Punk
The Annoyance Theater NY is shuttering its doors come March 31st. A message signed by Mick Napier, Jennifer Estlin, and NY managing director Chelsea Rendlen states:
Hello…. You may already be aware of a difficult and sad decision we had to make a couple days ago regarding AnnoyanceNY. A number of factors have come together at this time which have made it necessary to close our Bedford Ave. space on March 31st. WTF???? Yeah. Never a happy thing to have to send an announcement like this.
Already a group has started on Facebook dedicated to sharing ideas on how to save the Annoyance, or continue on as a community in its absence. Ideas being bandied about include a Kickstarter, putting up monthly jam shows, or the possibility of hosting only classes. There, teacher and former NY managing director Phillip Markle commented on that possibility:
Any space you get requires insurance for classes and you need to add every space that you get to your policy which adds up and it can be difficult to schedule based on rental availability in Brooklyn — I remember it was a huge headache working around Union Docs schedule to try and get 8 consistent weeks of a class. And I think there’s just a fear that the classes won’t do as well without a theater/venue to perform, even though I think we’d all agree the Annoyance offers a unique/different approach to improv in NY.
The Annoyance had some obstacles to surmount in its Brooklyn space, not least of which was the fact that it was in Brooklyn! The borough is notoriously difficult to travel across from within, and a far ride from without. The significance of this obstacle is summed up best by a Reddit user BadAtMarketingAndPR:
NYC already supports UCB, Magnet, PIT and probably others I’m not thinking of. I think part of it is everyone knows if they go to Manhattan they have options for improv, and that you’re only going to Brooklyn for improv if Annoyance is a destination, which means Annoyance’s programming has to be a lot stronger of a draw in general. That’s a lot to ask of any theater.
I’m proud a member of the Annoyance NY community. I played at the Annoyance NY on one of its short-lived house teams, acted in a few shows, attended more than my fair share of jams, as well as hosted a regular show featuring student teams called Blind Tiger.
That last show had its roots outside of the theater. See, the Annoyance in NY started as a series of classes at the Union Docs space near the Lorimer stop on the L. It would be about a year before they had a dedicated brick-and-mortar space. Within that meantime, I gathered a group of enthusiastic performers, divvied them up into teams, and put up shows. Over the winter of 2014 the strange basement-space opened. It wasn’t until later, when this other theater that hosted us unceremoniously closed, that Blind Tiger became a regular show at the Annoyance.
Blind Tiger ran for nearly two years before I hung up the mantle. But what does this story say? Only that the road is circuitous. There is never a clear path to success in the arts. And also that a community can exist without a brick-and-mortar space. As I write this, a documentary about the Washington DC DIY punk scene of the 80s is playing in the background. I can’t help but feel we’re also on the cusp of that scene, but for theater.
I am a vocal proponent of Annoyance training, and I have incredible faith in their ideals. Ever since I read Napier’s first book in 2004, after having already been performing for five years, their style has had an incredible influence on me. I truly believe that this is not the end of an era, rather, it’s the start of something else. Many things may happen from here: The Annoyance management learns a lot from the experience and is able to come back better and stronger. The community that was forming sticks together and finds another outlet. The training and aesthetic bleeds out into the rest of NY improv, making it wilder, looser, and more interesting. As I write this, a post appeared on Facebook:
I’m excited to see where this goes.
