#35 - Summer Mini-Update

It’s July.

Dallas is experiencing heat index values near 110 degrees.

And as I slowly start to assemble an interlocking set of systems, I remind myself that something is better than nothing at all.

Here’s what’s been up lately. An amuse bouche. We’ll save the main course for next time.

Denver, we’re coming for you! Queer improv troupe Butt Gay will perform at the RISE Comedy Festival on Saturday, August 1st. We’re closing out the block at The Hideaway at 9:30pm - come watch us give an improvised rendition of your favorite movie…but gay.

Tickets here - and while you’re at it, check out our fellow Dallas performers Three Star General at their 6:30pm time slot the same day!

Recent Gigs

Yes, Ann Improv Fest

My long-form improv team Black Tie Casual attended Ann Arbor’s premier improv festival in June. This is a photo taken of us on just a few hours of sleep taking advantage of hear.say brewing’s nearby food truck before heading on stage.

Y’all, especially considering this was the first time this festival has gone up? I don’t think we could have had a better time. We all got to meet so many nice, talented, enthusiastic people and managed to execute Midwestern Goodbyes at multiple parties over the course of the weekend. Teams from small towns and major cities across Michigan and beyond all came together to make this event a success and I will never get tired of learning an improv scene’s unique take on the universal art form of make-em-ups.

We wanna come back! And if you have an improv team, you reading this, you should apply! We’ll meet you in graffiti alley.

Walla & Bits

Since my last update, I’ve provided additional voices for the following projects, available to stream on Crunchyroll:

• The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Episode 6

• The Quintessential Quintuplets Summer OVA, Episode 4

• Clevatess Season 2, Episode 2

Featured Role: Tsube, Classroom of the Elite Season 4

I play Tsube in “Classroom of the Elite” Season 4 Episode 14, and she an interesting example of a type of character that shows up more often than you’d think.

“Classroom of the Elite” is a long-running psychological thriller set in a school for gifted teens, some of whom have been genetically engineered to become the best of the best. It has a LOT going on story-wise and its source material is a good dozen light novels deep at this point. Kind of similar to a certain franchise about wizards, it’s set in a school and the main character is progressing through several grades throughout the story, AND because by virtue of attending this school you’re expected to be special and distinct, there are a lot of characters running around who have their own thing going on. Not everyone can, or should be, totally invested in the main storyline - some of these kids are just going to school and trying their best not to flunk out.

Enter Class B. ALSO much like a certain wizard-centric franchise, there are four classes per year - you’ve got your Braves, your Smarts, your Snakes, and Class B is ABSOLUTELY your Puffs. They’re described as “good-natured kids”, the second-highest performers in the school by virtue of working together well and being nice to everyone. Tsube is a member of this class, and by all accounts appears to be a well-adjusted, sporty, outgoing, friendly person. In the light novels she has a lot of friends who are a little more integrated into the larger plot, but for the most part she’s…I don’t know, studying? Hitting the gym? I found one character breakdown that says she really likes bugs but it seemed AI-generated so I’m not sure how much water it holds. Heck, the main wiki for the show doesn’t even have a picture of her (for the record, whoever runs the wiki, she’s second from the left).

But she has a name. And a distinct character design (I didn’t see any other women in this school approach this level of soft butch presentation). And if she survives this place she’ll go on to do great things. And of all the voice actors, I’ve been chosen to give her life for the couple of minutes she’s on screen, take what little I know and make choices that feel true. She may return, she may not, and either way she remains a part of this sprawling, intense story. And so do I.

Huge thanks to Helena Walstrom for bringing me into the fold. And for fans of CoE, I’m glad to have contributed to this story, even in a small way.

The Worst of All Possible Worlds — Guest Spot, Episode 250

My bud AJ Ditty is a host and co-producer of a podcast that is now hundreds of episodes long. He, Josh, and Brian have been covering “case studies in the pop culture of a dying empire” for more than five years and I joined their merry band in their latest public episode.

There are so many reasons why this is cool that aren’t immediately obvious.

• AJ and I first became friends in college during a production of The Crucible and now we’re both working professionals who can still manage to collaborate on weird, earnest, fun art.

• Undertale is a game I tore through when I was at my lowest, and revisiting it by giving my spin on characters folks have very strong feelings for…well, it fills me with determination.

• This is the first paid VO project where I’ve gotten to sing in-character (to wildly intricate lyrics AJ wrote to one of the most ambitious pieces of music in modern gaming, my god man, I’m still in awe).

• As of this episode, Worst of All Possible Worlds is a SAG-AFTRA approved podcast.

AJ, Brian, and Josh have made something amazing here, and you’ll be hard pressed to find another podcast with this specific blend of hard-hitting media analysis, off-the-wall absurdism, and genuine emotional depth. Pick an episode from their backlog and settle in. I myself am strapped in for the next 250 episodes.

Final Thoughts

The following bullets are from my current project notebook; I place them here out of context to give a sense of what I’m mulling over midway through the year.

• Days off, when scheduled and upheld, help SO much.

• Short-term projects should be reserved for “extra” weeks, otherwise they just add to the mental load.

• “Research”, if not scheduled as its own thing, can be used to procrastinate.

• You cannot force people to support you, or trick people into community.

• My schedule has officially become too complex for Todoist to handle.

Hollis Beck is a performer and writer who crafts narratives about queer identity, found families, and people who try very hard. More information can be found on her website.