shows and sometimes they stick (pHamily the Musical), but sometimes they don’t (pHetish). At last year’s New Years Eve party we launched a new concept show called pHlip Cup. The idea was simple - build a show around the game of flip cup. Each week new “themed” teams would face trials and tribulations on their way to a flip cup tournament. The end of the show featured our team challenging a team from the audience to play in a game. If they won they won free tickets to another show - if they lost - well then they lost. One year later and the show is going strong and remains one of our strongest longform shows. Time Out Chicago called it a Critic’s Choice and said they “laughed and laughed and laughed.” Another accolade for our strong improv performances. 

1. New Frontier. While nothing is set in stone, and I’m probably jinxing it just talking about it, but it looks like 2012 will not only mark pH’s 10th anniversary, but it looks like it will mark our move into a permanent home. Our own home. I’m not going to share more than that, but lets just say we’ve seen a space, we love it and we are working on getting it and hopefully the 2012 recap will include this item as a highlight. 

Another really strong year. 2012 is going to be amazing. We are auditioning for a few new people, at least 2 new shows are in the works to launch - our first sketch show in a while, and another full length musical. Should a new theater actually materialize you will see a whole host of new offerings from pH. I look forward to it.  

pH in 2012, this is OUR time. 

Jason.