Comedy Scene Gets a Boost!

Derek Dupuy, like most of the staff, friends, and family of  the New Movement Theater, is a busy guy. He spent the weekend before TNM’s big one-year birthday celebration in Austin, at the comedy conference Improv Wins. Still, he carved out the time to correspond with me about the theater’s philosophy, ethos and, of course, the shows planned for this weekend’s anniversary celebration. In a short email exchange, his responses practically explode from the screen: A one-line question got a 20-line response.

Derek Dupuy

Derek and the other founders conceived the New Movement as an anchor for New Orleans’ burgeoning comedy scene. The theater offers improv and sketch comedy courses as well as corporate training and several inexpensive comedy shows each week. TNM also plays host to nationally recognized standup comedians when they come through town, and pasts guests include Todd Barry, Hannibal Burress, Rory Scovel, and Harry Shearer.

“We love improv. We love comedy,” Derek explains. “We love the idea that you don’t have to move from here to make it big in comedy. That is a big part of what we want for this city.” That love was evident last November when the New Movement mounted their second annual Hell Yes Fest, which, in its second year, has already become the Gulf South’s leading comedy festival. This weekend, the New Movement is celebrating its own existence with a slate of cheap original programming designed to show the public that New Orleans is not just a jazz city, it’s a comedy city too.

“There are so many talented people in this city,” says Derek. “[The New Movement] believes in the philosophy of improv. We believe in saying yes and heightening to the next thing. We don’t stay stagnant. We have big ambitions and we get after it.” A 75-seat black-box theater located in the Marigny at 1919 Burgundy Street, the New Movement Theater is an ideal proving ground to explore all the possibilities comedy can provide. Ticket prices rarely rise above ten dollars per person, and both performers and staff are attentive, approachable, and dedicated to their craft.

The New Movement in New Orleans began as little more than an idea. Derek and his cohorts appeared at coffee shops and other venues around town, performing improve and sketch, and teaching improve courses. In the past two and a half years, the operation has grown exponentially, and at the end of its first year, the theater often plays hosts to sold-out shows, regularly debuting new sketch, improv, and standup comedians. “This weekend we graduate our sixth class of improv students that has made it through five levels, which takes about a year or a little less.  So, in two and a half years we went from eight trusting souls to a community of over 70 people who make a comedy theater thrive in a city that we all love.”

TNM ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND LINE-UP:

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28

• 9 pm: Lights Up is An improv comedy showcase featuring some of the best of the New Movement’s in-house troupes. The show runs at 9 pm, and tickets cost $7.

FRIDAY, MARCH 01

• 9 pm: The Match Game is TNM’s own irreverent take on the classic game show where contestants and comedians supply fill-in-the-blank answers to provocative questions. Tickets are $10.
• 10:30 pm: The Franchise. This special founders edition of the show sees the theater’s original improv teams—Chris and Tami and Stupid Time Machine performing both together and separately. Tickets are $10.
• Midnight: Block Party serves as an anything-goes open mic for improv, standup, and sketch comedy performers. Admission is free.

SATURDAY, MARCH 02

• 9 pm: The Megaphone show is a mix of storytelling and improv comedy. A guest monologist—usually a New Orleans native who is making waves in the city’s creative class—tells stories from his or her life, and TNM’s performers use their tales as inspiration for their own scenes. This Saturday’s guest monologist is New Orleans Nerd Nite’s own Champ Superstar. Tickets are $10.
• 10:30 pm: The most recent Level Five Graduation show will see newly minted improv comedy strut their stuff. Tickets are $10.

Tickets can be purchased at the door, or online at: http://tnmbirthday.eventbrite.com