Performers

Jonathan Pitts is an award winning international theatre artist from Chicago. He's a creator, director, improviser, performer, producer, and teacher. He co-founded the Chicago Improv Festival and produced it for 20 years. He also created and produced the College Improv Tournament for 10 years and he created and produced the Chicago Podcast Festival or the last 2 years. He taught improv at The Second City for 16 years and he's a contributing writer to The Second City's book on improvisation. For 3 consecutive years he was selected by New City magazine as one of "Chicago's Top 50 Theatre Players". He's performed in over 1,200 improvised shows, some of them story oriented. 

In the 2014-2015 season, Simona Babčáková organized improvisation workshops at Czech well-known Dejvické Theater under the title Laboratory. At these workshops, she explored improvisation and the ability to pass it on in a fun and comprehensible form. The result of these workshops was an evening improvisation performance, where Simona played with the selected participants of the workshop. The effect was increasing attendance and interest in improvisation as a technique and a form of a performance (the audience also had the opportunity to visit a part of the workshop where they could see how improvisation originates and how it is cultivated, what are the rules of the game).

Due to the great joy of the performances, a new improvisation group was created, where the composition of players changes.

Ester Kočičková plays so-called total improvisation.
This means there is no pre-given sujet happening on the stage and that actors and musicians do not really know what to do and how to play - even if the name of the performance was randomly chosen.
The topic, content, and eventual concept of the opus are always sought through the game alone. You can not even guess whether you will witness comedy or tragedy, whether you will be entertained or bored.
The only certainty for you is the fact that none of these performances will ever happen again.

http://www.english-lovers.com/

Dazzles the audience with a thrilling, theatrical look at the fears, dangers, despairs and joys of knowing people.

BLIND DATES was developed and devised for two actors however here, the audience decides who the characters are and where they will meet….

Jim Libby is born in USA, now living in Vienna. He helped to create the very first, fully improvised performance piece to ever be taken into the repertoire of a German state theatre. He also helped to create the very first, fully improvised, radio drama for the BBC, A Time to Dance, which was nominated for a Sony Acadamy Award and co- directed the first, fully improvised feature film to be produced in Austria, Another One Opens, which after several cinema runs, and winning a few prizes, has recently been released on DVD.

Backspace is one of the most original groups on the Polish improvised music stage. The band was formed in 2013. Musicians successfully combine the acoustic sound of the accordion and electric violin with the possibilities of modern technology. Dialogue, interaction, improvisation, live sampling and the creative use of computer software (Ableton Live), electronic effects, and even everyday objects helped to create unique sound and unique musical language team. In music, the group finds inspiration for both symphonic music, minimalism, "Tintinnabuli" style through new Nordic  jazz, to the ambient, electro and house.

"The integration of instruments with electronics allows us to create a sound that would be impossible to obtain on acoustic instruments – it gives us a huge range of colours, with which we can express emotions, build the atmosphere and space, open the door to new and previously unknown areas of music. We devote ourselves to improvisation - each new sound tells us what will be next – we make music "here and now", so that every concert could take the form of an extraordinary and unique music performance "

What inspires us is: the nature, city, machine, man, space, view, experiences, memories, uniqueness and everyday life, the Aborigines’ music, the German techno stage and abstract expressionism.

See the output from the Friday workshop for festival performers, led by Jonathan Pitts. The idea is to explore the themes that are real to us as improvisers and find a way to deliver them to the audience on the evening show! Title "What's on Your Mind?" hides the unique performance of a very diverse group of improvisers.

Performing:

• Jonathan Pitts (USA)
• Jim Libby (AUT)
• Alan Pakosz (POL)
• and many more...