Pennybear

This is the poster for Pennybear's last show at the Apollo Theater, which was this past Fall. Pennybear, for those that don't know, is the sketch group with whom I do sketches. I did a lot of sketch in college. In fact, by the time I left my college improv group, I had become the most prolific sketch writer in that group's then 10-year history. Something like a little over 100 sketches. But when I came to Chicago, I didn't do sketch, just improv. I did try to be a part of a group back in 2003 but I really didn't take it seriously or put in any effort at that time.

A year ago at this time I was in an elective class at iO where essentially we got a taste of the Second City style of creating a show. It was a lot of fun and very challenging. To my surprise and delight, the stuff I helped create were good. My friend Nancy was in this class as well. She and a couple of my college friends had just started a sketch group and she thought I'd be a good fit for the group. So I was invited. Again, to my surprise and delight, the group was fun and my level of involvement was much greater than 4 years before.

I've been really proud of the material we've created and I enjoyed our first run at the Apollo. Last Friday we tested out a few sketches at Graffiti (a show at the Playground Theater specifically for sketch groups to show off their stuff) and they seemed to go over well. Our next run will begin in June, and I'm looking forward to seeing what new material we produce in the coming months.