PLEDGE YOUR FAVORITE IMPROVISER!
SPECIALTY CLASS REGISTRATION
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RENOVATION INFORMATION
Pike Place's Market Theater is slated for major renovations and Unexpected Productions needs to raise some cash to help foot the bill. The Market Theater will get new ventilation, with heating and cooling, comfortable seats, a new bar with plumbing, electrical upgrades, and a brand new elevator!
Construction will last up to 8 months. Upgrades include the installation of an elevator, as well as seismic, electrical, plumbing, and ventilation improvements.
Unexpected Productions (UP) moved from Intiman into the Market Theater in May 1991. 20 years later UP will relocate back to Intiman Theatre temporarily while the theater undergoes major renovations. The Pike Place Market will be installing an elevator into the Economy Market, the building located directly above the Market Theater. This is part of the big market renovation and upgrade plan voted in by Seattleites in 2008.
UP Will Temporarily Relocate
The elevator will begin in the north side of the theater. An elevator lobby will will be placed where the current UP Lounge sits. The actual elevator will be in the current stage left wing. Seismic upgrades will happen in the back of the theater and office area. Market Theater will undergo electrical, plumbing, and ventilation improvements as well.
The entire theater will need to be relocated during this process. Chairs, lighting, sound system, office, lounge, box office, concessions, and stored items will travel to a new location. Then, at the end of the construction period, we plan to move it all back.
The Pike Place Market has assured us they want us back and have offer some assistance. They plan to pay some relocation costs such as moving and storage. They also have offered to assist us with the relocation of our current lounge. They will pay for the elevator and all building improvements stated above.
We'd love your Support
During this renovation period, UP plans to install comfortable seating, upgrade lighting and sound equipment, reconstruct and upgrade the entire lobby and bar.
We also need funding to sustain us through revenue losses during transitions.
How you can help us
Spread the word!
We want to ensure our audiences follow us through this crazy process. Tell your friends, post it to social networks, write on our Facebook wall, get on our newsletter. let the world know what's happening.
Buy tickets!
Buying tickets will also support us.
Volunteer
If you would like to offer your support please contact us. 206-587-2414 - info@unexpectedproductions.org or click the link below for more options.
Donate directly to us
If you would like to help us with funding, please click the link below. Thanks!
Pledge a cast member!
If you have a favorite, let us know by placing your gift in their name!
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Economy Market
Above the Market Theater
The elevator will be added to this
building as part of the Pike Place Market renovation.
Gum Wall
Outside the Market Theater
2nd germiest
place in the world next to the Blarney Stone in Ireland. Started by people
standing in line for Theatresports. The gumwall will not be affected by the
renovations.
UP Lounge
with Brian Garbe, bar manager
This lounge will be replaced by an elevator
lobby. The entrance to the theater from the lobby will be where the current
bar entrance is.
SOME UNEXPECTED PRODUCTIONS HISTORY
Theatresports was developed years earlier by Keith Johnstone in England and then Calgary, Alberta, Canada, as the formal performance mechanism for a series of improvisational exercises for London's Royal Court theatre. Its aim was to help playwrights overcome writer's block by short-circuiting our natural tendency to edit ourselves. While self-editing is an important tool for getting through life, it can cripple the creative process. Johnstone's exercises constantly sought to trick the mind out of its habitual dulling of the world.' [Impro, page 32]
When The Seattle Theatresports League was founded, this innovative Improv format was being performed in a few cities in Canada, the UK, and Australia. The Seattle League was the first company in the United States to perform TheatreSportsTM.
For several years, the Seattle group performed TheatreSports at different venues, including Swannie's Comedy Underground, the Pioneer Square Theater, the Group Theatre at the Ethnic Cultural Center, and the Intiman Playhouse, gathering a following along the way.
By 1988, The Seattle Theatresports League began producing and performing another show: Cream of Wit. The focus of Cream of Wit has been the exploration of longer forms of improvisation in a non-competitive setting. The improvisors in the company wanted to move into new and different theatrical formats, including producing and writing full length shows. We wanted to continue the success of TheatresportsTM, but grow creatively in other forms. The company began teaching improvisation to interested students, some of whom gained the skills to join the company.
Therefore, the Seattle Theatresports League became officially known as Unexpected Productions, a non-profit 501(c)(3) theatre company, which would produce more than Theatresports. Additionally, The company sought to find a permanent home to produce shows on a seasonal basis. In June 1991, Unexpected Productions acquired the lease to the Market Theater in the historic Pike Place Market, which continues to be our mainstage.
While Theatresports , Wednesdays@8 and Cream of Wit are still considered to be the foundation of the theatre, Unexpected Productions has developed, written and produced 100's of shows since leasing the Market Theater in 1991.
International Festival of
Improv: June 13-21
Did you know that Unexpected Productions tours the world teaching improv? Our first International Festival of Improv was in 1993. Now, improvisors from countries on every continent converge on Seattle for this Festival every year performers of international cultures collaborate and collide!