Mettlesome

Mettlesome Theater is at Golden Belt, 800 Taylor St., Suite 9-156, Durham, NC 27701, with parking on site. [thisismettlesome.com] Mettlesome is an arts nonprofit. Its day-to-day operations are run by Operations Director April Dudash, and its teaching arm, the Mettlesome Lab, is coordinated by Lab Coordinator Zoe Wampler. [thisismettlesome.com] Its board of directors is listed as Hillary Yonce, Lauren Foster-Lee, Jack Reitz and Ashley Melzer, the last two also named as partners. The page carries a separate emeritus section of former board members and stakeholders. [thisismettlesome.com] Rose Werth is named a founding partner and stakeholder of Mettlesome. [thisismettlesome.com] Several of its people came out of DSI Comedy Theater in Chapel Hill, among them Hillary Yonce, Jack Reitz and Bam Alston. [thisismettlesome.com] The stakeholder Joshua "Rowdy" Rowsey was a North Carolina recording artist, actor and writer and a founding member of the hip hop collective No9to5 Music. The page records him in the past tense. [thisismettlesome.com] Shows named on the page as Mettlesome's own include Golden Age and Hush Hush. [thisismettlesome.com] In 2017 the company described itself as a producer of its own projects and as a support to other artists. [thisismettlesome.com] The About page opened with the dictionary entry for the word mettlesome — spirited, courageous, willing to face danger — and the page carried the line "Get Up. Get Out. Get 'Some." [thisismettlesome.com] The 2017 site listed its projects as Hush Hush, The Racket, Golden Age, Clarified Butter, Wit: An Improv Comedy Game Show, Two Months In and The Great Debate, and said its comedy, podcasts and live shows were produced in North Carolina. [thisismettlesome.com] Mettlesome turned one in September 2017 and marked it with an anniversary show on Friday 1 September, from 8 to 11 pm, at Monkey Bottom, 609 Trent Drive, Durham. [thisismettlesome.com] The show was made up of featured teams, bit shows and jams, with workshops and other events announced for that weekend. Teams and bit shows were invited to submit themselves by 18 August. [thisismettlesome.com] The casts of Mettlesome's Secret Society played on Friday 29 March 2019, from 9 to 10:30 pm, at Mothership, 401 West Geer Street, Durham. [thisismettlesome.com] The show was followed by a Community Jam in which everyone who attended could perform longform improv on the stage, names drawn from a BINGO spinner, at any level of experience. [thisismettlesome.com] The casts of Mettlesome's Secret Society played on Saturday 20 April 2019, from 8 to 9 pm, at Okay Alright, 401 West Geer Street, Durham — the same address the company's March listing gives as Mothership. [thisismettlesome.com] The company's own listing for that evening also carried The Racket, with Hush Hush the night before. [thisismettlesome.com] The Mettlesome Lab taught a graded course: 101 Intro to Improv, 102 Intro to Devised Theater, 201 Game of the Scene, and 301 Longform Improv — The Harold. [thisismettlesome.com] Classes ran six weeks, one evening a week from 7 to 9:30 pm, and were limited to sixteen students. [thisismettlesome.com] Instructors named across the 2019 calendar were Jake Ratliff, Brandon Holmes, Ashley Melzer, Jonathan Yeomans and Jack Reitz. [thisismettlesome.com] Classes were held at Okay Alright, Monkey Bottom and Durham Fruit & Produce Co. [thisismettlesome.com] On 20 April 2019 Caroline Cotter of the UCB Theater came in to teach two guest workshops, on the Monoscene and on the Spokane, each limited to sixteen students. [thisismettlesome.com] The 102 class was described as a six-week introduction to making original performance work. [thisismettlesome.com]

“Hillary performed regularly at DSI Comedy Theater, and now calls Mettlesome home.” [thisismettlesome.com]

“His memory is a blessing.” [thisismettlesome.com]

“Mettlesome produces independent, creative, and smart projects. We amplify artists work by providing networking, mentoring, production and marketing assistance. We keep audiences entertained with the best damn theater, podcasts, art and comedy out there.” [thisismettlesome.com]

“The show isn't over until everyone has had a chance to perform, all in a fun, supportive environment! All experience levels welcome!” [thisismettlesome.com]

“You don't need to know the password to get in.” [thisismettlesome.com]

“Rather than starting with words on a page, we’ll start with bodies in space as the instruments and building blocks for a performance.” [thisismettlesome.com]