HISTORY
2002 - Labor Day, the first meeting of what would become pH. 23 cast members originally signed on that day: Kelly Badgley, Christian Carranza, Jennifer Burns, Trafton Crandall, Jeff Ford, Jason Geis, Kim Heersche-Hoffman, Lance Hoffman, Jinx Holesha, Randy Hundley, Tony Janning, Kristine Kitts, Jason Larsen, Dave Kallan, Chris Jackson, Steve Pasieka, Micah Philbrook, Mr. Pippen, Jacob Smith, Joey Tilton, Laura Warren, Guy Wicke and Sunni Williams. Of the original 23 there are 8 left.
We realized quickly we would need a few more folks...we held auditions, 45 people signed up for a company that hadn't even performed yet...our first incoming class: Mike Berg, Aaron Caponigro, Ryan Chamberlain, Geoff Grimwood, Laurianne Olbrisch and Carla Wold.
November 14 - first pH show ever...sold out. Micah wins the first ever pHrenzy tropHy.
2003 - pH opens in Bucktown at the Wing & Groove theater for an open run. 4 months later, Wing & Groove loses their space and pH is without a home.
We also had our second class of auditioners, 70 people this time signed up we added: Sean Cusick, Molly Hall, Amber Ruffin, Kevin Sciretta, Robyn Scott, Tim Soszko and Tristan Tanner.
2003 also saw the premiere of our Spotlight Series with Bad Advice, a four person show directed by Jeff Ford and starring Jeff Ford, Jason Geis, Jinx Holesha and Tony Janning. We also got our first HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from the Reader, making us one of only 3 improv groups (at the time) to have that honor (the others being iO and Second City). pH also attended its first festivals: Chicago, Del Close, Toronto and Sketchfest.
We also became a full fledged non-profit organization in 2003. We found our home Stage Left, and premiered our longform show, pHamily to great reviews. We also put up our second Spotlight Show and first sketch effort ever...What's Your Problem Owl?
At the end of 2003 we lost Amber Ruffin to Boom Chicago and brought on our third set of auditioners...again a record 85 people signed up and we took: Tim Baltz, Pamay Bassey, Heath Cordts, Jeremy Evans, Katie Hammond, Heather Kinney, Rebecca Krasny, Brad Norman and Christina Piazza. And most importantly the end of one season of pHrenzy culminated with a tie between Mike Berg and Jason Geis for the 2002-03 championship!
2004 - We were settled into our home at Stage Left and doing shows Thursdays at 11, Fridays and Saturdays at 11 and 12:30AM. Our roster for the weekends was two showings of pHamily at 11, and two showings of pHrenzy at 12:30AM.
We also returned to several festivals in 2004: Chicago and Sketchfest as well as NYC. Our third Spotlight Show: Women On Top was a huge success, received a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, ran for 16 weeks, and then a 4 week run at Donny's Skybox. We had our 4th audition and record 100 people signed up...we took on: Dan Carr, Bill Cochran, Nick Hausman, Jen Malinsky, Matt Malinsky, Tracy Meyer and Kieran Sullivan. Our 4th Spotlight Show, Dollprov, built off the success of our two person show program.
2004 also began our pHarm Team program, where pH would go into local colleges and coach a team that would learn pH's style of improv, with the end goal being to perform on their own and to perform with us. Loyola University was our test school and coaches Jason Geis, Tim Baltz and Jinx Holesha brought the pHarm program to its feet! 2004 ended with Tim Baltz winning the coveted pHrenzy tropHy.
2005 - Another big year for pH...more festivals, we added Columbia University & DePaul University to our pHarm program and most importantly the addition to our Mainstage lineup...pHreedom pHalls. pHreedom was created by the entire cast and would be our most ambitious show to date...an improvised sitcom both in front of the camera and behind it.
An unprecedented 5 Spotlight Shows went up in 2005: Death Show with Death directed by Brad Norman, Picture This! by Robyn Scott, Salty by Kevin Sciretta, Adventure Programme by Micah Philbrook and Women On Top 2 by Jason Geis.
In 2005 we again topped 100 interested people for our company but only took: Christina Anthony, James Beveridge, Aaron Ellsworth, Alex Fox, Marty Gangler, Barry Hite, and Monique Madrid...and halfway through the year we added Anne Murphy to our cast...a Loyola pHarm team student. Most importantly 2005 ended in a tie between Tim Soszko and Jason Geis for the pHrenzy tropHy.
2006 - Our fourth season. 3 Mainstage shows are running consistently... Spotlight has already had 2 showings: the first ever pH Holiday Show and a brand new sketch show Sick/Personal Day, which was met with great reviews and enjoyed a 4 week run at Donny's Skybox. We are going back to Toronto this year and we premiered at Sketchfest with a brand new show directed by Tracy Meyer.
We added our 6th group of people: Kayce Alltop, Frankie Cusimano, Alaina Hoffman, Keith Krause, Matt Mages, Alex Sanborn and Ali Weiss.
Toward the end of 2006 we added another Spotlight Show: shupHle, and it was one of our most successful to date. We also embarked on our first ever Primetime run, doing a six week run doing shows on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 8PM. During this exciting run we re-visited some of our favorite shows: Sick/Personal Day, Bad Advice, Women On Top, Dollprov, Attencion, and The Death Show with Death. We also had very special guests join us on stage for the first time people like: Joe Bill, Rene Duquesnoy, Don Hall, Lori McClain, Kat Gotsick, Carrie Barrett, Matt Barbera and Tim O'Malley as well as rock band Your Little Ponies. We explored new versions of pHrenzy shows: Battle of the Sexes, College Battle, Live Music pHrenzy and Battle of the Comedy Theaters, as well as a WWE style show. We also introduced our newest version of pHrenzy...pHrenzy pHucked, a dirtier, more adult version of pHrenzy.
They year ended with a bang and pH having one of its most successful years. Micah Philbrook was crowned the 2006 pHrenzy champ.
2007 - The big fifth anniversary season! pH had made it five years and things just kept getting better. pH decided to expand in a big way and split the cast into two ensembles...Company and Repertory. This new method would allow us to hire more young talent and teach them the pH style while giving them stage time...it ensured that we wouldn't miss out on any rising stars. We also added yet another new show to the repertoire...pHamily the Musical. With the help of legendary Music Director, Mike Descoteaux (Second City, Baby Wants Candy, Jazz Hands) we took our already popular longform show and turned it into a fully improvised musical production.
We also had our biggest festival year ever being invited to Miami, Chicago, Twin Cities, Providence, Austin, Milwaukee, Toronto and New York City as well as the Chicago Sketchfest. This was our 4th year at Toronto, Chicago Sketchfest and Chicago Improv Festival - where we hosted the Chicago Showcase stage.
We also saw record audience numbers with our audience increasing by 15%. We hosted several sold out event shows like pHrenz-o-Ween, pHrenzy Bowl III, pHrenzy pHormal and our Battle of the pHarm Teams (where our college students battled to win a run). In addition, our Spotlight run produced some great new work, including a run from our Columbia College team and two hilarious and well reviewed sketch shows - Jerkology and Sex, Cubs and Rock n' Roll. We also took on the lost books of the Bible with our controversial improv show, The Apocryphal Wonder Years.
We also moved to one audition a year, where over 100 people came out to audition for pH. Due to the restructuring of the company we were able to take on a record number of new cast members: Mike Descoteaux came on full time as our Music Director and Nick Johne (Second City Mainstage Toronto) joined our feature rep ensemble. We were happy to add 5 new members to the Company: Melissa Cathcart, Clayton Duba, Cameron Esposito, Meg O'Rourke and Robert Reid...and a record 14 members to our Repertory: Sally Anderson, Jeff Behrends, Aidy Bryant, Cynthia Castiglione, Jon Clinkenbeard, Kate Cohen, Chris Edwards, Dennis Frymire, Aggie Hewitt, Vinnie Lacey, Wes Perry, Adal Rifai, Jeremy Schaefer and Bryce Wissel.
2008 promises to be an exciting year - more new shows, more travelling and big plans! Stay tuned!