Fresh from their triumphant, sold-out shows in Oslo, Norway, 3 FOR ALL returns to work their magic on the Throckmorton stage!
Rafe Chase, Stephen Kearin & Tim Orr – San Francisco’s hottest, critically acclaimed improv trio – creates a unique blend of intensely funny, and sometimes dramatic, completely improvised scenes and an improvised movie based on audience suggestions. It’s improv so good, you’ll swear it’s been scripted. “San Francisco’s finest long-form improv troupe…single-handedly restored my faith in improv comedy. DON’T MISS!” –Time Out New York. “KILLER!” –SF Weekly
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In the summer of 1996, San Francisco improvisers RAFE CHASE, STEPHEN KEARIN and TIM ORR, who had first met in the late 80’s through the celebrated improv company Bay Area Theatresports, formed a small ensemble to pursue a distinctive brand of high-stakes improv. 3 FOR ALL performed for the first time as a group, 20 years ago at Venue 9, a small theatre in San Francisco. Since then, they have rocked improv stages all over the world.
3 FOR ALL is driven by the artistic principle that the work takes place “on a stage with no rules.”
In their performances, the improvisers hit the stage with no script, no preconceptions and no safety net. The three actors, along with the musical and lighting improvisers, work together to tell both short and full-length stories of all genres. Nothing is rehearsed, nothing discussed before or during shows, nothing held over or re-worked in future shows. Nothing but improv.
3 FOR ALL routinely plays to sold-out houses and rave audience reviews in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have enjoyed equal success in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Austin, Atlanta, Amsterdam and, most recently, Norway. They have worked together on two improvised feature films, Suckerfish and Security, and a completely improvised, unedited comedy CD.
The first half of their performance will consist of improvised short scenes which may or may not be related, and which may or may not be based on audience suggestions. The second half will feature a single full-length improvised story based on an audience suggestion.
DON’T MISS!” –Time Out New York. “KILLER!” –SF Weekly
Musical Improvisation by Win Meyerson
Lighting Improvisation by Glen Eastman
3 FOR ALL PERFORMER BIOS
The SF Weekly describes RAFE CHASE as “one of the most celebrated figures on the San Francisco improv scene today.” In 1978, after only three months of classes, Rafe began improvising professionally with Flash Family at the Old Spaghetti Factory in North Beach. He left three years later to create the group Riot Squad, which performed both improv and sketch comedy. He joined BATS Improv in 1987 and in 1988 became a member of Pulp Playhouse, which improvised stories in the style of the pulp magazines of the 30’s and 40’s. In 1989 he formed Improv Theater, which performed for several seasons at the ACT Playroom. With Rafe as the artistic director, the group would pioneer the exploration and performance of long-form improv. He was a member of True Fiction Magazine for five years and is still a frequent guest with the group. Rafe served as artistic director of BATS Improv and has created several formats, including Split Decision and Double FeatureTM. He has taught improv for various institutions, including Stanford University, ACT, DreamWorks and Google, as well as teaching ongoing private classes and Master Sessions for advanced students.
STEPHEN KEARIN is a founding member of 3 FOR ALL. He began improvising in 1986 and was a founding member of both Improv Theater and True Fiction Magazine. He performed with Bay Area Theatresports for 14 years. Stephen is currently a member of the critically acclaimed Impro Theatre in Los Angeles. He has appeared in numerous stage productions, including the stilt-walking Iago in San Francisco Opera’s Otello, as Sally-Sue Weber in A Weber Family Christmas and he originated the role of Blaine Bustier in An Evening With Dirk & Blaine. Stephen is the co-creator of “Simlish” and was the principal male voice of The Sims, Sims 2.0 and Sims Medieval. He created the Martian languages for Disney’s Mars Needs Moms. He is featured in the DreamWorks Animation films Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3, Madagascar 2 & 3, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Megamind and the Penguins of Madagascar and Home. He appears as the terrifying ‘Principal Mitchell’ on the Disney XD TV series Kirby Buckets. He stars in The Bunglers, winner of Best Comedic Short at the 2012 Manhattan Film Festival. His autobiographical solo performance, Stephen Kearin – Inside Out was met with rave reviews in Mill Valley, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Stephen was nominated for an Ovation Award for Western UnScripted (Impro Theatre). He has been a visiting instructor at Stanford University and Cirque Du Soleil.
TIM ORR has improvised since 1988 with many San Francisco-based groups, including BATS Improv, Rafe Chase’s groundbreaking long-form troupe Improv Theater, the renowned True Fiction Magazine, and with the acclaimed troupe 3 FOR ALL. In 2009, he founded a new improv group, Improv Playhouse of San Francisco, performing monthly in 2014 at StageWerx theatre in San Francisco, and appearing in Spring 2015 as part of Walnut Creek’s Center Rep season. He has appeared in numerous plays in the San Francisco Bay Area, and received critical acclaim for his leading roles in the improvised feature films, Suckerfish and Security. With Stephen Kearin, Tim co-wrote and originated the role of Dirk Manly in, An Evening with Dirk & Blaine. Tim has performed and taught improvisation at the American Conservatory Theatre, BATS Improv, Stanford University, and many other venues nationally (Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Austin, Louisville, Atlanta, etc.) and internationally (Amsterdam, Beirut, Belgium, Hamburg, Helsinki, London, Paris, Saudi Arabia, Stockholm, Norway and Tel Aviv).
MUSICAL IMPROVISER, WIN MEYERSON has improvised music for theater including Second City, BATS Improv, ImprovOlympic, and the Groundlings. He has performed improvisation on TV, including Random Acts of Comedy (FOX) and Whose Line is it Anyway (musician at the end of the British version).
LIGHTING IMPROVISER, GLEN EASTMAN’s background is in film and broadcasting. He was an Executive Producer at AT&T for 26 years in charge of media production and staging for large-scale events. His current focus is in theatre, producing 3 FOR ALL, Movie-Mega Superstars Dirk Manly & Blaine Bustier and co-executive producing Stephen Kearin’s solo performance, Stephen Kearin – Inside Out.
