Friday, November 18, 2011

Stale Milk & Sour Cookies IV Is Coming!

Stale Milk & Sour Cookies IV: Two Evenings of Improv Comedy to Warm Our Neighbors on December 2nd & 3rd

Farmington - Many believe Black Friday signals the start of the dysfunctional holiday season and they would be wrong. It really begins on December 2nd and 3rd in UMF’s Lincoln Auditorium as western Maine comedians Teachers Lounge Mafia deliver Stale Milk & Sour Cookies IV, a weekend of irreverent holiday improv. All proceeds from these shows will go to Western Maine Community Action’s LIHEAP heating program.

For the past three years, Teachers Lounge Mafia have welcomed in the spirits of commercialism, familial stress, and eggnog with their own peculiar brand of improv and sketch comedy. This marks the fourth installment and should be the best yet with the audience providing the ideas and TLM providing the laughs. Those who have seen the group perform at regional venues such as Calzolaio Pasta Co., 49 Franklin St., or even in support of the A-T Hope with Every Step event in Livermore Falls, can expect much of the same. And there will be some new games, and a surprise or two, on hand as well.

Stale Milk & Sour Cookies is more than just a tradition for TLM. It marks the fourth anniversary of the group’s founding. Over its history, the group has raised funds for disaster relief, medical research, and other charitable causes. This year, one hundred percent of the suggested donations taken at the door will go directly to heating area homes in the form of WMCA’s Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). With an especially brutal winter forecasted and major cuts to its federal support dollars, LIHEAP now, perhaps more than ever, needs everyone to help however they can. Teachers Lounge Mafia hopes to reward that generosity the best way it can: laughter.

The western Maine troupe consists of local comic actors Jeff Bailey, Natalie Simmons, Alex Kreitzman, Gavin Pickering, Emily Pottle, Dan Ryder, and Kyla Wheeler. Taking inspiration from Saturday Night Live, Upright Citizens Brigade, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, The State, the writings of Dr. Suess and Gene Autry as well as their own twisted comic stylings, Teachers Lounge Mafia hope to bring something different to the foothills – and still be allowed to live here.

Stale Milk & Sour Cookies IV will be held in Roberts Learning Center’s Lincoln Auditorium on the University of Maine at Farmington campus. Doors open at 7 p.m. with showtime at 7:30 p.m. The show contains mature content. Suggested donations of $5 per person will be accepted at the door. For more information, visit www.teachersloungemafiaimprov.com or call 578-0357.