Pink Ladies part of the Awesome Improv Festival, Roxbury, 16 Jun 2011

Linda Calgaro and Karina Francis.
Photograph Dennis Mitchell,
Menace Photography 2010 

Yes!!
You can see the Pink Ladies doing a version of their mockumentary upstairs at the Roxbury, 182 St John's Road, Glebe, 2037, on June 16th, 2011.
It's part of an improvisation festival running every Tuesday and Thursday in June.
Come see us!!
Cast includes: Linette Voller, Cindy Tonkin, Sophie Long, Jess Mallett, Karina Francis, Lucie Booker, Linda Calgaro,

Pink Ladies are go!



Back stage at the Pink Ladies 27 September 2010.
Cloockwise from left: Linette Voller,
Lucie Booker, Karina Francis, Sophie Long, Linda Calgaro, Erin Foy,
Cindy Tonkin, Karena Thomas



So Pink Ladies first season has come to an end.

Behind every successful woman there is sometimes a huge number of people to thank.

When all was said and done, we sent $1189 to the Breast Cancer Network and had an enormous amount of fun doing it.

And we need to thank these people who donated money directly to the BCNA because of our show:

Mario Seifreid

Lisa Every

Anne Grunseit

Rod Matthews

John Bastianon
and the 105 people who paid to see the show (we don't know all of your names, but we love you!).

And the behind the scenes people who made the production work.

John Barnier and Jon Williams and the IA Committee at Impro Australia, who donated the cost of our show's insurance, and their cut of the Roxbury Late Show door.

Jason Dunn, Jim Fishwick and Glen Bell who did our lights.

Matt Pilkington who did the door for us during the Late Show.

Our mothers and mothers everywhere, who gave us so much material for our show. We're hatching a plan for a mothers' day show in 2011, so watch this space.

What's the show about?

What are Pink Ladies' shows about? It's always hard to say, because we treat the themes that emerge from our brains as we play.

Michael Chabon's afterword from Gentlemen of the Road, defines the themes of other stories he had written prior:

"disappointment, misfortune, loss, hard enlightenment, moments of bleak grace. Divorce; death; illness; violence, random and domestic; divorce; bad faith; deception and self-deception; love and hate between fathers and sons, men and women, friends and lovers; the transience of beauty and desire; divorce - I guess that just about covers it. Story, more or less, of my life".

And a lot of what Pink Ladies cover in our shows are like that:

In the preview at Full Body Contact No Love Tennis and our four Sydney Fringe shows we have treated themes like:

• aging, senility, body image, delusion
• loyalty, celebrity, stalking and fading fame
• ambition, dreams and entrepreneurialism
• turkey basters
• schadenfruede (pleasure at the misfortunes of others)
• how our mothers make us (or not)
• who is God? How do you become a god? Do the gods play poker
• what lengths will you go to in order to please a mother
• organ harvesting
• when sleeping with your friends' future husband is OK (or not)
• the importance of mothering
• divorce and getting on with it

So what are our shows about? We don't know now, but we will know when it happens, and you'll be there to see it happen.

Here's what one audience member said:

"I really enjoyed the sensation of a new story unfolding right in front of me".

Photo: Linette Voller, Erin Foy, Jess Mallett, Sophie Long, Louise McManus - who's sleeping with Rick? Photographer Michelle Ho

So you want to see someone specific? When they're playing

So perhaps you want to see someone special, someone specific, play in Pink Ladies.

Here is a list of who is playing when, so you can cross-reference it with your diary and do good while having a great time seeing your favourite improvisers:

Lucie Booker: 18/09, 26/09, 1/10, 15/10, 22/10, 29/10
Linda Calgaro: 16/09, 25/09, 26/09, 1/10, 15/10
Erin Foy: 16/09, 25/09, 26/09, 8/10, 22/10, 29/10
Karina Francis: 16/09, 15/10, 29/10, 25/09, 26/09, 22/10
Sophie Long: 16/09, 18/09, 25/09, 26/09, 1/10, 22/10, 29/10
Louise McManus: 16/09, 18/09, 1/10, 8/10, 15/10, 29/10
Jess Mallett: 16/09, 25/09, 8/10, 15/10, 22/10
Chloe Paul: 25/9, 8/10, 15/10, 22/10
Jane Simmons: 1/10, 8/10, 15/10
Karena Thomas: 25/09, 26/09, 1/10, 8/10, 22/10, 29/10
Cindy Tonkin: 18/09, 1/10, 29/10
Linette Voller: 16/09, 18/09, 26/09, 8/10, 22/10

Click on the Cast page to get info about each of these daring women!

photo: Erin Foy gets tough!

More video: Pink Ladies and a creepy doctor...

More video from Improvactually. A sample of what you could see at the Pink Ladies' shows in the Sydney Fringe in September 2010.


Starring Sophie Long as the Creepy Doctor, Linda Calgaro as the Patient patient, and Jess Mallett as the 2nd patient. Music by Anne Maree Wilshire. Filmed in April 2010 by Susan Brown at the Roxbury Hotel in Glebe, NSW, Australia

Our First show: the cast

Our first show is at the Sydney Fringe on Thursday 16th September at 8pm at St Luke's Church Hall, 11 Stanmore Road, Enmore.

The cast for the night are:

• Erin Foy
• Jess Mallett
• Karina Francis
• Linda Calgaro
• Linette Voller
• Louise McManus
• Sophie Long.

We are pumped and full of energy and ideas for this debut night!


photo: another promo image: from left to right Chloe Paul, Louise McManus, Karina Francis, Erin Foy, Karena Thomas

The Bechdel Test - can we pass it?

One of the interesting conundrums we face with our show is creating scenes with all-women.

Women make it up - from left Jess Mallett, Linda Calgaro,
Jane Simmons, Karina Francis, Sophie Long.

With all women characters in our Pink Ladies show, we knew that women could play any profession (from architect to dentist to construction worker to policewoman to prime minister...), and found that when we played men (for love interests, for example), we would often refer to the male characters as "she" later in the show. 


We tried playing only women, since the gender of the character wasn't sticking. But this was avoiding what we thought were 2 problems: Firstly that our male characters were not manly enough (!) or that we were talking about previous scenes rather than creating new ones.


The problem of the "he/she" referring to characters disappears if we talk to each other about something besides the man (or about something that's IN the scene we're playing, rather than talking about a scene we've already seen!).


Which fits with the Bechdel test. Alison Bechdel laid down three criteria for movies she wanted to see:

1. It has to have at least two (named) women in it

2. Who talk to each other

3. About something besides a man.

It's a discussion for another day whether this is a worthy way to evaluate a show or a movie. In our improvisation practice we've noticed that when the women in a scene talk about how they feel, the narrative can move forward. When they are purely advancing the narrative by giving information, then it can stagnate (or move forward, but who cares?).

So come see our Fringe shows in September or our Roxbury shows in October 2010 and judge for yourself. Do we pass the Bechdel test?   

p.s. it's actually quite surprising how few films and television shows pass the Bechdel test. You can read which ones do pass (or pass some of the criteria) at the site!

Linda Calgaro - she will rocktapus you!

Linda Calgaro has a reputation as a character player. Accents, faces and of course a memorable singing voice. Her a capella rock comedy band, Rocktapus is performing at the Sydney Fringe, and we are honoured with her presence in our cast.

What's your all time favourite improvised scene that you were in? Why?

It happened during rehearsals for Tabloid Musical. Geoff Wallis, our director, encouraged the performers to explore dark characters and stories, so somehow I had to sing a song as a baby murdering nurse. I can’t remember what I sang, but I remember singing while smothering an imaginary baby with a pillow. I know - it was creepy, but discovering that I could play unlikeable, serious characters and make them watchable was amazing and actually fun! If you commit to a character, audiences are drawn in. John Knowles still won’t let me babysit his kids. Mwah-hah-ha-ha…

What's your all time favourite you witnessed but weren't in, and why?

I remember seeing Rik Brown from Impro Melbourne once do a Shakespearian monologue as a garbage collector. I love Shakespeare, so to watch someone make it up, use the language effortlessly, make the character loveable and funny, as well as tell a brilliant story, frankly, makes me want to give up and buy a Cookie Man franchise. But I soldier on.

Why do you love improvising?

Improv is Zen. You have to relinquish your own ego at every moment whilst improvising - this thing is bigger than you. I live to create emotional connections not only between characters, but especially with an audience. If I can move an audience in any way, then it’s been a good gig.

What's your favourite colour (after pink)?

It’s a tie between red and dark purple.

What's your favourite fruit and why?

Cherries are a seriously sexy fruit.

What's your porn name? (first pet + first street you ever lived in)

Puppy Flood

What's your ambition for pink ladies?

To bend people’s perception of Improv - to be strong and brilliant, feminine and funny.

Favourite word?

Love.

Picture: Sophie Long comforts Linda Calgaro (in purple... because it seems to be the Pink Ladies' favourite colour after Pink!).

Sophie is allergic to Purple

Sophie Long is a hot property in up and coming improvisers right now. She's currently in Vampire Theatresports, plays regularly with Scared Scriptless and with Panda Smackdown. That's Sophie on the left in the photo below, comforting Linda Calgaro's sad character. Since she's allergic to purple, she had a strong dose of antihistamines straight after this scene. Here's some more on Sophie.


What’s your all time favourite improvised scene that you were in? Why?

Probably my favourite was the first ballet I did, it was a very early scene I did and I was playing with Gary, one of my all time favourite scene partners.  I turned into a goat for some reason. We got a 5 5 5 [3 judges score out of a possible 5 points each] and it was the first time I thought “Oh I might be able to do this”.' It was also a way for me to crowbar my love of dance into a stage performance.

What’s your all time favourite you weren’t in, and why?

That's a hard one, probably one of the first scenes I ever saw at the Late Show featuring the wonderful Louise McManus. She was a morgue attendant. It was hysterical yet very truthful, no gags, amazing mime. It was one of the first scenes I had seen with such a great female performer and it inspired me to give it a go. Sorry if I have embarrassed Louise with that!

Why do you love improvising?

I love being in the moment and the trust and intimacy developed with the other players and the audience. When I am on stage I can let go of all the worries and stress and just react to what is happening. With scripted acting it is a lot harder to get out of my own head. Also with improv you get to be whatever character you want, including men, animals and inanimate objects. We never get to be that silly in real life.

What’s your favourite colour (after pink)?

I finally have one, I could never answer that question. It is teal. I tried to wear purple recently after a ten year ban and I got a rash. I am allergic to purple. 

What’s your favourite fruit and why?

Mango. The question is why that would NOT be anyone's favourite. 

What’s your porn name? (first pet + first street you ever lived in)

I write under that pseudonym so it must remain private. Sorry.

What’s your ambition for pink ladies?

To have fun and give audiences a fun experience. And to raise money.  

Favourite word?

Expletive deleted.  

We have cast!

Today the Pink Ladies Rehearsal was dedicated to getting some photos for our posters!
We got our name from the fact that the Breast Cancer Network Australia uses pink ladies as their logo, and that's where all profits from our show will go.
And it just so happens that the Pink Ladies was the name of the bad girls' gang in Grease. So we themed it up a little. We are very fortunate that Karina Francis, one of cast, drives a golden Charger. We got in it, lounged on it, played with the doors and even burst out of it. The outputs were many, and we hope to have our poster complete and therefore begin our online promotions by the end of this week.

Next blog post I'll talk about the challenges and rewards of "rehearsing" and improvised show!


Photos on this page: At top, 3 "mean" girls: Karina Francis, Louise McManus, Chloe Paul.
At left: Chloe Paul, Louise McManus, Karina Francis, Erin Foy, Karena Thomas

Pink Ladies - Women Make it up

Rehearsals and auditions for the first season of Pink Ladies - Women make it up are underway.
Cutting the improvising community down to just women has created some interesting dynamics and we are all very excited!


So far we have reinvented a format pilfered from New York's Upright Citizens' Brigade, and updated it for our own purposes.
The idea is that we improvise a documentary for you every night. So far we have in rehearsal created A Day in the life of Glebe Markets, a documentary on Pride (and how it goeth before the inevitable fall), and Polka Dots.
While rehearsing for an improvised show is somewhat of a mystery to the non-improvising world, essentially what we aim to do is build trust with each other, create a group mind. While there are a considerable number of women who improvise, it's rare for them all to be on a stage together!
But it will happen in September and October 2010.

Photos in this posting: Linette Voller and Cindy Tonkin arm wrestling; a group scene: Karina Francis, Sophie Long, Jane Simmons and Jess Mallett; Linette Voller conducts.
Photos Sus Brown.