Paramount Center for the Arts and GREAT Theatre Win Bid To Host Sketches of Minnesota Improv Comedy Event

(KNSI) – A collaboration between the Minnesota Humanities Center and Danger Boat Productions has selected the St. Cloud area to be one of seven stops in the Sketches of Minnesota series.

It’s described as a traveling civic-improv comedy tour. GREAT Theatre and the Paramount Center for the Arts actively applied to host the local event, which will take place on Thursday, July 25th.

Anyone interested in being included on the invitation list should email Aimee Miron at Amiron@paramountarts.org or call her at 320-257-3127. The performances rely on audience participation. The event begins with a meal so that members of the improv troupe from Danger Boat Productions can ask questions about the community.

They take the information on what people like best about St. Cloud and Waite Park, what the future could look like, where people from out of town get it wrong, and the divisions in the community that are most concerning to create an ad-libbed skit.

Danger Boat co-founder Tane Danger says, “Each show will both help tell a story of a place and reflect back for that community real conversations that are happening in that town.”

Executive Director of Paramount Center for the Arts Gretchen Boulka says the show has a deeper meaning than most. “By sharing resources and connections, the Paramount and GREAT are able to collaborate on this important project that will open doors for conversation and understanding. We are honored to have been chosen as one of seven cities for this program and look forward to learning and growing through the process.”

The troupe’s sketch writer will listen to what works best in the improv skit and then turn it into a script used on the final show, weaving together all seven locations in the tour. The rehearsed show will showcase what each community feels makes their corner of Minnesota feel like home.

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