Amy's Last Show

WELL HELLO THERE!


It's been a while, has it not? Well, if you don't frequent this too often, yes, it has been a while since out last post. As odd as it may sound, we are actually a student-run group at that good ol' university of illinois...soooooooo


we had finals




ew.




but all that aside, I am sure you have all read Amy's beautiful, heartfelt goodbye post earlier this month*coughREADIFYOUHAVENTcough* excuse me, well, this post here features Amy's final show with DeBono, and as much as we hate to say goodbye to one of our most senior members of the team, we couldn't have had a more cooky, more fun final show. :)


but, before i unveil the goods lemme walk you through some pictures


 like an old granny would of her grandchildren


or your best friend would after their vacation. 


BUT TRUST ME


you'll actually LIKE looking at these photos :)

And now, without further ado....our final show of the year, semester and with the Great Amy Leahy! :)

Host - Michael Gaschler

Beatbox conductor - Jordan Lange

BEATBOX - suggestion: sunglasses

FREEEEEEZE - suggestion: zombies

THE DeBono MUSICAL - suggestion: evil lair

THANK YOU ALL!


Oh, and thanks to santa, we've raised some money for a spankin' new CAMERA!!! woo! so hopefully our videos will be a touch better. 


have a dandy new year! celebrate it right and tell your friends about DeBono! :)


Cheers!

A Fond Farewell

                                                                                    Hey there.

I'm Amy. Tonight was my last practice with DeBono. Tomorrow will be my last show.
When I was a wee freshman, I had the pleasure of running into Paul Casperson at the DeBono table right after I had signed up for an audition for an A Capella choir on quad day. After 5 minutes of talking to him and another DeBono member, Matt Strick, I walked away thinking "Those are my people." I promptly walked back to the A Capella table and crossed my name off of the audition list.
A week later, I auditioned for DeBono and, to my astonished delight, made the team. I learned a lot that year. The two things that stand out in my mind are the Harold, a long form of improv, and how to properly pour a beer.
Fast forward to now. I am a senior member of DeBono about to graduate early and leave all of this behind. This, without a doubt, is one of the most sad things I've had to do. Still, it's the right time in my life, and I couldn't be more excited for my future.
As I pack up to leave this place, I am looking back and really appreciating everything DeBono has done for me. I couldn't be more proud of how far this team has come. Especially in designing our own musical form which took (and still takes) a lot of hard work, love, sweat, tears, blood, hair, skin, limbs... uh. So, anyway, it's been a lot, but I've loved every second. No matter what was going on in my life during my time here at U of I, DeBono was near always the thing that held me up. Practice became a sacred place where I was accepted and no one judged me. I went through a really rough patch a while ago, and this team really helped me stay afloat. I will always be grateful for that.
Last year, we had the chance to compete in the College Improv Tournament. I am hard pressed to remember a time when I was more proud. Our musical form was in its infancy, but we nailed it. We ended up getting 2nd place in the regional and were (very) close to securing a wild card spot at nationals. Of course, it wasn't about winning. But, we did prove to ourselves that our hard work and love for the form is real and worth our while. I am still so happy for our team. Of course, that year would never have heeded so much progress without the gracious help of our first accompanist, Robby. A genius improviser and guitarist with the fingers, voice, and brain of an angel mixed with the blood of Jimmi Hendrix and the soul of improv itself. He continues to be an integral part of the team.
In the past couple of years, I've had the pleasure of helping teach new members. Each year has brought in completely different people, and each one has been valuable. Clare, bless your heart for staying at that terribly awkward and deserted audition last year. I'm so glad you stayed. Simeon, thank you for continuing to try out. You have been such an important part of the team and my life. Sweeney, man oh man you've got to be one of the most entertaining, random, and hilarious people I know. Jordan, you are so much more than I could have ever asked. Nick, darnit, I love you. Every second you become a stronger improvisor. I trust you with my actual and improv life. Jaime, I've known you for a long time. You legitimately surprised me with your audition and what you had to offer DeBono. You are strong and damn near fearless. I'll miss your presence and your determined improv.
This year, we were fortunate to take on three new people. All beautiful and wonderful girls. Each of them has a very special and unique thing to add to the team, which we would be so unfortunate to miss. Julie, one of our accompanists, has taken this crazy form by the horns. You are a flippin genius, and I really thank you for what you have to offer to this team. We couldn't do this without you. Kimi, your spice really kicks us up a notch. You make practice and shows so fun and truly silly. You remind us not to be so damn serious. And Jessica. I feel like you emanate pure sunshine. You are such a great joy to be around and improvise with.
I love you all, and I am so proud.
Of course, there's Michael Friggin Gaschler. We made the team at the same time. We grew up together. I feel like we have a mutual understanding of where this team came from and how much we have grown. You are a great comfort. I feel like I'm breaking some kind of blood bond by leaving. But, I know you will continue to be the wise elder that you are naturally.
I love each and every person on this team with all of my heart. This last semester has been so special.
I remember my first show. I was so scared. And, at the time, I didn't feel supported by everyone on the team. I can truly say that tomorrow brings no fear with my last performance with DeBono. I feel I have total support and love from each of my team members. I know tomorrow will be amazing no matter what. This team has been my home for 3.5 years. I may have made other teams, which I love, but this team is where I come from. DeBono was the first thing that took my hand while I strayed around the grand expanse that is U of I. Tomorrow, I will say goodbye to something I love so much. But fear not, I will always be part of this team in my heart. I will return to visit and be blown away by how far the team will continue to go.
Goodbye DeBono. Thank you for everything.
I love you so much,
Amy

The CHAUNCEY show!

Well hello all!


My apologies for the delay in postings....or any sort of entertainment of the like....but here ya go!


But first, a tid bit o' news from DeBono to all ya'll...


For the past couple of months, we have been practicing and performing for all sorts of audiences in preparation for a little thing called the college improv tounament.


It's a sweet get up that features several regional competitions throughout the country. Finalist teams are selected for each regional and are sent away to (who knows where....) the national tournament.


Ladies and gents, let me assure you that DeBono is an even stronger competitor this year. Last year, the team was given the opportunity of the wild card slot in the national tourney and even though we didn't make it to nationals, we are coming back, this time with a VENGEANCE! WE"RE OUT FOR BLOOD!! 


nah, i's just be kiddin' 


(actually, the winners of the wild card slot and the overall tourney were totes worthy, so congrats!!) If you want to check out the tournament a little more on your own time here's a link to the webpage.


but for serious now, DeBono is super excited to be participating at CIT this year and we'd love to have tons of support from our fans that view our page!


So, without further ado, some videos.


This show featured an alumnus of DeBono: Paul Casperson....better known as Chauncy....erm....Chauncey....uh....Chaunsy?  Chansey???? who knows.....


Anyway, for this set we performed the usual Freeze and Beatbox. However, this time, because we had an alumn on the stage, we chose to do a form of improv called an Armando. I'm not gonna 'splain it to you b/c it's defined under that nifty little hyperlink. :)


A shout out to Paulcey....(ew, that sounds like a disease....keeping it.) for coming down from the windy city to chill/play with DeBono. We had a blast (from the past! (oh, i'm so witty(ha, parentheses inside parentheses)))


Chauncey show - 11/21/11
Host - Simeon Tzolov
Beatbox conductor - Jaime Lemens
Guest performer/monologist - Paul Casperson


side note: sorry about the funky camera angle.....we're getting a new camera soon! :)


Beatbox - suggestion: Seashell

Freeze - suggestion: Furby

The Armando - suggestion: Diner

FOR THE GO-NOTS!

HEY YOU CRAZY KIDS!!!

DeBono is having a show tonight at FAR residence hall at 7 PM for all you UIUC students. Methinks it's free, so come on in and enjoy some fresh-thinkin' musical comedy!

I realize that although a lot of you who enjoy us might be from UIUC, that not everyone is... So I thought I might give you an insider's view about some places at the University of Illinois. And how we... DeBono... feel about all this stuff.

This is the Alma Mater Statue. It shows one guy holding out his arms, and two guys (can't really see it) behind him shaking hands, probably in agreement to kill this other guy who's blocking them. We're struttin our stuff with our Halloween show costumes. Hell ya. We pass it every Monday after our show on our way to.....

MURPHY'S PUB! A quaint little Irish pub on Green St. that we frequent. It's a fun time to be had by all, and we're always there with friendly faces willing to have a friendly drink with anyone at all!! 

Here is our beloved Union on the Main Quad. It's a huge building tons of students use to hang out, as well as collaborate wise minds, debate important topics, and bowl. It's also where we DeBonians perform, at the Courtyard Cafe! Every monday at 8, like clockwork it is! Like Yoda I speak.

Anyway, I think that is all for now. I hope everyone has a fantastic day. Enjoy this weather (60 degrees in November) or enjoy whatever weather you have wherever you're from. Because we love you, too =]

Love -DeBono

p.s. here is a man with a ridiculous moustache for your enjoyment.

P.p.s. Make sure you check out teh FACEBOOKS and teh TWITTERS

How do you practice for Improv anyway???

Robby and Nick practicing a 2 person musical duet this Thursday!

Hey guys,


So a lot of times, we improvisors get the question: How do you practice for improv? Isn't it supposed to be made up? Well... yes it is my friend. 
Basically, in improv practice we learn how to use the strategies and "rules" (I put that in quotes because there are very flexible rules in improv) that the greats like Del Close and Charna Helpern have left for us to learn. 
In DeBono right now, we are concentrating on our musical. This entails having an understanding of long form improv as well as our form. Little do some audiences know, improv forms have various structures that give us a goal or purpose for our performance. 
For example: the short form game "party quirks" as seen on Who's Line is it Anyway. The goal of that game is for the party host to guess who or what his/her guests are improvising as. The party guests understand that they need to use there suggestion and improvise in a way that allows the host to understand their character. This way, improv isn't just a never ending string of random silliness! 
In long form, we have more long term goals like the characters all need to know each other by the end of the piece or the narrative needs a beginning, middle, and end. 
Our musical is a narrative long form. We want to perform a completely made up story for our audience that has clear closure. This is what we practice! We need to learn to think in the long term as well as in the moment. Like, oh what can I say right now that will set up another scene, scenario, character entrance, song, etcetera??? 
We need to learn to work cooperatively with our scene partners, which eventually leads to a "group mind." We want to be comfortable with stepping into a scene with each and every team member. 
We practice how to best start and end scenes so we get the most amount of awesome, hilarious, and valuable information out there and cut it off before it gets long and awkward! We also like to work on different characters to play which includes practicing voices, body language, posture, etcetera.

Rest assured, my friends, what you see on stage at various improv performances has never been done or seen before. It's the same in practice. We never have the same practice twice, which keeps it interesting and endlessly fun. Of course, the main goal of improv practice is to get better for you: the audience! We love doing what we do, and we want nothing more than to do it all the time while getting better at it! (plus- who doesn't love an excuse to hang out with all of your favorite people at the same time?!?!)
Anway, I hope that makes sense and alleviates some of your curiosity! 
Come see the results of our practices on Monday nights at the Illini Union Courtyard Cafe at 8 PM!

Inside the DeBono Studio with Simeon Tzolov: Episode 2

Simeon interviews senior member Amy Leahy in this edition of Inside the DeBono Studio

DeBono Rehearsal Musical 10-20-11

Here's a little bit o' rehearsal experience for you outsiders! :)

On top of a great rehearsal on Thursday, we 


also received a pretty awesome email from a pretty awesome individual:

"Dear DeBono,

It's Dave Soleil, the artist formerly known as Dave Pinzino.  Yes, THAT Dave Pinzino.  The guy who started de Bono back when we were the youngest and only long-form improv group on campus.Just wanted to drop you a note to tell you I'm paying attention and I'm proud you're still rockin' the Courtyard Cafe.  Keep livin on a prayer. Someday, I'll be back to visit and tell you a war story or two about the early days.

Dave"


awesome, right?

Inside the DeBono Studio with Simeon Tzolov: Episode One

Inside the DeBono Studio will feature interviews with Simeon Tzolov and members of the team. Every week he will showcase a new member. 
Episode one: Jordan Lange.

ENJOY!

Duet Madness

Hey everyone! Just another sunny Sunday. Here's a couple of our videos of musical duets that we did today in rehearsal, that we're very excited to present to you guys!!

Hobos Never Forget- Michael and Jordan

Back to Mr. Slithers!!- Simeon and Sweeney

Your Mind is in Pieces- Robby and Jessica

What is the Meaning of the Amazing Race?- Amy and Clare

To Take Over the Company!- Simeon and Jordan

You Can See it in the Stapler- Michael and Sweeney

We Must Protect our Virtue- Amy and Jessica

We Gotta Go To the West- Robby and Clare

A viewing....

Here's pieces of one of our shows from two weeks ago...pardon the poor camera quality...

we're working on it!

This is freeze, one of DeBono's common opening games.

This is beatbox, again, another of DeBono's favorite opening games.

Host - Jaime Lemens
Beatbox conductor -Simeon Tzolov


More videos to come! stay posted!

DeBono Newbie Night 2011!!!

We're hollerin' an official welcome to:

Kimi, Julie, and Jessica!!!!

WELCOME TO THE TEAM, GIRLS!

Host - Jordan Lange

Beatbox Conductor - Jaime Lemens

Freeze

The Beat-box

The DeBono Musical!
(part 1)

(part 2)

Subscribe and stay posted!!! 


Cheers!

SOCIAL MEDIA CRAZE!

Hey! We have some sweet other social media sites our friends and fans can follow!

Check out FACEBOOK And TWITTER

LIKE US! FOLLOW US! WE PROMISE WE LIKE YOU AND FOLLOW YOU.


LOVE,
DeBono

Introducing DeBono's Fall 2011 Team!

Hello all,


This semester we were super excited to let on two brand, spankin' new improvisers, Kimi Arquines and Jessica Shyrock! We are all looking forward to another year, especially now with some fresh energy and faces.


So, without futher ado, here's the Fall 2011 team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (waaaaa! wooooO! yeeeah!)

Kimberly (Kimi) Arquines is a sophomore transfer student from Illinois State University and is really happy to have made the switch to U of I. She used to study Theatre Ed/Acting there but now studies Psychology. This is her first year on the team AND the first time she's ever done anything with improv (besides watch Whose Line religiously). Other things she's a part of here: the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, Cutting Edge Show Choir and PSA (The Philippine Student Association). On a chill day you can find her playing Pokémon, falling off her longboard and/or spending time with her husband, Zachary Levi.

Robby Boyer is like oxygen: everybody needs him, but too much of him will blind or kill you. So take him constantly, but in moderation. Robby is Debono's musical accompanist and damn proud of it. He has played with Debono since the Spring of 2009. In his spare time, he is working toward a PhD in Regional Planning. He hopes this biographical sketch is never seen by future employers, but it in case it is, please understand that he's trying to be funny here.

Julie Brady is a sophomore studying Recreation, Sport, and Tourism, not because she is a slacker or an athlete but because she really likes baseball, so lay off, ok?! Jeez. You don't have to be so judgmental about it. When Julie is not trying to entice everyone around her to talk about baseball for several hours, she is... that's about it actually. She does manage to find time to be DeBono's Official Guitar Protege in addition to performing in Potted Meat Sketch Comedy and the Titanic Players team PK BARNJAM.

Clare Cutler, like the Goddess Athena, was born 19 years ago when she sprung from Zeus’s head. She is now a Sophomore at the University of Illinois where she majors in Urban Planning and hopes to minor in landscape studies. She has been performing with Debono now for the last 1.5 years of her life and has enjoyed every minute of it. Blessed with a very low center of gravity, Clare is great at standing still and not falling over.





Nicholas Dietrich is a 19-year-old sophomore in political science, and a pretty okay guy. He has been a part of De Bono since the Spring of 2011. He enjoys doing improv with De Bono and The Titanic Players Team PK BARNJAM, as well as playing piano (badly), playing guitar (badly), and playing drums (well). Someday he will make politics better and everyone will be happy.

Michael Gaschler is a senior majoring in Egyptology. Once he graduates, Michael will spend his next few years in a PhD program through Brown University working at an archeological dig to try and discover new pre-unification literature from Upper Egypt. In his free time Michael is an enthusiastic collector of miniatures, and served as a consultant for the 2009 restoration and cleaning of the J.W. Thorne miniature collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. He has also written occasionally for Miniature Collector Magazine and Dollhouse Miniatures.  More than anything, however; Michael's favorite activity is a long and peaceful Sunday afternoon constitutional. He has been doing improv since high school and has every intention of continuing once he gets to Egypt, though being funny while speaking Arabic ought to prove quite daunting.

Jordan Lange is 20 year old junior studying Molecular and Cellular Biology. In his spare time he likes to watch tv shows online, play video games, and hunt for the elusive Sasquatch. One day, he hopes to have a successful medical career, all the while making people laugh and smile. Also, his favorite food is seafood. Red Lobster gift cards are accepted.

Amy Leahy is a senior in Psychology and LGBT/Queer studies. She has been with DeBono for 3.5 years, and has witnessed its evolution to the amazing team it is today. She is also on Spicy Clamato and Titanic Players Team PK BARNJAM. In her spare time, she watches too many crime dramas and enjoys vegetarian cooking. She likes Amaretto Stone Sours if anyone ever wants to buy her a drink at Murphys

Jaime Lemens is a pre-med junior studying molecular and cellular biology with a double minor in music and chemistry. She has been a member of DeBono since spring 2011. DeBono is her first improv performance experience. She loves anything having to do with music, food and/or science. Her favorite color is green (like, definition crayon green), her favorite superhero is easily batman, and she is currently obsessed with the movie The King's Speech.

Jessica Shryock is a freshman who has just joined DeBono. She is currently in Atmospheric Science. While she has no idea if that's what she actually wants to do, it's what she's doing for now. That's the beauty of being a freshman. In her free time apart from DeBono, she loves improvising with the new Incubator Titanic Team (we don't have a name yet), singing, listening to jazz, pretending to be classy, and using sign language whenever she can!

Brendan Sweeny is a psychology major with a philosophy minor. He plans on going to law school after he graduates. He is am a junior from Elmhurst, IL. This is his third year on DeBono. His favorite ice cream flavor is dulce de leche. He is a member of Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity. He has always enjoyed improv more than any of the other performing arts. He finds it to be more chill, yet exciting and, at times, therapeutic. He has continued to do improv for the past six years of his life because he thinks it is a fun activity.

Simeon Tzolov is a 21 year old student in the Christian gregorian calendar and a 32 year old rabbit in the Chinese lunar calendar. Simeon undwent some physical changes in 2008 and now he is a man, prior to that he was legally considered a "boy". After college, Simeon looks forward to weekends, holidays, and retirement. Something unique about Simeon is that he has 2 grandma's and 2 grandpa's, 1 mom and 1 dad. 










That's our team this semester, stay posted and we'll begin posting videos of our performances and rehearsal so you too can stay in the loop with DeBono!  

Cheers!