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If you followed the QR code on the Anniversary postcard 

and find yourself here… Welcome! 

As the new decade looms, renewed efforts are afoot at building a book, or a movie, or perhaps a holographic experience to further commemorate the blip in the continuum called Femprov. 

Working title: When Women Weren't Funny, And How These Hilarious Gals Laughed at That Notion.

To that end, I have digitized and transcribed the handful of interviews completed with the lovely Linda Hill, Carol Roberts, Barbara Scott and Pat Daniels. They reside on our YouTube Channel in separate playlists for your viewing pleasure. Carol also contributed some unearthed footage of an early Army Opener and Unemployment Office sketch at Cobb's Pub, along with a Carol and Terry interview from a cable access show.

An increasing number of DateBook articles and listings are being added to the collection of Flyers and Press in an effort to reconstruct the myriad bookings and coverage we received.

Of course, your contributions are extremely welcome, whether it's filling in details on the Timeline, sharing your own ephemera (journals, calendars, career updates, Recollections), or arranging an interview to be added (looking at you Teresa, Susan, Debi, Sandee, Terry, and Jeannene).

Once again… Congratulations on making it to this moment in time with your memories relatively intact.

40th Anniversary • Comediennes Only (No Cover)

Postcard sent to commemorate the beginning

And now it's time to say goodbye, as we leave the Seventies for the unknown Eighties…

 40 years ago on a cold Wednesday evening in late December, 4 women of a freshly-formed improv troupe stormed onto the small stage at the Holy City Zoo as MCs or hostesses… opening act… and cheerleaders of the very first Women's Night. Pat Daniels, Susan Healy, Teresa Roberts and Terry Sand opened the show with improvisational sketches to warm up the audience for 15 minutes in preparation for the handful of women they would graciously introduce throughout the evening. There were less than a half dozen comediennes in the line-up that night, likely every woman doing stand-up in the Bay area, not a single male comic qualified for this bill. Femprov possessed the flexibility to stretch* between acts to fill and lengthen the duration of entertainment, by tag-teaming through theater games they learned in workshops and pulling the funny out of thin air. Blithely ignoring the prevailing attitudes of management** all the women that night seized the opportunity for stage time in front of a live audience. Whether it was a ground-breaking magnanimous gesture by the Holy City Zoo or a way to cash in on the novelty of women performers, Femprov claimed Women's Night as their own proving ground.

*Years later John Cantu, the booker of the Holy City Zoo explained the short 3-month run of these Women's Nights… pinning the blame on what he considered women comic's inability to stretch, unlike their male counterparts.

Two decades later, he credited the insights of Valerie E. Young, Ed. D. related to Imposter Syndrome to this puzzling difference in the sexes. Latching on to her theories concerning women's inability to bullshit was likely the satisfying reason that vexed him for years.

**In acknowledgment of ERA, women's night is every Wednesday. According to Tony DePaul most women tend to be shy and more uneasy about standup comedy. It requires a great deal of performing confidence. He also feels it is harder for an audience to laugh at a woman. It is a different style of comedy and the club offers its own all-female improvisational group called Femprov. 

 

With a Name Like Femprov… It Has to Be Good

An informational booklet created to educate those less familiar with our history & accomplishments. 

Initially distributed to attendees of the Femproviser Festival’s Femprov panel at the Tides Theatre, SF - Saturday, April 26, 2014. 

This Special Edition slideshow is re-imagined by Jeannene Hansen & dedicated to the memory of Denise Schultz… who did not suffer fools gladly.
Use your left and right arrow keys to page through the slideshow, preferably full screen.

Download a printable PDF of the Enlightening Coloring Book and get your crayons out.

Femprov • Members in a Minute

Femprov had 11 members throughout its many years. This video (c. 1983) was created to show the chronological order of the talented gals in flux and the many working troupe members through the better part of a decade in San Francisco' comedy scene in the 80's. Members include Susan Healy, Teresa Roberts, Terry Sand, Pat Daniels, Carol Roberts, Jeannene Hansen, Linda Hill, Barbara Scott, Denise Schultz, and Sandee Althouse.

More

Jumping through all the proper hoops

Visit site

The National Improv Network site curated by Nick Armstrong and Bill Binder since 2013. Their vision: Everyone knows what excellent improv is and wants to see it. Every performer has the opportunity to be treated as a professional artist.
Femprov's bio from our Troupe page 
Now eligible for instant submission to Festivals. 
Femprov, the original all female improv group based in San Francisco, trail-blazed for the better part of a decade performing innovative improv and making the way a bit easier for comediennes that were to follow. Femprov, was not a feminist group. Femprov had no political agendas. Simply a group of talented improv players willing to apply the 'trust and support' principle to its greatest extent. 
What resulted was a ten year run in comedy clubs, City events, and theatrical venues in San Francisco, the Bay Area, and LA. Femprov performed improvised musical theater paradises, lounge lizard dedications, interactive video pieces, original games, and games originating from improv history. 
The original Femprov-ets launched its' members into careers in radio, TV, motivational speaking, sports announcing for the Giants, character-based musical parody, international improv gigs, performances, and workshops, video experimentation, web-site and graphic design, teaching improvisational techniques to children and adults with special needs, and corporate team-building, not to mention, spawning two winning contestants in the first and second annual Miss Haight Ashbury Beauty Pageant sponsored by The Other Cafe. 
Femprov was honored with a special Cabaret Gold Award and the All Gold Comedy Award. They were also chosen to perform in the California Lottery Kick-Off Event in San Francisco as human lotto balls. Femprov was the first improv troupe to perform at Comedy Day In The Park. They also worked with a construction manager to design the stage and transform Cobb's Pub from a local bar to a very successful Comedy Club. Femprov often shared their stage with invited guest improvisers including Robin Williams who loved to workout with the troupe. Femprov performed most recently at the SF Improv Festival celebrating Barbara Scott's OCIC Award. 
The members of Femprov remain forever connected with precious memories that established their well-deserved place in San Francisco's comedy history.
I did not correct Terry's misspelling of parodies, as I enjoy the idea that we 'improvised musical theater paradises'.

When Women Weren't Funny…

Proposed cover for interactive book

On the heels of converting analog photographs (from original negatives), newspaper reviews and press, and all manner of Femprov ephemera into 21st century digital versions, it seems logical to  honor the collection with a new-fangled interactive iBook. The process is ongoing and this blog works as a gathering place for our dear gaggle of gals to hash out the facts, aggregate the memories, celebrate accomplishments, illuminate the times for those less fortunate to have lived through that wild and wooly frontier. The outcome from the collective Femprov-mind will inform and build the final publication… and dispel the doom of repeating the past.

Honored to be Honoring Barbara Scott

An improviser for over 25 years, Barbara Scott is a member of BATS Improv and a founding member of True Fiction Magazine. She has led master improv classes at Stanford University, BATS Improv, Full Circle Productions, the AFTRA Conservatory, SF Opera Center, Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre, The Funny Women Fest in Chicago, and at many international improv festivals.

This exceptional career, in addition to her specialization in and work with song improvisation and her incredible skills as a performer, makes Barbara Scott the San Francisco Improv Festival’s first-ever OCIC Award recipient.
The OCIC Award is the San Francisco Improv Festival’s annual recognition for outstanding achievement in improvisational theater. OCIC awardees participate in an evening celebrating their work in improvisational theater after an awards presentation during the San Francisco Improv Festival, held every August at the Eureka Theater.  This years’ line-up included surprise guests that have worked with Barbara throughout her career including Femprov and Tonal Chaos as well as interviewer & improv aficionado William Hall (BATS Improv, Fratelli Bologna).

—From the SF Improv Festival

Backstage at the Eureka Theatre waiting to surprise Barbara and improvise our This is Your Life slideshow
left to right: Pat Daniels, Debi Durst, Sandee Althouse, Terry Sand, Jeannene Hansen