Portland Improv Festival THIS WEEKEND!

It's been an amazing couple of weeks for Teachers Lounge Mafia.

We've done workshops and performances at Camp Kawanhee for Boys, workshops with Pilgrim Lodge, performed for the Jay-Niles Summer Reading Camp, and brought good ol' fashioned TLM power (credit to Steve Muise for putting that word in the lexicon) at Calzolaio Pasta Co. in Wilton.

And now we get to the main event: Portland Improv Fest 2011 at the Lucid Stage in Portland, Thursday, August 11th through Sunday, August 14th. More info is here.

We will be bum rushing the stage on Friday night alongside Active Ingredients and ImprovBoston MainStage. But get there each night because there will be something amazing happening on each and every one of them.

More Teachers Lounge Mafia news coming soon including fall performances, appearance at Boston Improv Fest, and a brand new website!

Teachers Lounge Mafia Returns with Furious Vengance in August

It has been a fairly mild summer here in the western foothills of Maine.

Teachers Lounge members have been busy doing all sorts of stuff. Participating in intense workshops at Upright Citizens Brigade's Training Center in New York, directing children's summer theater, prepping film camps, guiding kayakers through New Hampshire wilderness, preparing for company audits. And that was just this past Thursday.

Like a coiled cobra, we've just been waiting to strike -- but without the poisonous fangs. Or a taste that mongoose find irresistible.

August brings two performance dates to mark on the calendars.

August 5th, we return to Calzolaio Pasta Company in Wilton for a full-on performance. Unlike past performances, this one will not feature the Italian buffet. The bar will be open, menus available, and as a result the show is a mere $5. Showtime is at 7:30 p.m. Seating is limited so get there early.

A week later, August 12th, TLM performs at the 2nd Annual Portland Improv Festival, being held at the Lucid Stage on Baxter Blvd. in Portland. We will be appearing alongside Boston-area groups Active Ingredients and ImprovBoston's Mainstage. Showtime is 8 p.m. Be certain to check out the PIF 2011 website for the rest of the line ups. Brilliant stuff from throughout New England.

And we're doing a bunch of other cool stuff as well: working with summer camps, running some workshops, and setting up a mighty fierce Teachers Lounge Mafia fall season. You'll forget all about us being awful quiet June and July.

Calzolaio Sold Out!

The response has been overwhelming again and our return performance at Calzolaio Pasta Company on April 8th has sold out!

We are looking forward to another amazing crowd -- and some seriously fantastic eats.

And if you didn't make the show, drive just a short ways down the road on Saturday the 9th for TLM Improv dinner theater at Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico to support the RSU #10 afterschool program. $10 for a great cause. Please note: it's a full on, mature content show.

Teachers Lounge Mafia Returns to Calzolaio Pasta Co. in Wilton!

Teachers Lounge Mafia Improv Comedy Returns to Calzolaio Pasta Co. on April 8th

WILTON - Last time they landed three days early for Valentine’s Day; now they are a week late for April Fool’s. At some point Teachers Lounge Mafia will perform at Calzolaio Pasta Company on a date of significance. Until then, audiences will just have to be content with an evening of pasta and comedy on Friday, April 8th at the Italian restaurant located in the heart of Wilton’s downtown.

Built from audience-provided suggestions, Teachers Lounge Mafia delivers improvisational games and sketches designed to yank people right out of mud season and on to higher ground. The group performs interactive games similar to those popularized on television’s “Whose Line Is It, Anyway?” as well as original formats and scenes. No two shows are ever just alike. The only guarantees for the evening are high energy comedy and brilliant Italian cuisine.

For these unique evenings out, Calzolaio Pasta Company serves up an Italian buffet featuring a served salad, meat lasagna, pasta primavera, chicken parmesan, crusty Italian bread and a soft drink. A cash bar will be available as well. The event marks Teachers Lounge Mafia’s return performance to the downtown Wilton eatery after a sold out show in February.

Teachers Lounge Mafia consists of local comic actors Jeff Bailey, Emily Pottle, Dan Ryder, Natalie Simmons and Kyla Wheeler. Most recently seen raising funds for the Jay PTO, Teachers Lounge have performed throughout Maine and New Hampshire, including the Portland Improv Festival. Inspired by Upright Citizens Brigade, Saturday Night Live, The State, and the works of G. Gordon Liddy and Hugh Beaumont, Teachers Lounge Mafia strives to bring something different to the foothills of western Maine and still be allowed to live here.

Tickets for matured-rated event include salad, buffet, bread, soft drink, tax and gratuity, and an extra large helping of comedy, for $20. Seating begins at 6 p.m. with food served at 6:30 p.m. Seating is extremely limited and reservations are strongly suggested by contacting Calzolaio Pasta Company at 645-9500, or e-mailing teachersloungemafiaimprov@gmail.com.

Photo by Kaija Fellman

EAT. LAUGH. LOVE.

'Come and celebrate the glorious feeling of love in the air on Feb. 11th at 7PM with Teacher's Lounge Mafia Comedy Improv at Calzolaio Pasta Co. on Main Street in Wilton. Or, just come and have some laughs at the expense of those other sappy schmucks that are there. $20 per person will cover salad Italian bread, soft drink and an Italian Buffet, with Meat Lasagna, Chicken Parmesan and more. Tax and Gratuity included and $20 covers the food AND the entertainment. Dessert and cash bar will be available too. This is a mature content show. For ticket information call Calzolaio Pasta Co. at 645-9500 or email us at TeachersLoungeMafiaimprov [@] gmail.com.