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A weekly look at creativity, arts, and culture in southwest Michigan, hosted by Zinta Aistars.Fridays in Morning Edition at 7:50am and at 4:20pm during All Things Considered.

Art Beat: Crawlspace Eviction Gets "Soupy"

Crawlspace Comedy Theatre

Crawlspace Eviction entertained audiences in the Kalamazoo area for 16 years. It has weekly performances, including open-mic and stand-up comedy every Monday, and improv comedy twice a month.

The Crawlspace Comedy Theatre company is moving into a new venue formerly owned by First Baptist Church on West Michigan Avenue. It’s an exciting time for the company. Dann Sytsma is the owner and director overseeing it all.

Art_Beat-Crawlspace-Full-Web.mp3
A conversation with Dann Sytsma of Crawlspace Eviction

The stage jitters Sytsma once felt when he began to perform for audiences passed a long time ago. "After a while, you really start to learn the power of team and the power of connection,” Sytsma says. “All that fear starts to go away. You can have the worst day imaginable, and all of a sudden, when you get around these people, when you start engaging in the process, then the fear goes away. Everything you have experienced in the day is still there, but you get this new lens to look through and a goal to work with the team to create something new and different.”

Credit Crawlspace Theater
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Crawlspace Comedy Theatre

The 16th season of Crawlspace Eviction begins September 21, 2018, with a weekend of shows entitled on the theme “Ramen.” General admission runs $13 to $15. Season tickets cost $89.

“We like to have all our seasons run on a single theme, and this season it’s inspired by soup,” Sytsma says. “Also, we’ll be selling season tickets. We actually made them a little cheaper, and you get an extra weekend of shows—nine weekends instead of the usual eight.”

The 10th Annual Kalamazoo Improv Festival will be held October 19 and 20.

“This is going to be a big one,” Sytsma says. “We’ll be bringing back one of our most popular improvisers, Craig Uhlir from Chicago, who performed at the festival back when it first started. We’ll also be featuring a live recording of the internationally known podcast Gettin’ Nuts, which is presented by its sister podcast, the extremely popular Hello from the Magic Tavern. It’s going to be a great way to honor the Festival’s past and continue to build upon it.”

For more information on events and tickets, contact Dann Sytsma at (269) 599-7390 or by email at dann (at) crawlspacetheatre (dot) com .

Listen to Art Beat on WMUK every Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.

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Zinta Aistars is our resident book expert. She started interviewing authors and artists for our Arts & More program in 2011.
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