Season Three, Episode 2 – Holodeck Follies – Divergency
Last night’s show was entertaining for the performers and audience alike. I won’t be able to capture the essence of the night, trying to share references, puns, or scenarios would fall flat by comparison, so let me say my thank-yous:
- The Holodeck Follies opening set was a joy to perform. We played with (and within) our format and, more importantly, set up each other for great moments. Thank you to Alan, Jason, Lara, and Zach for joining me in the silliness.
- Gavin Stephens was amazing! He has great jokes about being a black nerd (close to my heart), living in Hamilton/growing up in Scarborough, and echo-location. You should check him out when he does a set in your area.
- Non-Trekkie improvisers were invited to join us for some Black Trek. They were thrown into the deep end but handled themselves with grace and charm. It helps that they were a funny group! Thanks to PHATT al, Coko & Daphney, and Brandon Hackett for joining us!
- I continue to be proud to call The Social Capital Theatre my improv home. I love playing there and how accommodating and supportive they are for producers and performers. Thank you to Ralph and Carmine, and to Gord for teching the show.
- Thanks to Andie for live-Tweeting the show! View her snaps and quips, but make plans to come to the next show because improv is ephemeral and the moments are hard to capture for those who weren’t there!
“[T]his improvisational comedy show will delight Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike.” – John K. Kirk
For those who missed it, the USS Albatross adventure was captured by Jonathan Chiovitti.
Holodeck Follies – Improvised Star Trek Variety Comedy
Laugh Long and Prosper
Our next Holodeck Follies (March 4th, 2015) will feature a stage full of strong female performers. You won’t want to miss it!
The Dandies 
Hey there – the February show was my first time attending, after having known about the show and been interested in attending for awhile. Unfortunately I left feeling somewhat uncomfortable and even offended, and with a “Women of Trek”-themed show coming up, I feel compelled to post as to why.
It was really frustrating for me that two of the guest stars didn’t know much about Trek. While I’m sure they’re great comedians and improv-ers in their own right, it was frustrating to watch kickass female characters reduced to dumbed-down stereotypes, trying to meet men in a bar. Uhura and Guinan are both wise, strong, amazing examples of women in television – something that Trek is really, really good at. The place of women in the Star Trek universe has always been something near and dear to my heart about the series, and it was disenheartening to see the way this played out – especially combined with Worf’s killing of so many holodeck females at the very end (the guy playing Worf was generally very funny and I appreciated his knowledge of the universe, but that part did make me pretty uncomfortable).
Trek exists in a wonderful, friendly, “post-feminist” universe (there’s a great video on this – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opk_7ra_q9o), full of amazing women who know they can do more than Guinan and Uhura did here and don’t live in fear of events like “GamerGate”, which is all I could think of during Worf’s holodeck experience. I really hope that side of Trek will be more evident at the “Women of Trek” event.
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Fair critique, thank you! Improv can sometimes go dangerous, uncomfortable places, but know the performers were not acting from a malicious place.
Star Trek is rife with systemic misogyny and racism yet we can strive to portray the best of both worlds rather than the worst.
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That being said, I had hoped for a more enlightened set. I hope the same for March 4th.
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