BRISTOL – Though the audience laughed and the judges said they did a good job, Syracuse’s comedy improv troupe failed to win the Comedy Criminals Improv Comedy Festival Saturday. This was the second year for the comedy competition. Main On Main, Syracuse’s troupe, won the competition in 2014. Main On Main had advanced to the finals after competing in the preliminary rounds May 2 at the Elkhart Civic Theatre at the Bristol Opera House. The winning team Saturday – by audience and judges’ votes – was GoProv out of Goshen. In their performance, GoProv did scene work, played several comedy improv games and played the “Second Most Dangerous Improv Game,” which required one actor to keep their head in a bucket of water while a scene was played out on stage. By winning the competition, GoProv will return to the theater this summer and do a full-length show. The third team competing in the finals was Same Difference from Valparaiso. A fourth team, Torp, from Benton Harbor, Mich., was unable to return to Bristol for the finals. In Same Difference’s performance, they played several improv games. Main On Main used mostly scene work. A total of six teams were scheduled to compete in the preliminaries, but Business Fish, from Chicago, Ill., failed to show. Disposable Theatre, also of Valparaiso, did not advance to Saturday’s final round. After GoProv was announced as the winner, all three teams in the finals joined together on the stage for the improv comedy game freeze tag. Celebrity judges included Jill Olson, founder of Storytown, Chicago; Marcia Fulmer, entertainment journalist; Gordy Young, television and radio host; and Jessica Hardy, Chicago Comedy Film Festival founder. Hardy and Young were returning judges from the 2014 competition. Comedy Criminals will return to the Elkhart Civic Theatre April 23 and 30. For more information about Main On Main, visit its Facebook page at facebook.com/ImprovLoL For more information on the Elkhart Civic Theatre, visit it online at elkhartcivictheatre.org
