MOMENT! 12th International Improv Festival Vienna 2024

VIENNA IS BACK ON THE INTERNATIONAL IMPROV MAP!

TAG – Theater an der Gumpendorfer Straße in Vienna produces passionate and entertaining contemporary theatre with a special focus on improv theatre and proudly presents MOMENT! 12th INTERNATIONAL IMPROV FESTIVAL VIENNA 2024: Spontaneous, lively and unique entertainment at world class level!

The festival addresses professional improvisation actors and actresses who are curious about exchanging views concerning theoretical and practical experiences. The audience benefits from vivid performances unique in their matchless constellation of improv pros from all over the world meeting at TAG in Vienna.

ARTISTS LINE UP

International Improv Stars:
Hila di Castro (ISR)
Tom Fischdick (DEU)
Paula Galimberti (ESP)
Kevin Gillese (CAN)
Julia Radschiner (AUT)
Raschid Daniel Sidgi (DEU)
Balasree Viswanathan (IND)
Antonio Vulpio (ITA)

Local Improv Stars:
THE TAG SPORT-VOR-ORT-ALLSTARS

hosted by
Jim Libby

SHOWS

daily shows 7.30 pm

Thursday Oct. 3, 2024

Part 1: THE GRAND OPENING SHOW presented by Jim Libby

Jim Libby is hosting the Grand Opening Show of the Festival which will introduce the MOMENT! 2024 Ensemble.

Life entertains us best.

Let’s face it: life itself tells the most beautiful stories! True life, when given that special frame, is more adventurous, romantic and overwhelming than any fiction or kitsch novel.

In this show the MOMENT! Ensemble presents itself to the audience: Jim Libby interviews the international improv stars to tell a story about their life. The other improvisers associate along this story, reflect, exaggerate and alienate it to create a new and original drama in the truest sense of the word.

Part 2: AN IMPROVISED SOAP OPERA pt. 1 presented by Kevin Gillese

Lust. Betrayal. Revenge.

Everything is on the table in this improvised version of your favorite soap operas complete with fully costumed characters, ongoing storylines, and all the scandalous melodrama that you can handle. Will there be romance? For sure! Will there be villains? No doubt! Will it be funny? We sure hope so!

Don’t miss AN IMPROVISED SOAP OPERA pt. 2 on Monday Oct 7

Friday Oct. 4, 2024

Part 1: BABA’S TALES presented by Raschid Daniel Sidgi

My daughter calls me Baba. Just like I called my father. He was not always an easy man. Very intense and often challenging. Growing up in a small town on the edge of the desert, on the edge of the savannah, where there were only a handful of telephones but a cinema…

We had sweet tea with milk on Sunday afternoons, and the television, which was always blaring, was turned down. We brothers and sisters braided pigtails, squatted close together like a bunch of young baboons and my father told stories. Actually, he made them up. He was a great storyteller, wild and impetuous his words seemed to float on a river, yet always found a destination. Baba often fished in the now, in what we called out to him, linking the world we knew growing up in Europe with the treasures of our East African ancestors. And even though in many ways we seemed so far apart, in his stories the worlds moved closer together. Stories full of life and magic, death and happiness, love and chaos, spirits and people and animals. With all players on stage all the time, the show BABAS TALES searches for this storytelling on stage.

Part 2: SABOTEURS presented by Antonio Vulpio

Saboteurs is s a show where improvisers are confronted with ther nemesis: actors who are not responding to the normal rules of improv, not responding or trying to actively destroy the scene. Only the best improvisers will be able to finish their stories!

Saturday Oct. 5, 2024

Part 1: CONDUCTOR`S CUT presented by Julia Radschiner & Jim Libby

A Show driven by the force of music. Emotional stories propelled by the huge variety of music styles compete to survive until the end of the night. Several conductors create unforgettable moments including ear worms that will stick. But there’s only one conductor who’s story reaches an end, who’s music will be sung forever. Invented at MOMENT! 2023 by Gilly Alfeo & Jim Libby.

Part 2: SCHNITTSTELLE – The International Showcase Ensemble presented by Hila di Castro

There are meetings, conversations and situations that can happen only at night. When darkness falls we become more vulnerable, maybe courageous, passionate and impulsive, our defense mechanism shut down and truth comes out.
Would we regret anything in the morning?

Sunday Oct. 6, 2024

MAGICAL REALISM presented by Paula Galimberti

It is the idea of showing something strange, unreal or fantastic in a very common everyday way.

It portrays fantastic events in an otherwise realistic tone. It brings contemporary social relevance to fables, folktales and myths. Fantastic traits given to characters, such as levitation, telepathy and telekinesis, help to embrace modern political realities that can be phantasmagorical. The purpose of magic is to acquire knowledge, power, love, or wealth; cure or ward off illness or danger; ensure productivity or success in an enterprise; cause harm to an enemy; reveal information; induce a spiritual transformation; deceive; or entertain. ( When ghosts appear it is to help the main charecters with something).

We can be ghosts of Deceased persons, Unborn persons, Objects, Places, Family, Emotions, Feelings. We are never surprised because we see a ghost, it is normal for us. We do not wiggle or do things to show that we are flying or disappearing. Everything is normal.

We can interact with everyone in the scene. We all see everyone. It’s not like I’m talking to my dead grandmother and everyone else doesn’t see her. She’s there and we can make the decision to talk to her or not, but she’s there.

We can be in different times, past, future, present. So anything can happen we just have to open our minds and let our imagination run wild.

Monday Oct. 7, 2024

Part 1: THE SOUNDTRACKS OF OUR LIVES presented by Hila di Castro

The premise of the show is a research that has been made about the effect that music has on people who has Alzheimer condition. How it can „bring them back“ to clearity moments.

My grandfather had Alzheimer’s and once I got to know this research I used to play him music that he loved. those moments were pure magic – to see his eyes light up, remembering the lyrics, I got him back even for a little bit. The description for the show: Music accompanies out live’s everywhere we go, we all have those songs that once we hear them it takes us back to specific moments in our lives, some of them can be painful, some of them can be joyful – our first kiss,a magical trip, specific party,a breakup, a wedding – the moments in lives has sound in them and by hearing the sound or specific songs we can go back to those moments, feel them, smell them, taste them again.there is a research that has been made about the effect that music has on people who has Alzheimer condition. how it can „bring them back“ to clearity moments. I dedicate this show to my grandfather who had Alzheimer and for the moments I played him music that he loved I got him back for precious sweet short moments.

Part 2: AN IMPROVISED SOAP OPERA pt. 2 presented by Kevin Gillese

The First Part of this Show premiered on the first day of the Festival. You`ll meet old and new characters and dive back into this soap opera. Don`t worry if you`ve missed the First Part, you`ll get along.

Lust. Betrayal. Revenge. Everything is on the table in this improvised version of your favorite soap operas complete with fully costumed characters, ongoing storylines, and all the scandalous melodrama that you can handle. Will there be romance? For sure! Will there be villains? No doubt! Will it be funny? We sure hope so!

Tuesday Oct. 8, 2024

NAVARASA LEELA: THE DANCE OF THE 9 EMOTIONS presented by Balasree Viswanathan

What makes anything happen? Some believe we, the mortals, do, while others believe it is all predetermined by the gods. An ancient culture believes it’s both – it is the gods speaking through mortals by becoming 9 core emotions. Come, witness this sacred dance that we’ve been in since time immemorial.

WORKSHOPS

3 hrs WORKSHOP for BEGINNERS
3.30 – 6.30 pm
Fees: € 50 / Workshop

TRUTH IN IMPROV
with Antonio Vulpio
Thursday Oct. 3, 2024
TAG Rehearsal Room, Gumpendorfer Str. 67/4, 1060 Vienna

Improvisation arises from observing the context. The suggestions embodied by ourselves are just one part of it: the other actors, the stage, the people watching us, and above all, the emotions that surface within us, everything is necessary to create. The word Αλήθεια – Truth, in Greek, carries the meaning of unveiling, discovery. And this is what we will seek in our scenic exploration. Not a „brilliant idea“ to deliver to the scene, but rather an attitude of deep listening that allows us to „unveil“ little by little what our scene tells, and progressively understand the reasons and desires that drive the actions of our characters.

IMPROV FUNDAMENTALS
with Kevin Gillese
Friday Oct. 4, 2024
TAG Rehearsal Room, Gumpendorfer Str. 67/4, 1060 Vienna

This workshop is a crash course in improv basics including: listening, making offers, building ideas together, and an introduction to spontaneous storytelling. If you’re new to your journey into improvisation, this is the perfect workshop to familiarize yourself with the building blocks of improv so you can get out there and start improvising!

SYNC AND FOLLOW
with Raschid Daniel Sidgi
Saturday Oct. 5, 2024
TAG Rehearsal Room, Gumpendorfer Str. 67/4, 1060 Vienna

What makes a good impro player? People often answer: the surprising ideas or a certain comic talent. But when we describe the magic moments of an impro scene, we often talk about moments of invisible understanding and great interplay.

This workshop focuses on those moments when it seems as if the players are absolutely connected on stage. Leaving aside for a moment the search for the punchline and original ideas, we look instead for techniques of organic development and playing together. Clearly, all this takes place not only as a concept in our brains, it is rather a sensitively understanding the moment. So let’s have fun in searching for the magic of being in sync.

CHARACTERS OUTSIDE IN – fully booked!
with Hila di Castro
Sunday Oct. 6, 2024
TAG Rehearsal Room, Gumpendorfer Str. 67/4, 1060 Vienna

I love those moments when my character suddenly comes to life and I feel like it’s the character, not me, in the scene. There are two main approaches to creating improvised characters: Outside In focuses on the character’s physical attributes and uses these to understand who they are on the inside; Inside Out focuses on personality traits, wishes, hopes and fears as the foundation for the character’s appearance, voice and physicality. Since we are creating characters in a split second, most of the time we end up starting on the outside and stopping there – or we simply act as ourselves in each and every scene, without changing anything on the outside. This means we are missing out on the fun and the impact of playing round, layered characters, who are rich and interesting both inside and outside. In this workshop, we will learn how we can use the outside to quickly dive deep and find the inside of the character as well as practice key internal elements that are so compelling, we do not have to actively change our voice, body, face or accent in order to achieve different and unique characters

3 hrs WORKSHOP for INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED IMPROVISERS
3.30 – 6.30 pm
Fees: € 50 / Workshop

HUT UP AND ACCEPT – fully booked!
with Paula Galimberti
Friday Oct. 4, 2024
Rehearsal Room, Cache Cache, Dürergasse 11, 1060 Vienna

In this work-shop we will work with the silence and how important is to measure the words that we use in an Improv, and also how important are the moments that we don’t need to use words at all. We will develop some tools to achieve that, we will work with the here and now more than ever. Listening to our body language, and giving value to everything we do when we don’t talk.

SABOTEURS
with Antonio Vulpio
Tuesday Oct. 8, 2024
TAG Rehearsal Room, Gumpendorfer Str. 67/4, 1060 Vienna

Discovering improv fills us with the exhilarating potential of creating magic onstage. Yet, as we become entrenched in rules, our focus shifts from being present to adhering to them. Too often, we’re ensnared by concepts and preconceptions, diverting our attention from what truly matters: being in the moment, attuned to our partners, the audience, and the situation. In these moments, we control only ourselves, choosing to embrace surprises and challenges offered by our partners, even when their behavior is negative, controlling, or completely random. We recognize our interconnectedness and embrace the joy of the unexpected, refusing to be derailed by our negativity. We crave surprise, provocation, and the sheer delight of the unknown.
 

5 hrs WORKSHOP for INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED IMPROVISERS
1.30 – 6.30 pm
Fees: € 80 / Workshop

THE TAO OF IMPROV – fully booked!
with Kevin Gillese
Saturday Oct. 5, 202
Rehearsal Room, Cache Cache, Dürergasse 11, 1060 Vienna

The Tao of Improv – is all about using contrast as a way of discovering the good stuff in a scene. Call it what you want: irony, opposites, breaking the pattern. This is my personal approach to improvisation. When everything is sad, find a reason to be happy. When everything is in chaos, find the order. When the scene has gone too long, find an ending!

“Whatever is flexible and flowing will tend to grow, whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and die.” – Tao Te Ching

NĀṬYAŚĀSTRA FOR IMPROVISERS – fully booked!
with Balasree Viswanathan
Sunday Oct. 6, 2024
Rehearsal Room, Cache Cache, Dürergasse 11, 1060 Vienna

Nāṭyaśāstra aka the greatest book ever written is a collection of more than 6000 Sanskrit verses written by Bharata Muni (sage Bharata) between 500 BC and 500 AD. It forms the foundation of all classical Indian art forms and covers everything an actor or improviser would ever need – on-stage and off. In this workshop, we will cover a few crucial translated verses, bring them to life with exercises for the eyes, hands and breath and mostly silent scenes.
 

3-day WORKSHOP for ADVANCED IMPROVISERS – fully booked!
SCHNITTSTELLE – The International Showcase Ensemble

TAG and Hila di Castro will cast a group of advanced players who’ll have the possibility to train with Hila di Castro during the MOMENT! Festival 2024 and perform AFTER NIDNIGHT on stage on Saturday Oct. 5, 2024.

AFTER MIDNIGHT

Human interactions are fascinating – when do we tell the truth and when do we hide it and why, how do we effect one another emotionally and how are we getting effected, how we can just grab a moment with someone to the fullest and leave a our mark on the other person.
In this workshop we will create scenes that would be gentle, vulnerable and heart breaking along with crazy, strong and powerful ones. We will juggle between comedy and drama with letting truth and authenticity leads us.
We will work on:

• emotional action and emotional re-action (the source of acting)
• bold strong choices – those kind of choices that make the scene exhilarating.
• „Don’t drop your baby“ – make your idea and your partner idea work together
• creating safe space for intimacy
• being comfortable in our own skin – vulnerability and authenticity

Oct. 3 – 8, 2024

Training Sessions:
Thursday Oct. 5, 2024, 11.00 am – 3.00 pm
Friday Oct. 6, 2024, 10.00 am – 3.00 pm
Saturday Oct. 7, 2024, 10.00 am – 3.00 pm
TAG Rehearsal Room, Gumpendorfer Str. 67/4, 1060 Vienna