THE PRESS RELEASE - Jan. 25, 2010:

THE COMEDY ACADEMY FORMED

Expanded Opportunities Offered To Young Comedy Writers and Performers

First Production February 20^th

At The Randolph Road Theatre (formerly The Round House Theatre)

 Pictures are from Comedy Academy Writers' workshops
where material for the Feb. 20, 2010 show was developed

Since 1995, a group of theatre professionals have been offering after school Comedy Club programs for middle and high school students to explore comedy performance techniques and sketch comedy writing.  These programs have resulted in 16 productions and “cabaret” presentations of comedy sketches written for or by the students.  Over a hundred of the groups’ original comedy sketches – including material written by five students – have been published and performed in schools around the world.  Last year, the Comedy Club co-founder Harry M. Bagdasian and the program’s grants administrator, Robbie McEwen, decided it was time to expand the program and they formed The Comedy Academy, Inc. (TCA).  Helping in our founding activities are TCA Board of Directors members Beck Krefting (co-director of Comedy Club programs since 2004), Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Haight and community activist and construction executive, Mark Drury.

Currently, The Comedy Academy (TCA) is sponsoring after school programs at Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School and Northwood High School.  Both offer students opportunities to develop comic performance techniques and to perform original comedy material written by or for the students.  TCA also sponsors a comedy writers’ workshop for selected members of the current Comedy Club programs.

LAUGHING MATTERS, a ninety-minute comedy revue written and performed by students from Comedy Academy-sponsored programs will be offered February 20^th as a benefit to support TCA’s programs in the schools.  The presentation begins at 7:30 PM on Saturday, February 20, 2010 at The Randolph Road Theatre (formerly The Round House Theatre) 4010 Randolph Road, Silver Spring, MD.  Tickets are $10.00 for adults and $6.00 for students.  Reservations are recommended.  For tickets, contact TCA by phoning 301-681-5212 or emailing comedyacademy@yahoo.com.

The February 20^th Comedy Academy production will include eighteen comedy sketches and four satirical songs including. “America’s Next To (boy) Model” and others by Leah and Rachel Solomon, as well as sketches written by Josh Rosen, Sara Mozersky, Matthias Kelderman, Liam Brennan, Conor Brennan and Harry M. Bagdasian.  The writers’ sketches lampoon the media (the Brennans’ “Fear News Network”), the school environment (Mozersky’s “The School Safety Hot Line”) television (Bagdasian’s “Burn(out) Notice” and “Can You Whine Like A Fifth Grader?,”) Rosen’s “KGB Fried Chicken” and “Nancy Jew and The Hardy Goys,”and Kelderman’s “Lancaster Valley, an Amish Soap Opera”).  In addition to his “Catholic School Dance” (a very popular song included in last year’s show at Northwood High School) Josh Rosen will perform three new satirical numbers including “The Swine Flu Polka,” “My Invisible Friend Isn’t Talking to Me Anymore” and “The SAT Song.”

Included in the cast will be at least two dozen current participants in Comedy Academy-sponsored programs at Lee Middle School and Northwood High School as well as veterans of the Comedy Club programs who now are at Montgomery College, Blair, Einstein and Springbrook High Schools.  Performers include Conor Brennan, Liam Brennan, Mia Bullock, Malika Cherifi, Anne Chernikoff, Miriam Finley, Jeffrrey Hacker, Matthias Kelderman, Kady Kilmer, John Kilmer, Beck Krefting, Julie Moser, Sara Mozersky, Jeffrey Rosen, Josh Rosen, Christine Scullen, Leah Solomon, James Syverson, Karen Tobon, AJ Walderhaug, Peter Walderhaug and others.

The Comedy Academy’s 2009-2010 activities are supported by the Under 21 Fund of The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services.  In support of their anti-alcohol and drug abuse messageds, TCA writers have created theme-specific comi sketches that deliver anti-smoking and anti-drug use messages to teens.  Two of these sketches will premiere in LAUGHING MATTERS (local laughs) on February 20^th.

THE COMEDY ACADEMY, INC.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Comedy Academy strives to help young, budding comedy writers and performers use comedy to explore contemporary issues relevant to their lives.  Through writing and performance workshops, teens are encouraged to think outside their own perceptions and viewpoints and are given a constructive outlet to express their joys, fears and frustrations through comedy material inspired and written by them.

During the past 14 years, our “comedy club” programs have involved more than 500 middle and high school students in the downcounty area of Montgomery County, Maryland.  Our mission is threefold: to enhance young people’s creativity, to enrich their academics, and to teach critical values and skills.  The Comedy Academy advances educational goals in the areas of creative writing and self-expression, literacy, communication, and public speaking.  And through both the individual accomplishment and the teamwork that this program encourages, its young participants expand their core values, life skills, positive self-concept, healthy decision-making skills, respect for diversity, and sense of community thus helping prepare these teenagers to become contributing members in society. 

The most unique aspect of the Comedy Academy is the worldwide accessibility of our comedy scripts.  They have been published and distributed by Contemporary Drama Services (a division of Meriwether Publishing Ltd.) thus making this original comedy material available to schools and youth groups around the world.  Since the first publication in 1996, more than 42,500 books have been sold.  To date, CDS has leased the rights to Comedy Academy material to over 3,500 schools and youth groups in every state in the U.S., throughout Canada, and in such distant places as Australia, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.  That these humorous sketches and short plays, written by local teens about contemporary issues in their lives, can translate across cultural boundaries and national borders speaks to the universality of the coming-of-age years in many regions and countries.

Beginning in 2010, The Comedy Academy will host a variety of public performances by an acting company made up of current and veteran members of its school comedy club programs.  These productions will include comedy sketches and short plays written by and for these students.

LAUGHING MATTERS

February 20, 2010  -  7:30 PM

An Evening of Comedy Sketches To benefit The Comedy Academy, Inc.

The Randolph Road Theatre - 4010 Randolph Road, Silver Spring, MD 20902.

Tickets $10.00 for adults, $6.00 Students – information at 301-681-5212

"THREE FRIES SHORT OF A HAPPY MEAL"
total comedy live, totally
(A Comedy Cabaret)

April 22 & 23, 2010  -  7:00 PM

Northwood High School – 919 University Blvd. West, Silver Spring, MD 20901

Tickets 301-681-5212

“The Basement Tapes”

videos of some of our students’ work are available on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hbagdasian&search_type=&aq=f

For more information

go to: www.ourlaughingmatters.com

or contact Harry M. Bagdasian at hbagdasian@aol.com