Join us at Big Bear Cafe this Friday, February 24 around 8pm for a cover-free show.

Sligo Creek Stompers: Sarah Foard – fiddle / Chris Ousley – banjo, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, vocals, bodhrán / A.J.P. Erlinger – bass, guitar, dobro / Jess Eliot Myhre – vocals, washboard, clarinet, ukulele

Visit them at www.sligocreekstompers.com and check out our Facebook event details here.

Italian, three-course by candlelight

1st Seating – Vegetarian

From the heart, from the earth
6:45pm

I. Cannellini bean velutata with pomegranate molasses and parsley oil
II. Melanzane alla parmigiana
Mixed greens salad with red wine vinaigrette
III. Apician spiced dates stuffed with toasted almonds, served with mascarpone

Wine:

Sangiovese, Valpolicella, or Negroamaro

-

2nd Seating

From the heart, from the flesh
8:45pm

I. Wild mushroom and roasted beet risotto
II. Braised lamb shoulder with cannellini beans
Braised escarole
III. Zabaglione and house-made biscotti

Wine:

Gattinara, Barbaresco, or Rosso di Montalcino

please contact us for reservations at:

bigbearcafe.events@gmail.com

 Hope to see you there.

Bloomingdale’s standup debut will be here at Big Bear!   Join us for our first ever STANDUP COMEDY OPEN MIC NIGHTS this February.  We’ve pinned down local comedian Chelsea Shorte to help us christen Big Bear as a new home for local comics.  We are reserving two special Saturdays: February 11 & 25.

If you’d like to sign up to stand up, contact Chelsea herself at bigbearcomedy@gmail.com.  Comics of all experience levels and ages are welcome.

Doors will open at 7:30 for these 8pm shows.  Just enough time to come in, order dinner, and sit down to enjoy two hours of new local comedy!

Free show, great food, unbeatable comedy.

SUPPORT LIVE COMEDY!  DRINK GOOD COFFEE!  SEE YOU THERE!

Best,

Westy

MONDAY through WEDNESDAY: THE CLEM SHOW.

Clementina Russo is an infinitely talented physicist, with no end to ways to make greens and garlic taste like the best thing you’ve ever had, every time. Clem’s meals are hearty and Italian-influenced, in the style of our Sunday Dinner, which is also her [very beautiful and delicious] show.

Mondays
I. Split pea stew with garlic-rosemary infused oil. $10
II. Fennel and pea shoot frittata. Bitter greens salad. $12

Tuesdays
I. Peasant’s purse  $12
Sauteed mushrooms, dandelion greens, brown rice, toasted walnuts, fried egg & shaved pecorino. 
II. Pork chops, in the pan with white wine and garlic. Smashed potatoes and sauteed greens.$14

Wednesdays
Pasta Puttanesca and bitter greens salad.$12

THURSDAY through SATURDAY: NEILTIME

Neil Negri, a Virginia native, does some fantastic, colorful, and delicious work with Korean fusion (not to mention his talent with desserts) and switches up his menu for us every week. Follow us on Twitter for updates. Here is this week’s menu, starting Feb 2:

I. Spicy Eggplant with rainbow carrots, crispy basil and jasmine rice $11 (vegan)

III. Soba noodle soup with beech mushrooms, Asian greens and pork belly $11 (cannot be vegetarian)

III.  Apple Pie a la mode (with vanilla ice cream) $5

SUNDAY EVENINGS: SUNDAY FAMILY STYLE DINNER & CAFE SERVICE

Because of our Sunday dinner series, on Sunday evenings we offer a limited menu for people who are not attending the community dinner.  It changes every week.  Last week, we enjoyed a hearty vegetable stew, made with two kinds of turnip, kale, beets, rainbow carrots, and pecorino. Delightful.

Our Sunday dinner series is a special weekly occasion:  a reservation-only, 3-5 course meal prepared here at Big Bear using local ingredients.  This meal really showcases Big Bear’s culinary philosophy: to offer high quality foods, prepared with care, for great company, in great ambiance.  The third Sunday of every month is made with vegetarian ingredients only.  We would love for you to join us.  For more information, please click here.

Grilled Chicken, Pesto, Mozzerella Sandwich

Bagel,

with butter

2.20

 with cream cheese

3.30

Breakfast bagel,

with egg, ham, and cheddar

5.50

Lox bagel,

with capers and onions

6.60

Handmade Granola 

with yogurt or milk

4.40

Monday through Thursday only:

Cheddar Omelet, 

with toast.

5.50

French Toast

5.50

And other daily specials, available Mon-Thurs.

Along with ShawnMikael(s), we put together an all-star lineup, featuring the creme de la creme of local longform improv.  At least, I like improv a lot, and I like doing improv a lot, and I really love to see improv, and I have (ok, honesty time) big, irrepressible improv crushes on each and every performer coming out for this show and am over the MOON that they will all be here in the cafe at one time.  Including our captivating host of the evening, my BFFL Chelsea Norment. It’s almost too good.

That being said, here’s who’s up:

Sadie Hawkins: This new local women’s improv collective mash-up will punch you in the face if you ask it to the dance. BRINGING HOME ITS OWN BACON, BABY!

Rotating performers, this week featuring Laura Spadanuta, Lizzie Nolan, Elizabeth O’Neill, Sarah Winston, and Amelia Vogel.

The Score: The Score is a DC based, indie improv team that brings the funny. We will leave you feeling pretty good about your life, the state of world affairs, make you want to re connect with old friends, and make you want to leave the show and feed the homeless.  Bring your music playing device and make sure it is ready when we ask. We will then take it, hook it up, and create a one time only improvisational experience that will convince you there is such a thing as heaven on earth.
Including players Stephanie Anderson, Joe Uchno, Curtis Raye, Pete Bergen, Shawn Westfall, Jenny Huftalen and Mikael Johnson.  This will be The Score’s Big Bear debut.

Jive Turkey: “Jive Turkey is longform troupe staring, Joe Randazzo, Steph Anderson and Chris Ulrich that I simply cannot live without and will be third” -Laura Westman

and, of course, ShawnMikael(s) : Two-man improv show featuring Shawn Westfall and Mikael Johnson. Leaves nothing but broken hearts, jealousy and bundt cake in its wake. Never, ever forget the parentheses.

Yeah, so – you won’t want to miss it. You can RSVP here.

See you Saturday!

Westy

About Sligo Creek Stompers

Sligo Creek Stompers play a raucous but refined blend of traditional roots music: Appalachian & Midwestern old time and bluegrass, New Orleans ragtime and traditional jazz, haunted Irish fiddle tunes, Texas & gypsy swing. Inspired by scratchy 78 rpm records, contra dancing and a good bottle of whiskey the Stompers are keeping the flame of American stringband music alive in the Washington, DC area.

ShawnMikael(s). Two-man improv show featuring Shawn Westfall and Mikael Johnson. Leaves nothing but broken hearts, jealousy and bundt cake in its wake. Never, ever forget the parentheses.

What began as an experiment a few short months ago has blossomed into a full-fledged partnership: ShawnMikael(s) combines the nearly two-decades of improv experience of Shawn Westfall (bright young things, iMusical, Chinese Menu) and Mikael Johnson (Jackie, Waiting To Be Called Over, Chinese Menu, Jaye Stays) into a two-man improvisational show that has yet to comprehend its own limits. Both actors frequently populate their scenes with multiple characters and jumps in time and space while maintaining the scene’s integrity and internal logic. The result? Never-before-imagined worlds come alive, entire communities emerge, and comic possibilities are realized. The duo traveled to Harrisburg to compete in the first annual Harrisburg Comedy Improv Throwdown, taking home the “Best Improv Troupe” trophy against against stiff competition from Washington DC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York City. And most recently they headlined at the DC Improv Comedy Lounge in Washington, DC, the very first improv troupe to do so.

Improvisers! Bloomingdale friends! And their coworkers, spouses, friends, and moms! If you are throwing down in this year’s Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament, or you’re intrigued by the world of improv, this event is for you.

FIST Tailgating Party

Friday, March 2

7PM – Close

- Two 30-min Open Mic “Warm-Up” Shows (8:30pm & 10:30pm)

- Food & Drink Specials

- 15% of evening’s bar tab goes to WIT

FIST-ers and newcomers alike, join WIT at Big Bear Café to kick-off the 6th annual Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament. An opportunity to hang out, warm-up, and party down in advance of five hilarious and heated weeks of improv competition.

Hang-Out

Come on out to Big Bear Café March 2 starting at 7pm. We are putting some tailgating essentials on the menu that night and there will be drink specials for FIST teams and WIT community members. Come early, stay late. The café closes at midnight and 15% of evening’s bar tab goes to WIT.

Warm-Up

FIST teams can sign-up for a four-minute performance time slots. Sign-ups start at 7pm on site for the 8:30pm and 10:30pm performances.

Party-Down

Really, we need to explain this one? We mentioned the drink specials above.

Interested in Improv?

Come hang out and meet the WIT community! Yes– it is as much fun as it looks. You’ll love it. Meet improvisers, teachers, and friends, and enter our raffle to win two tickets to the exclusive final round of the tournament on Saturday, April 6!

ABOUT FIST

FIST: 

an elimination-style bracketed improv tournament, featuring 58 three person teams fiercely competing for audience favor.  Check out the bracket here, and the team rosters!  

These never-seen-before combinations of improvisers play in new, daring, and hilarious ways over five weeks and six rounds. In the end, only one team can win! The prize for them? Become the reigning improv-smackdown champs. The prize for you? On-the edge-of-your-seat improv shows where anything is possible and you decide who advances to the next round. Every show also features an ensemble performance.

ABOUT WASHINGTON IMPROV THEATER

WIT’S MISSION is to unleash the creative power of improv in DC:
We engage audiences with performances that exhilarate and inspire.
We ignite the spirit of play in Washington with a revolutionary training program.
We create a home for improv, connected to the life of the city.
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE IMPROVISED

For over a decade WIT has been exploring just how much awesomeness people can create together when they agree to do it without a script. The answer is: a lot. And more each year. The three aspects of WIT are shows, classes, and community.

SHOWS

WIT shows reach over 10,000 audience members each year with their spontaneous blend of playfulness, comedy and drama. The contents of every performance are unpredictable, but the impact is not:

“a reputation for imagination, quick wit and irreverence” - TimeOut New York

“some of the most exciting live entertainment in Washington”- Washington Post Weekend

In addition to its regular performances at Source, Flashpoint and on other stages in Washington, WIT ensembles are invited regularly to perform at the nation’s most respected improv festivals, including the Chicago Improv Festival, the Del Close Marathon, and the North Carolina Arts Festival.

CLASSES

WIT is more than just a performing theater. From the get-go WIT’s mission has included outreach and education as a high priority. Improv isn’t just good for making wicked smart comedy–it’s also good for increasing awareness, skills, and confidence in almost anyone who does it. An art form that thrives on listening, being present and being supportive has a lot to show us, it turns out, about being better people. That’s why WIT is just as dedicated to what goes on its classroom as it is to what happens on its stage.

COMMUNITY

WIT brings performances and improv training to groups who otherwise might not get a chance to explore it. Our partner organizations include after-school programs, senior living facilities, and weekend mentorship programs.

PHONE 202.204.7770
WEB wit@washingtonimprovtheater.com
LAND Washington Improv Theater | at Source | 1835 14th St NW | Washington, DC 20009