Israeli Improvisation Championship 2013

Rowdy, raunchy and boisterous, the Israeli Improvisation Championship at Tzavta was one of the noisiest and friendliest competitions ever! Amid the hubbub of laughter, hugs and shouting (Goodman theatre students, yes, I mean you!) cool host Amitai Yaish sent free chasers and franks out to audience members as rewards for creativity, while the contestants flaunted their spontaneity onstage.

I caught up with the competition for the final round, with the two finalists in each category (amateurs, students & professionals) taking the stage together to strut their stuff before a panel of judges (Tzavta Director Moshe Tene, Rivi Feldmesser Yaron – Director of Stage Center, Actor Dov Reiser and major league Improv teacher Rod Ben Zeev) and an appreciative audience, whose applause, exclamations, and screams of ecstasy would be measured by a decibel meter and tallied up to determine the winners.

The challenges set before the intrepid improvisers will be familiar to drama students: improvise a scene while speaking in rhyme, or switching roles between 3 different plot lines, working with restrictions such as allowing each team member a limited number of words to speak in each line. Host Amitai invited the audience to collaborate with their suggestions of themes, characters, locations and other elements of the scene, receiving in return the aforementioned rewards for their best efforts. My personal favorite was the suggestion of The Cave of the Patriarchs (Ma’arat Hamachpela) as a “romantic location.” Only in Israel…

I like to be surprised in the theatre, and in this case, the amateur teams surprised me the most. In any art, there is a delicate balance between technique and that which for lack of a better word I would call raw talent.  While the acting students had well-honed skills, they often seemed to take the safer route, relying on phrases, gestures and characters that would surely “work.” The amateurs were less polished, and their lines sometimes fell flat, but they also made me want to jump up and cheer.

Some of my favorite moments were with the amateur group that did not win – Lamabati. Skepticism came up in a sketch about a Bar Mitzvah boy, who then asked: “If there is no God, then how does the corn grow?” The inspired answer did not lag in coming, and the skeptical friend launched into a detailed description of mitochondria, ribosomes, photosynthesis and other wonders of nature and science. Later, in a debate between the two teams on the merits of veganism, conducted in translated gibberish, the same actor channeled the character of the Swedish Chef  (many thanks to the pirate in the audience for this reference), considerably increasing the hilarity quotient of my evening.

The winning team in the amateur category were Beit Chechi (a play on the Hebrew word for armpit) – and yes, these guys definitely rocked. Some of their memorable moments were in a gender-bending musical sketch which featured a wife too shy to let her husband see her naked in the tub after 15 years of marriage (what is she hiding down there?) and the ensuing revelations and confusions making for a very funny scene. Their prize will be participation in a master class at Stage Center, conducted by a visiting Canadian Improv Troupe.

The students of the Goodman Acting School of the Negev (yes, the one’s with the loud and lusty team spirit) won in the student category, with team members Avia Dahan, Hila Levi and Roy Gur each receiving a 2,000 NIS scholarship.

The two top teams – last year’s winners Lama Alpaka (Amitay Milo, Ilan Popko, Yahav Gal) and Maka Kala (Yoav Cohen, Nir Barak, Uri Zaltzman)  (roughly translated means a light blow, suggesting hitting someone verbally, but without malicious intent) – were non-stop fun from the moment they took the stage. Their rapport was amazing and just as I was thinking to myself that if I had to select the winner from among these two talented teams I’d be hard-pressed to choose, the announcement came that there was a tie for first place. Without missing a beat, Moshe Tene improvised a joint first prize – a year’s run of performances at Tzavta will be divided between the two troupes with Maka Kala performing from January to June, and Lama Alpaka from June to December. Best of all – once a month, the two troupes will present a joint performance!

The Israeli Improvisation Championships are the welcome initiative of two actors – Daniel Botzer and Elad Cohen, in collaboration with Tzavta, under the wise and outrageously wild baton of artistic director Amitai Yaish. Thanks to all for a fabulously fun evening!