[NEohioPAL]Comedy at The Rose featured by The Plain Dealer

[The Rose]

This Thursday, join us at 8pm for the improvisational comedy group People 
with Skin, only 5$!

www.therosetheater.com

Thanks!

_ _ _ _ _



THE PLAIN DEALER

Laughter and music blossom at The Rose

Friday, August 06, 2004

Douglas Trattner

Special to The Plain Dealer

Lauren Reed dreams of the day she'll be writing for the Second City comedy 
troupe in Chicago. Rick Rudolph fancies a time he'll be a cast member of 
"Saturday Night Live." But for now, these two promising young comedians are 
stuck perfecting their craft in bite-size sets at open-mike nights.

Reed and Rudolph are two of the eight novice comics who participated in last 
week's open- mike stand-up comedy night at The Rose Theater in downtown 
Medina. Comedians sign up for five-minute slots, affording them the precious 
opportunity to practice the craft they hope will become their life's work. 
Most have decidedly unfunny day jobs, but come nighttime, it's nothing but 
funny business.

Reed, casually dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and an unbuttoned men's shirt, 
appears comfortable in front of the small crowd. She zips through bits on 
zodiac signs - she's a Cancer, her sign's "mascot" is the crab, and she was 
born in the year of the cock - and a somewhat tired routine on domestic diva 
Martha Stewart decorating from Cellblock A. The crowd's response is 
favorable.

"I guess I did all right. How do you think I did?" Reed asks moments after 
her set.

Reed, 23, first got her hands around a microphone two years ago at an 
amateur night at Hilarities in Akron.

"That was the night I decided that I wanted to keep performing stand-up," 
she says.

Reed does not expect overnight success. She is in this thing for the long 
haul.

"I know that I have to suck for a while - pay my dues - before I'm ready for 
the big time," she says.

Jim Dove, a stand-up comedian and member of the improvi sational comedy 
group People With Skin, is the master of ceremonies for these weekly open- 
mike nights. He has seen more than his share of the good, the bad and the 
downright ugly when it comes to amateur comics.

"You'll get the people who are funny with their buddies at work and think 
that that humor can transfer to the stage," Dove says during intermission. 
"It doesn't. But the good ones get funnier with practice. They tweak and 
polish their performances based on the audience's reactions to their set. 
You have to be like a surfer up there, rolling with the waves of laughter, 
adjusting to suit the crowd."

As far as venues to perform go, one could do much worse than The Rose. 
Rather than the sticky hole-in-the-wall bars so often home to these 
open-mike nights, The Rose is a majestic old movie theater from the 1930s, 
recently restored by proprietor Richard Boothroyd. Comics work the 375-seat 
theater from the sizable stage. Their voices project through the room, 
thanks to a professional sound system. Bright house lights illuminate every 
tick, twitch and tremor, and there are even the requisite wooden stools for 
propping up the water glass.

In addition to these open-mike nights, The Rose hosts a number of 
community-friendly happenings in its grand old theater. On Sundays, parents 
bring their children - and vice versa - to "Family Karaoke," where whole 
families gather on stage and collaborate on classic hits. And on Tuesdays, 
The Rose opens its stage to jam sessions. Musicians of all ages and skill 
levels play side by side, resulting in remarkable coalitions of often 
dissimilar musical genres.

"Medina isn't blessed with the same crowd as Lakewood," Boothroyd says. "But 
we do have people that love great music. And these jam sessions result in 
some amazing collaborations and occasions to network."

And if the roster of live national regional and local musical acts, amateur 
stand-up comedy, family karaoke, improvisational comedy and musician's jam 
sessions sounds to you like a hodgepodge of unconnected entertainment, you 
haven't spent much time with Boothroyd.

"All I'm trying to do is to give people the opportunity to practice their 
crafts, to make positive connections and to let them know that it is OK to 
be creative."

THE ROSE IS LOCATED AT 139 WEST LIBERTY IN MEDINA 330-722-4448 ONLINE: 
www.therosetheater.com

GET OUT AND ENJOY LIVE ENTERTAINMENT.

_________________________________________________________________
On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to 
get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement