It’s happening! After a year of fundraising and the incredible generosity of so many in the BATS Community, our new super-snazzy lighting grid is being installed. Right now there’s a lot of infrastructure work being done – there’s a lot…
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Blog Archives
BATS To the Future
Posted in Backstage
Q&A – Off The Stage
“HOW HAS IMPROV AFFECTED YOUR LIFE OFF THE STAGE?” For several years, we’ve had Q&A sessions with our audiences after opening night shows. We get some of the questions you might imagine (“how long have you been improvising?”, “what do you do when you can’t…
Posted in Backstage
Rise of the Empathy Bots
I recently re-read one of my favorite books, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy“. It’s a deliciously funny, absurd, sci-fi romp with speculative technology like the infinite-improbability drive (“a wonderful new method of crossing interstellar distances in a mere nothingth of…
Posted in Backstage
Improvising Dickens
In order to create “Songs for a Sixpence” we had to take a deep dive into the world of Charles Dickens, through the filmed versions of his work, his writing and his history. We looked at the 1968 movie version…
Posted in Backstage, Study Guide
Music for the Fifth Dimension – The Twilight Zone Preshow Playlist
One of the goals for the Twilight Zone show was to transport the audience back to the original time period of the show (1959 – 1964). There have been some attempts to reboot the show (and even a movie version…
Posted in Backstage, Preshow Playlists
The Bechdel Test – Preshow Playlist
Looking for some music by your favorite female music-makers? Check out the music you’ll be listening to before the Bechdel Test, many of which were suggested by BATS fans. Thanks to everyone who suggested these great songs and great artists –…
Posted in Backstage, Preshow Playlists
Twilight Zone – Episode Study Guide
We always get asked what we do to prepare for certain shows. And just because we make it up at show time doesn’t mean we don’t do a lot of homework! In a show like Twilight Zone, we go right…
Posted in Backstage, Study Guide
Passing the Bechdel Test
In August 2016, BATS premiered The Bechdel Test, a completely original improv show that put fully-expressed female characters front and center. The show was performed just twice in 2016, once more at Stanford in Spring of 2017, and BATS held a…
Posted in Backstage
The Masks We Wear
Masks worn in work protect us….our eyes, face and lungs. Masks protect us from harm, and in a way the theatrical mask protects the wearer from judgment. Marks are a part of every culture throughout history. They a part of…
Posted in Backstage
