The Groundlings will host an improv musical fundraising event on Oct. 26, featuring Ana Gasteyer, Kristen Bell, Kristen Wiig and Will Forte. The event, held at the Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar, will benefit the Motion Picture & Television Fund to support below-the-line workers impacted by the strikes.
“One Night Only,” created and directed by Groundlings Main Company member Andrew Leeds, is a full production of a well-known Broadway musical. The catch? The improvisers are given the script and their roles only 24 hours in advance.
“These strikes have taken a terrible toll on our amazing crews, and it isn’t over yet. Even with the WGA strike ending, most crew members won’t be able to start work again until the SAG-AFTRA deal is ratified,” Leeds said in a statement. “Even then, many will be fighting to survive as they wait for productions to start back up. With One Night Only, we hope we can help as many people as possible, and at the same time give our audience an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime, and possibly insane night at the theater.”
Scheduled performers include Bell and the Groundlings current roster and alumni Wiig, Gasteyer, Forte, Jim Rash, Nat Faxon, Edi Patterson, Julian Gant, Michaela Watkins, Greg Worswick, Lyric Lewis, Jim Cashman, Allison Dunbar, H Michael Croner, Michelle Noh, Patty Guggenheim, Stephanie Courtney, Matt Cook, Lauren Burns, Jay Renshaw, Steve Little, Chris Eckert, Alex Bonifer, Emily Pendergast, David Crabb, Kiel Kennedy, Chris Kleckner, Tru Valentino, Annie Sertich, Eliot Schwartz, Samantha DeSurra, Tim Bagley, Jordan Black, Andrew Friedman, Ariane Price, Lisa Schurga, Laurel Coppock and Laird Macintosh. Talent is subject to change.
“One Night Only” is presented by The Groundlings in association with SenovvA Inc, and produced by Beth Wishnie, Joanna Leeds, Andrew Leeds, Clifford Murray and Michelle Noh. Wilkie Ferguson oversees musical direction.
The Groundlings Theatre is an improvisation and sketch comedy theater which has served as the springboard for several careers in Hollywood, including Melissa McCarthy, Jennifer Coolidge, Will Ferrell and Lisa Kudrow among many others.