‘Rare Bird Show’ storms the streets of Philadelphia

CHRISTINE ERNEST ASST A&EEDITOR CME722@CABRINI

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When people hear improv the first thing that comes to mind is television shows like “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Even though that show is immensely popular, there is a whole entire underground world of improv, even in Philadelphia.

Take Matt Holmes for example; he graduated from Cabrini College in 2002 and is a leader in the phenomenon of long-form improv that is sweeping the City of Brotherly Love.

“I had never really done anything with it [improv], other than watching on TVuntil I went to Cabrini,” Holmes said.

While a student at Cabrini, he was a part of the short-form improv group known as “On the Spot.” He worked his way up to being captain of the group.

“I think that learning shortform first really helped me when I got into long-form. It’s sort of like learning to drive a stick before driving an automatic,”

Holmes said.

Holmes said that when he went to Cabrini, the improv group was basically student run. Holmes said that this proved to be beneficial when he decided to start his own improv group.

“We went to Skidmore, where I first saw long-form, and one of the other colleges there was Haverford College (also on the Main Line), and through checking out Haverford shows I met my future partners, who had been running a long-form group there,” Holmes said.

There are two forms of improv: long-form improv and short-form improv. The easiest way to distinguish between the two is that long-form improv depends on one suggestion from the audience, and short-form improv is dictated by many suggestions from the audience.

“In terms of long-form vs. short-form, I think that they’re really just categorizations and what’s important is good characters in good scenes, and that’s something that I was fortunate enough to learn early on at Cabri- ni,” Holmes said.

Since The Rare Bird Show’s creation, the group that performed upon many a stage as well as taking part of The Fringe Festival and the Del Close Marathon at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade in New York City.

“While performing in the Del Close Marathon, I got a chance to see some great groups from all over the country and see and meet members of SNLand Mad TV.”

There will be a free long-form improv show performed by Holmes’group, The Rare Bird Show, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It will be on Sunday, Feb. 13 at 7:30PM at The Rotunda, which is located on 4013 Walnut Street. Two other long-form improv groups, The Cabal and the Lunchlady Doris, will also be performing with The Rare Bird Show.

If anyone is interested in learning more about long-form improv or about the Rare Bird Show go to their website at www.therarebirdshow.com

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