As a Christmas gift to all of The Fools Fanatics out there – Vintage Theatre Company’s comedy troupe, The Fearless Fools, presented two Christmas shows on Saturday.

 

Audiences of kids and adults enjoyed The Fearless Fools Naughty & Nice All Day Christmas Play on Saturday, December 13, 2014 at The VTC Cabaret inside the Urchak Theatre at the Progressive Women’s Associations’ Uptown Event Center in downtown Clarksburg, West Virginia.

 

Playing on the Christmas tradition of Santa Claus’ “Naughty and Nice Christmas List”, the 3p afternoon show was a family friendly “Nice” show featuring G-rated comedy, Christmas cookies, and a visit from Papa (Santa) Claus himself. Then, the 8p evening show was a mature audience “Naughty” show featuring The Fools unique PG-13 blend of unedited, unrehearsed, and unabridged short form and long form improv comedy.

 

“It was our Christmas show and our final show of 2014,” said Jason A. Young, VTC’s Founding Producer and Artistic Director. “This set up allowed us to include everyone who has enjoyed our comedy over the last two seasons regardless of which ‘rating’ they prefer.”

 

The afternoon show featured a small group of rowdy kids who not only enjoyed watching The Fools comedy show but were also given the rare opportunity of playing with The Fools on several of the games. Then, once the comedy was over as kids enjoyed their post show cookies and punch, an improvised visit from Santa Claus capped off the afternoon.

 

“Doing improv for kids is a little new to us,” said Young. “However, this is one of the most enthusiastic audiences we have ever had. There sense of play was off the charts, and it ultimately felt less like a show and more like a Christmas play date for everyone there.”

 

The Fools took the mittens off for the evening show and unpacked a stocking full of comedy that delivered on their promise of it being their “naughty” show. The show also saw a changing of the guard of sorts for The Fools.  It was Steve Goff’s final performance as the leader of the troupe.

 

Goff is responsible for founding The Fearless Fools through VTC and has served as the troupe’s coach and host for the initial two seasons. 

 

Three years ago Goff challenged himself to do whatever he could to spread the magic and power of improv comedy through West Virginia and the region.

 

“I went to Chicago for 30 hours of training with the best, and came home with the plan of turning people on to improv, one workshop at a time,” said Goff.   “One year into doing workshops, I was approached by Jason Young of the Vintage Theatre Company, about the idea being on the VTC Academy faculty and teaching some improv classes.”

 

From those classes came the idea for forming a comedy troupe. Two years later, said improv team, The Fearless Fools, have played over 50 comedy shows, before a total audience of over 2,500. 

 

“It's been quite a journey,” said Goff.  “We had no idea if this was going to work. We played some really shaky places when we started, but this year's it's been solid brand-building gigs.”

 

Among the marquee gigs for The Fools this year include the WV Writers Conference in June, the WV EEO Training Conference in October, and WVU College of Business & Economics Christmas party, earlier this month.

 

“I am so proud of what we've accomplished.  I had a vision, Jason provided the organizational structure and gave us a place to practice, and then some very talented people showed up to deliver the comedic goods,” said Goff.  “This is not just an improv team, this is a collective of seven very talented individual artists.  The sky is the limit for The Fearless Fools.”

 

The current Fools roster includes Liz Rossi, Lauren Swann, Kasey Kesner, Christian Cox, Steve McElroy, Craig Snider, and Jason A. Young.

 

In 2015, Goff will return to doing improv and comedy writing workshops around the state, including one at the Bridgeport Library on Saturday, January 17. The Fools will return in March 2015 when they will host the Vintage Theatre produced first ever West Virginia Comedy Festival.

 

“Tonight was very bitter sweet,” said Young. “Steve has made a bigger impact in the first three years of Vintage Theatre’s existence than anyone else. The bottom line is, The Fools would not exist and all the laughs we have brought to audiences would never have happened had it not been for Steve Goff.”