Photo Flash: The Overtime Comedy Hour

The Overtime Comedy Hour will showcase The Denials' twisted brand of improv comedy, but in scripted form. The mainstage show will be structured like TV's "Saturday Night Live," with every week featuring a different show with new sketches and music. That's five new shows over five consecutive weekends!

In the words of Denials member Rob Barron:

The Denials - San Antonio's number 3 comedy troupe for 1 year running! - are moving up to the primetime slot at the Overtime Theater! For a short five week run, the Overtime allows the Denials a slightly longer leash as they bring their brand of irreverence to sketch comedy! How could this possibly go wrong? The show involves new material every weekend as well as the Denials' own style of improv comedy thrown into the mix! When the Denials get ahold of sketch comedy, sketch comedy doesn't stand a chance!

Writers for The Overtime Comedy Hour:

Rob Barron

Michael Burger

Rebecca Coffey

Morgan Scharff

Joshua Thomas

James Venhaus

Performers for The Overtime Comedy Hour:

Carl Adair

Dru Barkus

Rob Barron

Lilly Canaria

Cary Farrow

E. J. Fischer

Rigel Nunez

Morgan Scharff

Josh Thomas
Scott McDowell will direct the show.

As an improv troupe, the Denials have been in existence for two years now and have steadily built a local following. Every Saturday at 10 pm, the players take the stage and entertain with improv comedy games and sometimes longer improv forms that take on classic movies, books, TV shows, and other pop culture. The troupe has grown in the past year, adding new members such as Joshua Thomas, Morgan Scharff, and E. J. Fischer. They attended the free improv workshops that are held by the Denials every week, and soon "graduated" to onstage performances. The Overtime Comedy Hour is the troupe's first attempt to create a scripted variety show, with some improv mixed in.

Location: The Overtime Theater, in the Blue Star Complex, 1414 S. Alamo, #103, San Antonio, TX 78210.

Show Dates and Times: February 25 - March 26, 2011. 8 pm Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. One 3 pm matinee on Sunday, March 13. No show on Friday, March 4 (First Friday).

Ticket Prices: $12 general admission, and $9 for teachers, students, seniors 65+, active military, and SATCO members. Tickets can be purchased online at www.theovertimetheater.net.

Information: www.theovertimetheater.net and (210) 557-7562.

About the Overtime Theater

In business since 2007, the Overtime Theater is dedicated to providing innovative and accessible entertainment at an affordable price. The shows are all new, original works, or unconventional adaptations of old classics. The Overtime Theater specializes in world premieres of works never before seen on stage!

In just three years, the Overtime has produced over 30 new shows, including four original musicals: Sheer Bloody Lunacy!, Pirates Vs. Ninjas, The Brain That Wouldn't Die: A New Musical, and Dr. "S" Battles the Sex-Crazed Reefer Zombies: The Movie: The Musical. Other notable productions have included The Good Samaritan, Poet Faustus, Sob! Choke...LOVE!, Action Philosophers, and most recently, the world premieres in 2010 of The Hard Bargain, The Happy Couple, The Life & Death of the Amazing Captain Piledriver, The Last Broadcast of Bailey & Long, and Broken Record. The Overtime Theater also collaborates with local visual artists, giving them a prominent local space in which to display their works in the Blue Star Complex.

The Overtime Theater has now moved to non-profit status as determined by the IRS. This decision has been made to extend the Overtime's mission of "art for the people" to the greater community, including through low-cost workshops in acting, playwriting, comedy improv skills, and art by working professionals.

The OT Board of Directors and Operational Directors offer their expertise and talents as volunteers, and actors and the production crew are paid stipends through audience donations and grant funds. Our ticket prices are among the most competitive in the city, as we try to keep the costs down and the entertainment as accessible as possible. We are committed to building an audience with an appreciation for new, outside-the-box productions - an audience that will also support other local theaters and arts organizations.

The Overtime Theater Board of Directors and Operational Directors for 2011 are listed below. All serve in these roles as volunteers.

Overtime Theater Board of Directors: Robert Barron, Michael Burger, Matthew Byron Cassi, Belinda Harolds, Scott McDowell, Rigel Nunez, and James Venhaus.

Overtime Theater Operational Directors:

Christie Beckham - Executive Director

James Hartz - Artistic Director

Rigel Nunez - Technical Director

Morgan Scharff - Managing Director

Jon Gillespie - Development Director

Jules Vaquera - Volunteer Coordinator/Company Captain