Premature Punchine’s summer season has taken off!  Their first performance, at Ruta Maya’s coffee and bar in Austin, TX was performed on Sunday, July 17.

 (pictured: Cantu and Maye.)

The cast was Luis Zaragosa, Michael Mendez, Danny Cantu, Michael Verderber, and special guests Erik Helsing, and Austin-comedienne Maggie Maye.  Crowd-favorite games, such as Premature Quoteline and Party Quirks, were performed along with the skit “Wasabi Dog Delight”.  Maggie, Luis, and Mendez all did standup.  The performance, lasting from 9 pm until 12 am, was PrePunch’s longest performance yet.

 (pictured: Audience participant Iris, Luis, Michael M., and Danny.

Premature Punchline’s summer season kicks off in the state’s capital at Ruta Maya’s in Austin on Sunday, June 17th.  Show begins at 9:00 pm.  Scheduled to perform for PrePunch are Danny Cantu, Luis Zaragosa, Michael Mendez, Michael Verderber, and Aaron Salinas.  Several opening acts will be performing as well, including our good friend Maggie Maye!  Cover only $5!

Check out their calender: 

http://rutamaya.net/music

PrePunch will be taking a one-month hiatus following tonight’s performance in the Blue Room.  Last night’s performance included Luis Zaragosa, Debbie Gerd, Nicholas Zaragosa, Danny Cantu, Evy Alaniz, Josh Cavazos, Heraclio Gonzalez, Caleb Bonitz, Mark Pittman, Cosmo Venegas, and Michael Verderber.

 PrePunch will be returning in June for shows in Kingsville and in Corpus Christi.  Look out for upcoming shows and new venues!

Due to several scheduling conflicts, “Domestic Insanity 2” will be postponed to a later date.  A rescheduled performance will be slated for summer or fall. 

Premature Punchline, ZU’s comedy troupe, has begun the writing and rehearsals for our performance at the video game, anime, and comic book convention GATO Con.  Like the Christmas show, they will theme their performance around technology, gaming, science fiction, Star Wars, and other nuances of “nerd” culture.  The show will feature several new PrePunchers such as Alex Casarez, Josh Cavazos and more!!

Here is a scene from a rehearsal:

Picture are PrePunch actors Luis Zaragosa, Caleb Bonitz, and Director Nicholas Zaragosa.

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║╔╗║╔╗║╔╣╔╩╗╔╝ ★ NEW YEAR ☆ 2012!!
╚╝╚╩╝╚╩╝╚╝═╚╝ ￥☆★☆★☆￥ ★☆

A heartfelt thank you and happy New Year to all of our family, friends, actors, directors, cast, and crew!  Thanks to you, we had another record-setting attendance record year.  Our biggest success attendance-wise was “Relapse in Wonderland” which had a nightly attendance of rough 270+ folks braving the 40-minute long wait in line.  Similarly, Premature Punchline had over a dozen performances and had about 45 people attend each performance from July to December in Kingsville, Corpus Christi, South Padre Island, and Freer, TX.

But now is the time to look ahead to see what is up next!

[ ONGOING ]

TEXTUAL OVERTURE

“Textual Overture” will be a monthly series of play and monologue readings, poetry, experimental writing pieces, slam poetry, and even acoustic guitar jams at coffee shops in the Coastal Bend area.  For the first time, ZU is putting the audience in the performance spotlight.  Although much of “Textual…” will be scheduled, it will also contain an open-mic portion for any and all attendees to participate, read, or perform.

PREMATURE PUNCHLINE

The madcap chaos that is PrePunch will continue monthly shows in Kingsville and Corpus in 2012.  Expect new games, more skits, and standup.

[ STAGED PRODUCTIONS ]

DOMESTIC INSANITY STANDUP SHOWCASE 2

The first DISS was back in 2004 when ZU was first starting.  This year’s DISS will feature PrePunch’s Mark Pittman, Michael Mendez, Danny Cantu, and a slew of other standup comics. Coming mid-February.

REMNANT MEMORIES: ONE ACTS

“Remnant…” will be performance of 2-3 one act plays set for late March.

ACOUSTICAL

What happens when a depressed acoustic musician gets dumped by his girl (who leaves him for another girl)? Find out in April!

This is just a tentative list of what is in store.  There might be another happening (we can’t announce those), fire-breathing shows, and international performances!  Keep a close eye!

PrePunch’s first ever Holiday show was a huge success, breaking any previous Corpus attendance records by two-fold.  There was standing room only and, unfortunately, many folks left because they could not fit in the space!  For those who missed the show, we’ll be performing in Corpus Christi in the next few months, so stay tuned.

If you are sick of the holiday hoo-haw, then do NOT come to our Holiday-themed extravaganza show!  On December 30th at the Tango Tea Room in Corpus Christi, Premature Punchline will be having a holiday-themed show full of standup, skits, and improv games.  Some of the major holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s will be the topic of the show.

This show will be FREE so bring the family for some holiday fun!

PrePunch’s Holiday Extravaganza

Tango Tea Room, 505 South Water Street

Corpus Christi

Premature Punchline had its final show for 2011, tentatively.  The final performance was at The Dusty Boot bar in Freer, Tx for PrePunch member Mark Pittman’s birthday party.  PrePunch will resume in January 2012 with a possible late December Christmas-themed show.  The comedy troupe is still available for bookings.  Here are some pics from the show.

Zero Untitled’s 52nd production “Welcome Freshmen” presented by Premature Punchline, went over well.  See the show page for more details.

Premature Punchline presents “Welcome Freshmen”

Zero Untitled’s improv comedy troupe continues its wreckless abandon with “Welcome Freshmen.”  The troupe will perform a new show bringing in the new school year; the show will contain some of the best skits and improv games from the entire summer run.  [ ZERO-052 ]

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Se7en: A Firebreathing Showcase

Verderber and Zaragosa will breathe fire for TAMUK’s annual Fall Carnival.  Look out for them walking around the carnival, performance around 9 pm, for ZU’s seventh firebreathing showcase. [ ZERO-053 ]

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Relapse in Wonderland

On the tail of the interactive theatre pieces “Into Hell” and “Madness in Wonderland” comes “Relapse in Wonderland” – the sequel to the highly successful “Madness…”.  This piece will continue the insanity laid forth by the first “Madness…”, this time, however, Alice is back at the Wonderland Ward.  [ ZERO-054 ]

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The Tempest

A staged reading performance in honor of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s staging of “The Tempest.” [ ZERO-055 ]

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10 Years Later…

Written by Michael Verderber, this short film is ten years in the making.  And long overdue…    [ ZERO-056 ]

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Michael Lee Mendez’s “Loud Smiley”

Standup comedy returns with “Loud Smiley”, Premature Punchline’s Mendez provides his full-length show.  A mix of standup comedy, impersonations and audience-selected improv songs, this show is not to be missed. [ ZERO-057 ]

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Fate of Eights: A Firebreathing Showcase

Even more fire-breathing chaos in ZU’s eighth firebreathing showcase. [ ZERO-058 ]

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S h a t t e r e d   Embers

A one man show currently in development.  This drama explores America’s obsession with the superficial and weighs the penalty of such an infatuation. [ ZERO-059 ]

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Acoustical

Verderber’s romantic comedy about the acoustic musician who fails to strike a chord in the heart of his love interest.  Sometimes nice guys finish last and the helpless romantics are just helpless… [ ZERO-060]