This is it: the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival starts in just over 24 hours. 500 comedy performers from all over the world are decending on Austin, TX for an entire week of jokes and mayhem. There are so many events going on around town, we thought we should let you know where to find your favorite ColdTowne Theater performers and shows. And in turn what performers and shows you can find at ColdTowne Theater!

COLDTOWNE THEATER AT OUT OF BOUNDS

Wednesday, September 1st!

1. ColdTowne Theater’s #1 house troupe, Midnight Society, opens for the smash hit Dusk (Improvised Tween Erotica)!
2. You’re Not My Real Dad features ColdTowne Theater faculty members John  Ratliff and Dave Buckman!
3. ColdTowne Conservatory graduates Murphy and Look Cookie share the stage and bring the thunder!
4. Venn Diaphram, the Glamping Trip and the Starter Kit make with the funny.

Thursday, September 2nd

1. Dick Rambuck, Nice Astronaut, Northshore Local and Shanty Town Lake all throw down in the ColdTowne Theater Marathon!
2. Live at ColdTowne Producer Ramin Nazer does stand up at the Velveeta Room!

Friday, September 3rd

1. Conservatory co-founders The Frank Mills pony up with our personal favorites, Aphasia
2. Our weekly all-star show, Stool Pigeon, brings in stars from around the country and features special guest Owen Egerton!
3. Achatina! Achatina! in the ColdTowne Marathon!
4. Former ColdTowne student Kerri Lendo MCs at the Velveeta Room

Saturday, September 4th

1. Theater founders ColdTowne opens for the Reckoning!
2. Theater super groups Sarah 7 and Boy Toy in the Marathon!
3. Monday, September 6th
4. Buddy Daddy w/ the Reckoning.

OUT OF BOUNDS AT COLDTOWNE THEATER!

1. ColdTowne Theater Marathons Night 1
2. ColdTowne Theater Marathons Night 2
3. ColdTowne Theater Marathons Night 3

Filed under: ColdTowne Theater Community, ColdTowne Theater Shows by Jastroch
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Buy a Chair. from ColdTowne Theater on Vimeo. http://donate.coldtownetheater.com

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Mom’s apple pie. The Lincoln Memorial. Making out. None of these things are nearly as quintessentially American as a good old fashioned football. The old gridiron. The pigskin. Two teams of hot sinewy dudes matching wits on a field of battle. And nothing’s more quintessentially hilarious than people fantasizing about playing football. With that in mind, ColdTowne Theater has decided to combine it’s love of sports, arbitrary competition and hilarity into an evening of football-style improv comedy competition, replete with drafts, free agents, referees and tailgating.

FREE AGENTS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED, AND IT IS A POWER HOUSE GROUP!
Bob McNichol: 9pm #3 The Cat Mountain Redacted vs #6 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Park
Bryan Roberts:8pm #2 Slaughter Creek Social Club vs #7 Knuckledusters
Curtis Luciani: 10:00 PM #4 North Loop Hooligans vs #5 Baron Creek Bandits

The rest will have to wait until tomorrow night because they are surprises. There are a lot of audience favorites in town for OOB, so you just don’t know who’s going to show up. I assure you, it’s an epic group of epic epics.

Tickets for each show block (Initial rounds at 7, 8, 9 and 10pm, Playoffs at 11pm and midnight and the championship at 1am) will be $10. All-night passes will be available for $40. All proceeds will benefit ColdTowne Theater.

Tickets for shows are $10 and can be purchased online through coldtownetheater.frontgatetickets.com. Group Rates are available by contacting coldtowne@coldtownetheater.com.

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Who is a Friend of ColdTowne Theater? A Friend of ColdTowne Theater is someone who loves comedy in all its forms – improv, sketch, stand up – and believes that Austin needs an alternative comedy scene. A Friend of ColdTowne Theater is someone who wants a cool tee shirt, access to an exclusive mailing list with all sorts of special rewards (advance ticket sales, discounts to special events, show passes, free stuff from local vendors, free or cheap improv and sketch workshops) and to be secure in the knowledge that they helped an Austin arts institution grow.

Most of all, a Friend of ColdTowne Theater is a member of an exclusive club of people with $100 to burn. Visit http://donate.coldtownetheater.com to learn more about how to become a Friend of ColdTowne Theater.

Filed under: ColdTowne Theater Community by Jastroch
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Improv Fantasy League Trailer: “Autumn Wind” from ColdTowne Theater on Vimeo.

Blood. Sweat. Improv.

The Improv Fantasy League is upon us, and despite what that link says, the comedy will start at 5pm with tail gating, followed by a free kick off ceremony and then, the shows! From 7pm till 2am, ColdTowne Theater’s gladiators d’comedy will be knocking heads and taking names. All for the coveted prize: a slot in thie year’s Out of Bounds Festival! HUZZAH!

Free agents announcements are being rolled out as we speak! The audience will have an opportunity to bid on these free agents for their favorite team. Thus far:

Bob McNichol (Frank Mills, Voted Best Male Improviser in Austin): 9pm #3 The Cat Mountain Redacted vs #6 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Park
Bryan Roberts (“SO funny he had me in tears…” Ausitn Chronicle): 7pm #1 The Tarrytown Mike Judges vs #8 The Eastside Showgoons

Tickets are available at Frontgate! The Box Seat Couches are still available:

Yesterday, we announced that we were kicking off our big fund raising drive – a long, steady march towards our ultimate goal, ColdTowne Theater 2.0! But what’s the deal with ColdTowne Theater 2.0? What does that mean? Well, for starters, it means nicer bathrooms and better AC. More importantly, however, it means more classes and shows 7 nights a week. It also means that we’ll have a more permanent and sustainable home.

YOU CAN GET INVOLVED! Today, we’re announcing our donation tiers, and, let’s face it, everything is for sale. EVERY THING. From top to bottom, from big to small, you can purchase an attractive plaque to put on a piece of ColdTowne Theater 2.0.

Right now, we’re starting simply. ColdTowne Theater CHAIRS are going for the low price of $500 a pop. The first 50 pledges in that amount we get to Kickstarter.com will get an attractive, tasteful plaque on one of our theater seats. Something tangable for you to point at and say, “See, I get it. I’m a supporter of the arts.” When you think about it, $500 isn’t so much for a brand new seat in a brand new theater. That’s the price of a small coffee at Starbucks for a year. Instead of that, you’ll be putting your money behind a local arts community.

ALL DONATIONS CAN BE MADE THROUGH KICKSTARTER.COM

Friend of ColdTowne – $100
Friends of ColdTowne will receive our special prize package, including the exclusive FOC tee shirt, as well as membership in our exclusive mailing list, which offers access to heavily discounted and advance ticket sales; special events, festivals, and workshops; and exclusive invitations to private events and parties.
The Golden Ticket – $500
In addition to the items received by the Friends of ColdTowne, a Golden Ticket guarantees free entry to all regular weekly ColdTowne Theater shows for the entire year as well as NAMING RIGHTS to a theater seat.
The Seufert – $1,000
The Seufert entitles the donor to everything mentioned above as well as a +1 to all shows and access to the private Seufert Booth at ColdTowne Theater.
The Cook – $1,750
The Cook entitles the donor to everything mentioned above as well as a +2 to all shows and being bowed to and referred to as “Your Grace” by all ColdTowne Theater staff.
The Dearing – $2,500 or more
The Dearing entitles the donor to everything mentioned above as well as a private show at ColdTowne incorporating a customized improv and sketch revue tailor-made for the donor’s friends and family. A $5,000 value!
The Rubin — $4,000+
Everything you get with the Dearing, including naming rights to the STAGE!

Filed under: ColdTowne Theater Community, ColdTowne Theater Shows by Jastroch
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Five years ago, a handful of scrappy comedians fled New Orleans, came to Austin and built a comedy empire out of an empty store room with with their bare hands. With no money or support (unless you count the superlative contributions of the Austin Improv Community, The Frank Mills, our students, performers and the owners of I Luv Video and Spider House), and after a hundred trips to Home Depot and Habitat For Humanity for lumber and supplies, ColdTowne rose from the ashes of misfortune to blah blah blah.

Look, we’ll be honest here. We never in a million years dreamed we’d be as successful as we are right now. But our community of artists, comedians and nerd do wells is bursting at the seams. In the four short years since we’ve been open, we’ve grown from a humble 900 square foot room in the back of I Luv Video with three shows a week to over 15 shows a week, 130 active performers, 10 faculty members, 100 students, and hundreds more graduates from our improv and sketch comedy programs. And it’s not just us either. The Austin comedy community has grown to include five separate improv training centers and theaters, not to mention the explosion in sketch and stand up comedy. We need more space.

We CANNOT make the move without your help

Make no mistake, the process has begun. We’ve pulled the trigger. There’s no looking back now. Renovations alone will cost in excess of $25,000 (you’d be surprised how expensive a little thing like operating legally costs). There are ways you can help.

1. First, visit our kickstarter page and make a contribution. We’ll be auctioning off naming rights to literally every fixture in the building. Right now theater seats are going for $500 (There are only 50). Too rich for your blood? That’s okay! We’ve got plenty of premiums for people not able to commit to more money.
2. We’re selling shares of our holding company, Jam City LLC. We’re looking for equity investors looking to get involved with a growing arts space. Contact Michael Jastroch at (512) 423-4209 or at jastroch [at] gmail [dot] com.
3. Finally, help spread the word! Twitter. Facebook. Hell, even myspace. If you love ColdTowne Theater and want to see us grow, spread the word to your friends and family. Every single little but will help us.

We wouldn’t be where we are without the support of Austin Comedy fans or the local arts community. Your patronage has meant the world to us, and we hope that you’ll get involved in getting us a more permanent home!

Filed under: ColdTowne Theater Classes, ColdTowne Theater Comedy, ColdTowne Theater Community, ColdTowne Theater Shows by Jastroch
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Ah, the rule of threes. Lot’s of things obey it: bad luck, celebrity deaths and, most importantly, jokes. Everyone knows that the third one is the kicker. The piece de resistance, if you will.

ColdTowne Theater’s Mainstage Sketch show is no different. Hot off the heels of the hit comedy-revues Eye for an iPhone and Shanty Town Lake, the cast is back at work developing new material to debut in mid-September.

Each Sketch Lab 3.0 show will feature a mix of old favorites as well as some brand new material and improv. Join us every Friday night at 8pm in August for guaranteed laughs!

Tickets here!

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Ladies and gentlemen, we are live (LIVE!) with tickets, passes and social media for the Improv Fantasy League Fundraiser on August 28th at ColdTowne Theater. Teams have been drafted, brackets have been created and shit has been talked.

Tickets for each show are $10. Or you can buy an ALL NIGHT PASS for only $40. Get them here. Each show block *will* sell out, so if you want to be a part of this mammoth event, jump on this now.

THIS JUST IN: Couch seating is going at a premium this year. We’re selling each couch (four people maximum) for the whole night! If you buy a couch you will not only have a reserved, comfortable seat, but we’ll also assign a serving boy to you, who will run to our concession stand or to the Vallero whenever you want for the whole night. Yes, we said a serving boy. Couches must be purchased via paypal:

Keep reading for the schedule!
(more…)

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Howdy,

I’ve taken over the mainstage directorship for the time being from the stout and able bodied Dave Buckman. I thought I’d go ahead and keep you guys in the loop about the new show we have in development (set to debut October 1st). We don’t have a name yet, so we’re calling it Sketch Lab 3.0.

We’re still very early in the writing process, which means we’re throwing up new stuff every single Friday and seeing what sticks. One of my goals as director this time out is to see how much new material we can produce in the two months we have to write, so we can cherry pick the strongest stuff.

Last night, on a lark, I threw in some one line pitches into the improv set. Stuff we hadn’t even really discussed just to see what stuck. I wrote the following phrases on a piece of paper: Key Party, Armless Boss and Florida Esploded! and lo’ comedy gold was born. I was pparticularly pround of Armless Boss, as I literally had no idea what it meant. (hint: it involved a boss).

This week’s mission is to develop some more new material, throw it up and see what sticks. By the way, new doesn’t mean it’s not funny. You should see the stuff we left on the cutting room floor.

JOIN US THIS FRIDAY. $5. What could go wrong?

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