17 Sep
by Derrick Vander Waal
SIOUX CENTER, IOWA – Nate and Timothy Schoenfeld had just watched Chicago’s Improv Olympics and were discussing their desire to start their own improvisational comedy theatre troupe while driving on Tollway I-88.
SIOUX CENTER, IOWA – Nate and Timothy Schoenfeld had just watched Chicago’s Improv Olympics and were discussing their desire to start their own improvisational comedy theatre troupe while driving on Tollway I-88.
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| 88improv, an improvisational comedy troupe from Omaha, NE, will present the entertainment for Promise Community Health Center’s “An Evening of Promise” on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The four-member team consists of Timothy Schoenfeld, Steve Hydeen, Sarah Schoenfeld and Nate Schoenfeld. They are all graduates of Northwestern College in Orange City. |
Then and there, 88improv was born.
The brothers – along with two friends, Steve Hydeen and Sarah (Kennedy) Schoenfeld, now married to Timothy – already had developed a passion for improv while pursuing degrees in theatre at Northwestern College in Orange City. The quartet had found an outlet for the interest through participating in the student-led campus improv team.
Due to the encouragement and accolades they received from their peers, professors and others on campus, they began to accept other opportunities to perform throughout the Midwest. That momentum ultimately led them to form 88improv in 2003.
A dozen years later, that passion for improv continues to drive the Omaha, NE-based troupe to do shows throughout the region. 88improv’s members will savor a homecoming of sorts when they perform Tuesday, Oct. 13, for Promise Community Health Center’s “An Evening of Promise” at Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center. The event is Promise’s seventh annual celebration and fundraiser.
Steve said 88impov prides itself with a mission “to provide smart, clean, comedic, entertaining shows” and hopes the people of northwest Iowa come to see for themselves.
“It’s been our experience that most people do not enjoy performing improvisation, yet they get a real thrill out of watching others present it for them,” he said. “88improv will also work to make the Promise event one that is personalized and tailored to this audience.”
Steve, who grew up in Orange City, said forming 88improv was an exciting opportunity that required each of the members to consider how much they wanted to live the life of an artist by establishing their own professional theatre company.
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| Steve Hydeen, one of the members of 88improv, grew up in Orange City. He will return to his home territory of northwest Iowa when his comedy team performs Tuesday, Oct. 13, for “An Evening of Promise” at Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center. |
It also meant they had to relocate to the city of their choice.
“As a team, we settled on Omaha, Nebraska, because it was a small metropolis with a great deal of artistic happenings that still was virtually untouched by the improv comedy contagion so many other cities in the U.S. and world already had,” Steve said.
Even before they moved to Omaha, they started booking venues to perform in – commuting there once a month until they could all move there permanently. Nate was the first to move to the metro area. Timothy and Sarah followed suit next. Steve and his wife, Andrea, also an Orange City native, were the last to settle there after studying in Sevilla, Spain, for a half year.
Now the longest running improv comedy team in Omaha, 88improv has performed public shows at venues such as The Rock, Millennium Theatre, Grand Old Players Company, PS Collective and The Backline Comedy Theatre. The troupe has presented many private shows – for church gatherings, corporate events, holiday parties, youth events, after-prom parties and much more. They have embarked on road trips to the Out of Bounds Improv Festival in Austin, TX; the Minnesota Fringe Festival; the Kansas City Fringe Festival; and even Unexpected Productions comedy club in Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA.
They juggle those gigs around full-time occupations.
Steve said the type of show that 88improv will perform for Promise’s event will involve audience participation. They will take suggestions to play short improv games – similar to the popular TV improv comedy show “Who’s Line is it Anyway?” that aired several years ago on ABC. At other events, they do a long-form style of improv where they get a couple of audience suggestions and then unfold an unscripted piece of theatre.
They are eager to share the improv art form with the northwest Iowa audience.
“Improv comedy is so inviting because it allows us to explore humanity through the lens of trust, affirmation, listening and creativity,” Steve said. “Improvisation is about honesty. Improvisors have to work together. Improvisors have to be selfless in this artform. The result is that it encourages actors to focus on making their scene partners look good rather than themselves. It requires trust from both friend and stranger. It also allows us the ability to create something that never existed before. Improv comedy also offers healing laughter for both performer and audience.”
They also forged into improv instruction three years ago.
Steve said they started noticing throughout the years that many young actors and actresses were entering the world of improvisation with little experience, and as a result, were performing “offensive, alienating and vulgar” shows. Therefore, they established 88improv Academy to teach improv techniques to middle school and high school students around four foundational rules: affirmation, trust, listening and creativity. They have hosted academies in two schools in two different districts in the Omaha area – each more than once.
Not only do they teach improv skills to the students, but they also encourage real-life applications.
“Our students obtain confidence, become better listeners and tap into their creative side as they enter the world outside the classroom,” Steve said. “Their relationships, employment, challenges, opportunities all can be addressed through the lense of their academy training.”
Steve still has family living in northwest Iowa, so he comes back to northwest Iowa more than the rest of the 88improv members. Yet, he said it always will be “a special place” for all of them. To be sure, they all look forward to their return trip on Oct. 13 for “An Evening of Promise.”
“It is where we met,” he said. “It is where we developed our acting and improvisational skills. It is where we forged relationships that we continue to lean on to this day.”
Promise Community Health Center, headquartered in Sioux Center, is the only Federally Qualified Health Center in the far northwest corner of Iowa. To learn more, visit www.promisechc.org.
‘AN EVENING OF PROMISE’:
‘AN EVENING OF PROMISE’:
Promise Community Health Center will present “An Evening of Promise” on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center.
The event, which will serve as Promise’s seventh annual celebration and fundraiser, will begin at 6 p.m. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
Tickets will be on sale through Oct. 5.
The evening will feature:
- Entertainment by 88improv, an improvisational comedy troupe from Omaha, NE;
- Dinner catered by Blue Mountain Culinary Emporium of Orange City;
- Presentation of the Addink Community Service Award;
- Silent auction to support Promise. View the auction items online at promiseauction.blogspot.com.
Former KTIV TV news anchor Kristie VerMulm of Sioux City will serve as the emcee for the evening.
To learn more, click here to read a preview story.
TO BUY TICKETS:
To learn more, click here to read a preview story.
TO BUY TICKETS:
Ticket sales for “An Evening of Promise” run through Oct. 5. Tickets are $35 for adults, $20 for youth ages 4-18 and free for children 3 and under. They can be purchased online at www.promisecelebration.eventbrite.com. For more information or to request a ticket registration form, please contact Derrick Vander Waal at 712-722-1700 or derrick@promisechc.org. Tickets also can be purchased at Promise Community Health Center, 338 1st Ave. NW, Sioux Center.