What happens when you combine the rich history of Southern storytelling with the unpredictability of improv comedy? You create a new comedy show, The Armando! Returning after last summer’s hit performance, The Armando, presented by Anubis Improv, will take place on Friday, February 2, at 7 pm at The Powerhouse.
In this interpretation of the classic improv form named after its creator, Chicago Improv teacher and player, Armando Diaz, an Oxford community member tells true stories that six performers will then use to inspire their improv scenes.
The guest monologist for this show is David O. Bell, playwright, actor, and former Lafayette County youth court judge. The cast includes public health professor Hannah Allen, last seen in Anubis Improv’s Half & Half; Oxford’s unofficial comedian laureate Connor King; member of the first ever Anubis Improv Oxford graduating class Dylan Kerr; improv veteran and Oxford Board Trotters member Tamara Coleman; and Anubis Improv founder David James Hamilton.
“We had a really special event with The Armando last summer with Kaye Bryant,” Hamilton says. “The crowd was warm and energetic; the stories were amazing—it felt like a magical night. We hope we’re able to recreate that magic this time around.”
Anubis Improv, operating in New Orleans since 2018, began teaching adult improv classes in Oxford in partnership with the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council in August 2022. It has hosted business workshops for Leadership Lafayette, Ole Miss Soccer, and the Oxford Chamber of Commerce and was recently voted Favorite New Addition in The Local Voice Townies 2024.
Tickets to The Armando are $15 and can be purchased at OxfordArts.com.
To learn more about Anubis Improv, visit our website, AnubisImprov.com, or follow us on social media (@anubisimprov).
