Graphic by Dave Maulbeck
(SUMMIT, NJ) -- Kick off the holiday season with Vivid Stage, at their annual Holidays with the Flip Side show. Traditional holiday stories and characters are turned on their heads by Vivid’s house improv team, The Flip Side, on December 2, 2023 at 8:00pm at the Oakes Center in Summit.
This unpredictable evening is an affordable, enjoyable evening that is packed with laughs from start to finish. It definitely won’t be The Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol, but it will most assuredly spoof them. The Flip Side features Brad Barton, Clark Carmichael, Laura Ekstrand, Noreen Farley, Lulu French, Dave Maulbeck, Scott McGowan, Becca McLarty, David Lee White and Emaline Williams.
Special guests this year will be advanced teen improvisers who are students at Maplewood’s Rocket Improv, led by Lulu French. Rocket Improv is New Jersey’s only performing arts school dedicated solely to the teaching and performance of comedic improvisation, focusing on students from 1st through 12th grade.
Holidays with The Flip Side will appear at the Oakes Center at 120 Morris Avenue in Summit on Saturday, December 2 at 8:00pm Tickets are $28, and $23 for students 25 and younger. For touchless advance ticket purchases, go to https://www.vividstage.org/the-flip-side-improv-vivid. For more information, call 908-514-9654. The Oakes Center is wheelchair accessible.
Based on improv techniques created by The Groundlings, Upright Citizens' Brigade and The Magnet, The Flip Side offers a unique spin on short-form improv, taking audience input to create instant scenes that are both unexpected and hilarious. No two shows are alike, and the most important ingredient in every show is the audience.
Bring your creativity; if you’d like to see Frosty the Snowman on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, discover the inner life of Elf on the Shelf, or witness a blind date between the Abominable Snowman and Elsa from Frozen, you can make that happen.
Vivid Stage was founded in 1994 as Dreamcatcher Rep, and is a non-profit professional ensemble of actors who build community with the audience by sharing contemporary, life-affirming stories that challenge, energize and entertain. Their work has at its heart a belief in the essential goodness of people and the power of live performance to connect people through our shared humanity. They expose theatregoers to ideas and lives like and unlike their own with the intention of awakening their imaginations and creating empathy for others. They deepen the experience of all their patrons with personal contact through receptions, talkbacks, and interactive programs.
The company’s activities include mainstage productions, improvisational comedy and cabarets, new play readings and a variety of educational and senior outreach programs.
Vivid Stage’s programs are funded by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Union County Department of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, and many other corporations, foundations and individuals. Vivid Stage is an Equity Producing member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
Vivid Stage, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) corporation, incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey.
