It’s been one year since we changed our name from Bearded Men Improv to The Bearded Company. What a year it’s been for us as we keep pushing forward.
The Bearded Bus – Because it’s a bus and we own it.
One of our biggest goals (maybe not known by everyone) has been to get out of debt, most of which we incurred on our Bearded Nation tour, in VERY large part due to our bus breaking down many, many, many, many times. We still, unfortunately, own the bus and have, up to this point, been unsuccessful in selling it, but it still carries some of our favorite stories. Due to pride or sheer stubbornness, we decided to get out of this debt on our own without asking for money or crowdfunding. This has caused friction but has also made us work harder to get paying gigs, sell merch, put up more workshops and we are finally almost to the finish line.
For the fun stuff from the past year, the Beards in LA have put up a whole slew of shows including, LOST FICTION, An Undead Pledge, a cursed SWORDS & SORCERY musical and a brand new and popular horror western, Brimstone. As for the Minneapolis Beards, we celebrated the final season of our popular serialized show, Bearded Manor, went back for the second year in a row to the Minnesota Fringe Festival with SWORDS & SORCERY, winning an artist choice award, completing the second season of, The Good, the Bad and the Bearded and rounding it out with a run of our new show, CHRONICLES. There were some workshops and festivals in there as well to make sure we don’t get too comfortable.
Art by Aaron Harvey
When we announced the name change, we took the charge to do more collaborations with groups and artists. Both groups have been working hard to include outside performers in many of our shows, this has included Brimstone, SWORDS & SORCERY, An Undead Pledge, LOST FICTION as well as in our performances at the Cincinnati Improv Festival. Beyond those shows, we also worked on a sketch collaboration, Out of Our Element, with the female-driven, Smartmouth Comedy Company as well as collaboration show, And Then There Were Beards: A Murder Mystery with Choral Underscore with MPLS (imPulse) Choral Group. All of this has had us riding high. These are just a small part of our overall plans, but we have had such a great time developing our programming and collaborations further.
In Minneapolis, we recently held auditions for a show that will feature an all-new cast and will be produced and directed by us. The show, Epic Adventures, premieres Friday, March 1st in the regular 10:30 PM Bearded timeslot at HUGE and runs through April. New genres and new adventures every week. The show is really coming together and we truly cannot wait. The cast is stellar.
A quick aside about our home theaters.
For the Beards in LA, Impro Theatre has been such a haven. The community supports us and each other so well and the fact that Impro trusts us and our goals really says a lot about what is happening there…which is a ton. The Impro Studio has so many fantastic shows by such talented groups and performers. We have been fortunate enough to be able to include many of those performers in our shows.
For the Beards in Minneapolis, we truly cannot thank HUGE Theater enough, ever. Without HUGE, quite literally neither group would be where we are today. HUGE recently celebrated its 8th anniversary and for the first time, we couldn’t be there, because we were performing elsewhere. We would not have had that gig if not for our shows at HUGE. After performing at coffee shops, bars, and warehouses, they took a chance on us in a late-night slot on Saturdays. We’ve never been the same since then. Just like Impro, HUGE trusts us and supports our goals. We are extremely fortunate and owe them a lot.
I write this as I get ready to go to Los Angeles for something of a “Bearded Retreat” and I can’t wait. This group is very much family and fulfills me in a way nothing else does.
The Bearded Company is supported by so many people around us. You are what keep us moving forward. We tell stories for you because it’s just more interesting than telling them for us.
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Joe and The Beards
