Anubis Improv brings hit ‘The Armando’ to Powerhouse Feb. 2

Published 3:41 pm Monday, January 22, 2024

What happens when you combine the rich history of Southern storytelling with the unpredictability of improv comedy? You create a new comedy show, “The Armando!” Returning after last summer’s hit performance, “The Armando,” presented by Anubis Improv, will take place on Friday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m. at The Powerhouse.

In this interpretation of the classic improv form named after its creator, Chicago Improv teacher and player, Armando Diaz, an Oxford community member tells true stories that six performers will then use to inspire their improv scenes.

The guest monologist for this show is David O. Bell, playwright, actor and former Lafayette County youth court judge. The cast includes public health professor Hannah Allen, last seen in Anubis Improv’s Half & Half; Oxford’s unofficial comedian laureate Connor King; member of the first-ever Anubis Improv Oxford graduating class Dylan Kerr; improv veteran and Oxford Board Trotters member Tamara Coleman; and Anubis Improv founder David James Hamilton.

“We had a really special event with ‘The Armando’ last summer with Kaye Bryant,” Hamilton says. “The crowd was warm and energetic, the stories were amazing – it felt like a magical night. We hope we’re able to recreate that magic this time around.”

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Anubis Improv, operating in New Orleans since 2018, began teaching adult improv classes in Oxford in partnership with the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council in August 2022. It has hosted business workshops for Leadership Lafayette, Ole Miss Soccer and the Oxford Chamber of Commerce and was recently voted Favorite New Addition in The Local Voice Townies Favorites 2024.

Tickets to “The Armando” are $15 and can be purchased at https://oxfordarts.com/shop/product/5097-armando020224.

The Powerhouse is located at 413 South 14th St. in Oxford (on the corner of University Avenue). Parking is in back near the water tower. To learn more about Anubis Improv, visit (anubisimprov.com) or follow us on social media (@anubisimprov).