Spotlight on Meridith Crosley Grundei

Meridith C. Grundei is an award winning performer and holds an M.F.A. in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Prior to moving to Colorado, Meridith worked as Associate Faculty for The Second City Training Center in Chicago, IL. Currently, she owns a presentations and media training business called Red Ball Communications, is adjunct faculty at Naropa University in Boulder, CO where she teaches Improvisational Theatre, is an instructor for the Rocky Mountain Theatre Conservatory at Denver University and is a private coach to a variety of professionals who are actors and public speakers. As an actor, Meridith has performed with companies such as the American Conservatory Theatre (The Misanthrope), iO Chicago, Baby Wants Candy, Sprung Movement Theatre, The Evergreen Players (16 Wounded), square product theatre (The House of Yes), WreckingBall Theater Lab (Good Girls Don’t, But I Do), Playback Theatre West and many others.

How were you first introduced to improv comedy?

In college at Colorado State University. I was a member of the improv group, Clownbox in Ft. Collins, Colorado where we performed Keith Johnstone short-form games. Later when I moved to San Francisco, CA I was introduced to long form and performed regularly at a café on Taylor St. with a group called Adnauseum.

You studied at iO and worked for the Second City in Chicago. What did you take away from that experience?

A lot! Improvisation has taught me how to be a better actor and a better person. I have used my skills not only to help develop work but to also help others in communication and team oriented relationships. I feel that teaching improvisation to very diverse groups of people has taught me a tremendous amount about myself. Teaching is the best education I will ever get. Did I answer the question?

Both iO and the Second City inspired me in different ways. I feel fortunate to have experienced them both.

You currently teach improv in Denver and Boulder. What is the main message or theme you try to convey to your students?

That YOU are enough!

To trust yourself, to perform at the height of your intelligence, to know what your objective is and to stay present. There is more, but you should take my classes to find out...tee hee.

Oh yeah, AND have fun!

You are currently performing with Playback Theatre West. How would you describe Playback’s form?

Playback Theatre is a long form style that was developed through theatrical improvisation, story telling and psychodrama. The form itself is comprised of smaller forms called pairs, fluids, chorus and story. One member is a conduit between the audience and the players. This person is called the conductor. The conductor elicits stories from the audience that the remaining players then playback. It is an amazing community experience and I feel extremely honored to be apart of this group. It has been a very freeing experience for me to improvise in this way. I feel like it combines the funny with the truth and the sorrow that we all embody.

Last month Playback Theatre West hosted a show at the Dairy in Boulder focusing on Fourmile Canyon fire stories. How did those stories translate through improvisation?

Surprisingly, we had very little fire stories. We had many people in the audience who had been displaced because of the fire and they mostly shared their frustrations during our short form styles. One woman shared that she was in Boston for vacation and all she wanted to do was to sit down and enjoy a lobster dinner. When she received the call that she may have to evacuate she was mad. She was even more frustrated when she flew home, without her lobster dinner, to find that her house was still standing.

One of our company members was also displaced and this stirred up a lot for him.
It was amazing to have that represented in the group during the time of the performance. He could relate to the audience in a way the rest of us couldn’t.

We also raised $338.00 that night by passing the boot. We donated the funds to the local fire department.

Tell us about Hippieman’s Plan for America?

It is a sketch comedy pilot that is currently in production starring; myself, John "Hippieman" Novosad, Bill LeVasseur and Ash Albiniak. So far we have had two special guest appearances by Gary Grundei and Kristin Keating. Hippie Man is directed by Tom Parkins.

The show is very Cobert Report meets SNL, meets Kids in the Hall, meets Mr. Show etc., etc., etc. Very fun cast and group of people! I can’t wait to see the final product!

Are you currently working on any other projects?

Currently, I am directing Paul Sills’ Story Theatre for the Evergreen Players in Evergreen, CO and I am working on a show called Songs of Meat and Cake with square product theatre in Boulder. Songs of Meat and Cake opens at the end of October and Story Theatre opens in January.

Spotlight on Matthew Taylor

Matthew Taylor grew up on the south coast of England in the tiny sailing village of Itchenor. In 1985, he came to America to spend a summer as a sailing instructor. Matthew fell in love with Colorado during his travels and lived in Crested Butte before moving to Denver to focus more fully on performing arts. He is a founding partner of A.C.E. Entertainment, a commercial actor, and author. Matthew has been an active member of the Denver Improv comedy scene for many years.


What were some of your first experiences with Improv comedy when you first came to Denver?

I first took classes from Todd Lambert in Boulder during the fall of 1990. We formed a troupe out of the classes which was called The Mission and performed several shows in Boulder and around the state. Todd planned a crazy tour in which we were to perform in 49 states in 30 days. Things fell apart a few days before we were to head out and The Mission imploded.

Missing performing, Colleen Collins a former Mission performer and I decided to go to Denver to sign up to do stand up at Comedy Works. On the way down in the car Colleen told me that instead of going to Comedy Works she had signed us up to audition at Comedy Sports (now Impulse Theatre.) We both were hired and I played with them for a couple of years.

Eager to explore new forms a few of us formed the group Reaction Slacks and played regularly in the basement of the West End Tavern in Boulder. Lots of talent with a few egos thrown in made for some fabulous sold-out shows and an incredible short life span.

Out of the wreckage of that group formed Laughing Matters which quickly (this is a whole new story!) merged with Headgames. Headgames performed Fridays and Saturdays for the next eight years in the basement of the West End Tavern which is now sadly a kitchen. Cast members during that period included Linda Klein, Barbara Gehring, Eric Farone, Mike Collins, Dave Dalton, Matt Need, Timothy Brennen, Terri Thompson, Susan Hennessy, Bill Lippincott, Phil Keppel, Roger Dowd, Mark Tuchman to mention just a few.

Did you always have a passion for comedy?

I have always loved to laugh so I have always searched out ways to keep laughing.
Sometimes I laugh by watching or listening to comedic groups like Beyond the Fringe or Monty Python, other times it’s just looking at what everyday life throws at me and adding a twist. For me nothing beats the sound and feeling of laughter.

How did you, Barbara Gehring, and Linda Klein form A.C.E?

The three of us performed in a group called Headgames. Barbara had just joined when HBO announced auditions at Comedy Works for the Aspen Comedy Festival. Linda contacted the entire cast of Headgames saying we should do something. Linda, Barbara and I were the only ones to show up at the Market coffee shop the morning of the auditions. We decided to call ourselves A.C.E. because of our different nationalities. We did a Cirque du Solie parody which Judy Brown from HBO loved and immediately she asked for our promo packet. We told her it was in the car and rushed to Kinkos and created one. Then she wanted a video tape of our show so we had no choice but to put up our first show at the old Avenue Theatre. This was the fall of 1998.

After a long courting process with Judy we didn’t get invited to HBO’s festival, so we went anyway and formed The Aspen Comedy Fringe Festival of which A.C.E. was the only group to ever be invited. We were proud to win First Place for two years and then earn a surprise upset third place the following year!

Since then A.C.E has performed over fifty unique theatrical productions, filmed a television pilot, appeared at numerous festivals, and company events.

What are some of your experiences with A.C.E that stand out the most for you?

Our friendship and the ease with which we still laugh together stands out for me.
There are so many memories over the years, most of which involves the combination of travelling and cocktails. The first time we were flown somewhere to perform was a thrill even if it was to Holland, Michigan. But Rome, Lisbon and Hawaii were even better. Then there are the magical times we performed something I personally was so proud of like the first A.C.E. In the Raw Show, Oh!, synchronized swimming in the old Tabor Center Fountains, our show Blur, when the three of us existed in one scene but were in three different realms on stage, The Biddies, Trout World and Wild Tree Safari USA where the audience could experience the gentle giants in their natural habitat and even have the opportunity to feed them in the sapling petting zoo.

The list goes on and on. I am so lucky because if we came up with an idea there was never anybody there to say, “No you can’t do that”.

How has improvisation in Denver changed since you first arrived on the scene?

Early on the only place that was consistent was Comedy Sports. Jon and Sue ran an amazing business, which offered performers great training and the opportunity to perform regularly in front of a large audience, not to mention getting paid. Their great strength has always been their strict focus on short-form and their ability to play the games so well.

Chicken Lips with Bob Wells were doing some improv, but they also ran more traditional comedic theatre shows. Both offered limited classes focused mainly on short-form and an introduction to improv.

For me the biggest change in the Denver Improv scene came when Eric Farone started Bovine Metropolis Theatre. Here for the first time there was a true focus on classes and the embracing of long form. Now hundreds of people have devoted a year studying Improv and the standard of play in Denver has naturally elevated. This has in turn caused new groups to form, greater opportunity for performance and more classes creating a strong and exciting Improv community.

You appeared at The Bovine Metropolis Theater in August for a live audio taping of your upcoming book, Tales of an Englishman. What inspired you to write this book?

I have lived a colorful life and have always had fun reliving funny events that have happened to me and listening to other people’s tales. It was Linda Klein who first started to encourage me to write mine down.

In 2005 when my mother died I found it very cathartic to write about my time with her and this was probably the first time I put pen to paper. When Girls Only became such a huge hit it made sense for A.C.E. as a company to focus on the show which naturally meant (with me not performing in the show) that I had a lot more time on my hands. It was common sense to create a second A.C.E. project and to use this time to commit my stories to paper.

Where can someone read some of your stories now?

I have a blog and website, www.MatthewTaylor.com, where several stories are posted and some podcasts as well. I am also teaching a Thursday four week Story Telling workshop at the Bovine during the month of Sept, where I will work with people to help them find the story within them, dust it off and bring it out into the world for all to hear.