Improv - short for improvisation - is the art of creating in the moment. So naturally, comedy improv is the art of making that moment comical, typically by taking audience suggestions and turning them into off-the-wall, off-the-cuff scenarios.

Over the past couple of decades improv comedy has become increasingly mainstream. You've probably seen or at least heard of the television show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Maybe you've caught a performance by Second City, the breeding ground for many "Saturday Night Live" cast members. Perhaps you're familiar with other groups like The Groundlings or Upright Citizens Brigade.

The above-mentioned groups all hail from big cities like Chicago, New York City, or Los Angeles. But you don't need to plan some big, fancy vacation to see quality comedy. Rochester has its very own comedy improv troupes - and they're good, too. While the Flower City isn't famous for its improv (yet), it is home to a variety of improv styles that some bigger cities lack. Below you'll find profiles of four of the area's better-known improv acts. These troupes perform short-form improv, long-form improv, improv "sports," and even puppet improv, all of it plenty funny. They perform regularly around town, waiting to take your out-there suggestions into even more out-there territory.

Short and sweet

"Give us a movie genre," Nuts and BoltsComedy Improv member Bryan Adams shouts from the stage of UpStage 3 at the Auditorium Center during a rehearsal.

"Cheech and Chong," a teen girl yells from the back, laughing.

"OK," Adams says, undaunted. "And how about a style of music?"

"Mariachi," another voice yells, giggling.

"Alright," Adams says, now smiling. "Here goes: a scene in the style of Cheech and Chong Mariachi..."

Later, Nuts and Bolts co-founder Frank Storace will explain that the group normally gets more challenging suggestions during real shows. They've dubbed this short-form game "Styles" because it relies on the audience to shout out different genres and styles for the troupe to perform in to create comedy from otherwise ordinary scenes.

"We do only short-form improv," Storace explains, "because I like the more shticky, gimmicky, gag comedy. Long form is more theatrical. Short form is quicker."

Nuts and Bolts is Rochester's longest-running comedy improv group. Storace and co-founder Scott Hildreth started the troupe in February of 2000 when they began performing weekly shows at the now-defunct Club Vibes on Andrews Street. After a few years the group moved to Downstairs Cabaret Theatre, where it remained until just recently relocating to UpStage 3. In fact, in its seven and a half years, Nuts and Bolts has performed in five different venues, which Storace says contributes to the group's popularity - with each move Nuts and Bolts picks up a new following. "Once they see us," he explains, "they follow us to our next venue."

The group has also seen dozens of members come and go throughout the years. "People tend to come and then move on," he explains. "It's a launching pad for people." Currently there troupe includes seven members of varying ages and experience levels, ranging from a just-graduated high school student to St. John Fisher acting professor John Barthelmes to veteran members like Storace, who has more than 10 years of improv under his belt.

The troupe is also committed to fostering improv in the Rochester area. About two years ago Storace held an improv challenge that pitted semi-local (ranging as far as Buffalo and Binghamton) groups against each other for audience votes. Storace humbly admits that Nuts and Bolts won the audience vote, but says winning, while nice, wasn't the point.

Storace intends to hold another improv challenge this fall. "We like to open our home to promote comedy in the area," he says. "I want our audience to check out other improv groups. Audiences are also usually very loyal to one group, but if we can cross them it is better for everyone."

As Storace finishes his thought, a couple fellow troupe members run over and wrap him in a gold feather boa and glittery top hat. "Never a dull moment," he says with a laugh.

At long last

"Give us the name of a fake comic book," Shipping Dock Unleashed! member Ken Klamm prompts me during one of the troupe's rehearsals. The group is performing a comic book slideshow game that requires the performers to pose and then freeze while two others act as a writer and an artist, attempting to describe the scene set before them.

"How about ‘Spear Boy,'" I suggest.

"Ah, yes," member Kerry Young says, playing the role of the artist in this scene, "That really works with the drawings I have already." Member Marc D'Amico, playing the author, amends the title to "Spear Boy and Bludgeon Girl," "Because when I wrote this," he says, "I was thinking it should involve both sharp and blunt objects, but mostly sharp."

The troupe manages to spin my bad suggestion into a side-splitting 30-minute act. "We try to do mostly long-form style improv," troupe member Michael Curasi says. He explains that long-form improv is a more theatrical performance style where sketches can sometimes last an hour or more, often times based on only one audience suggestion.

"Whereas short-form is always going for that quick hit, that quick laugh every time,'" Klamm says, "in long-form, you still have laughs along the way, but the payoff is a lot bigger after 40 minutes than five."

The troupe's adeptness at the style is somewhat surprising considering it began almost on a whim just a little more than a year ago. In 2005, Shipping Dock Theatre wanted to put together a comedy show for New Year's Eve; the theater assembled a group of actors to perform a mix of sketch comedy and improv. The result was so successful that Shipping Dock Unleashed! was born. The group is now the only Chicago-style long-form troupe in Rochester.

The troupe is humble about its improv talents, crediting mostly its group chemistry - a term commonly thrown around in improv troupes. "The improv version of chemistry is an almost nascent, like a trippy, touchy-feely, telepathic feeling that a lot of groups have," Curasi says. "You work together and let your guard down and get this group mind where you can pick up on something without having to say it."

In their "real lives" the troupe's 10 members work a variety of jobs, from teaching school to firefighting to waiting tables, though many are also locally known, seasoned actors. Between day-jobs, acting, and their families, it can be hard to find the time for improv.

"In this town you can't really earn a living doing improv," Klamm says. "So if you're doing it, it's because you love it. It's an itch inside of you that you can never really scratch."

Games people play

"Play that spinning game!" a woman shouts enthusiastically from the audience at a show for Geva Comedy Improv this past spring. The four men on stage roll their eyes and then laugh - a mixture of nervousness and glee - before launching into the suggested game. The result is just as it sounds: two players act out a scene on stage while the remaining two spin in circles, awaiting their turn. After a short period the players switch places and hilarity ensues as they stumble, stagger, and fall while still trying to finish the scene.

The above is just one of many games that the players of Geva Comedy Improv perform, but it's an audience favorite and therefore oft-requested since it combines the troupe's already highly physical comedy with even less predictability. And a lack of predictability is, after all, what improv is all about.

Geva Comedy Improv has been making audiences laugh with a mix of short-form, long-form, and theatre sports since the troupe began in 2003. "Everyone has their own opinion, but we love everything improv," troupe member Tim "TR" Ryan explains. "I mean, you can tell more complex stories with long form, but we try to do the same with short form. We dabble in a bit of everything. We're improv whores."

The group performs four different types of improv shows: Theatre Sports, where two competing teams duke it out for points from a nasty judge; Micetro, an "every man for himself" elimination show where each member vies for points to be the last one standing; Gorilla Theatre, where members get to direct scenes in an effort to collect ribbons - the member with the most wins a "real live gorilla" (but rumor has it he's stuffed) and the loser receives the Chalice of Shame; and Improv Movies, a long-form event where the audience suggests a genre and character types and the members act out a movie with those recurring characters.

Being under the umbrella of Geva Theatre gives the seven-member troupe some advantages - it has fewer funding issues than other troupes because of Geva's large budget, but it is still given plenty of autonomy. "We have all the fantastic tech equipment and Geva is really a huge machine that fuels the fury," Ryan says, jokingly flexing his biceps in a weight-lifter stance.

"We're like The Monkeys and the other groups are like The Beatles," then-member Tim Goodwin adds with a laugh (he has since moved to Lake George to pursue his acting career).

"But seriously," member Brian Daniel adds, "because the improv scene in Rochester isn't that big, we make an effort to get along. Nuts and Bolts does great short form, Shipping Dock does great long form. We all have a lot to learn from each other."

Letting the fur fly

While an evening with Nuts and Bolts, Geva Comedy Improv, or Shipping Dock Unleashed! is sure to provide laughter for you and your friends, most of the shows are probably not suitable for your kids. That's exactly the gap Spinning Wheel Puppet Theater hopes to fill with its family-friendly puppet improv shows.

"As parents we've found that there is not a lot that is kid-safe but also fun for adults," founder Jeremy Sniatecki says. "Everybody goes for the cheap laugh or gross joke and we think it's important to be funny without resorting to the easy laugh."

Puppet improv is the newest addition to Spinning Wheel Puppet Theater's repertoire; its members have been producing dramatic puppet theater shows for children for years, performing sometimes heavy and complex stories as a form of "edutainment." One of their earlier shows, "Canal Days," focused on the story of the Erie Canal, and an upcoming 2008 show will focus on the Underground Railroad. Performing comedy improv with puppets was something that developed out of rehearsals.

"We taped a practice once and for a bit we were just goofing off," Sniatecki explains. "My friends watched it and they were dying and I realized that this could be really funny."

Spinning Wheel is composed of Sniatecki and his wife, Brenna Sniatecki, and their friend Rebecca Prouty. Sniatecki builds all of the puppets for the troupe himself, something he has been doing for more than 10 years. The puppet improv "cast" includes Black (literally a black-colored puppet), who is, according to the group, "the straight man"; Purple Fuzz (you guessed it, a fuzzy purple puppet), who they say is "all brawn, no brains"; and Blue, who they refer to as the "along-for-the-ride, relaxed" type.

"We're just the vehicles," Brenna explains. "The puppets all have very distinct personalities."

The troupe plays a variety of short-form games that require both child and adult interaction. Audience members are even called upon to control the puppets at times while the troupe dubs the action. While the show can be very hands-on, Sniatecki kindly requests, "Please don't feed the puppets."

Upcoming shows:

Nuts and Bolts: Saturday, July 14, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. at UpStage 3, third floor of Auditorium Center, 875 East Main Street. Tickets cost $10. For more information, visit www.nutsandboltsimprov.com or call 503-7815.

Geva Comedy Improv: Friday and Saturday, July 20 and 21, 10:30 p.m. at Nextstage, Geva Theatre Center, 75 Woodbury Boulevard. Tickets cost $7. For more information visit www.gevacomedyimprov.org or call 232-4382.

Spinning Wheel Puppet Improv: Friday, July 27, and Friday, August 31, 7 p.m. at Writers and Books, 740 University Avenue. Tickets cost $6. For more information, visit www.spinningwheelpuppettheater.com or call 482-9081.

Shipping Dock Unleashed!: Friday and Saturday, August 10 and 11, 8 p.m. at Visual Studies Workshop, 8 Prince Street. Tickets cost $8. For more information, visit ww.shippingdocktheatre.org or call 232-2250.

SIDEBAR

If you find you just can't get enough improv, here are some local college and university comedy improv troupes to check out during the academic year:

In Between the Lines: University of Rochester's comedy improv troupe; Swithun No and Paul Nellis of Geva Comedy Improv were founding members. For more information visit sa.rochester.edu/improv.

No Laugh Track Required: SUNY Geneseo's comedy improv troupe, co-founded by Shipping Dock Unleashed! member Michael Curasi. For more information, call the Geneseo Theatre Department at 245-5841.

Barrel of Monkeys: SUNY Brockport's comedy improv troupe. For more information, call the Brockport Theatre Department at 395-2211.

RIT Comedy Troupe: A mix of sketch and improv comedy shows. For more information, visit campuslife.rit.edu or e-mail ritcomedytroupe@gmail.com.