Think thwarted meetups, wizened lesbians, and existential questions for ColdTowne Theater’s Pride & Seek, a new improv comedy show running throughout August that co-director Tess Hermes describes as “a Hallmark, rom-com kind of Pride show.”
The hour-long, unscripted play’s concept centers on a bustling, chaotic, glittering Pride festival, and two ex-lovers desperately trying to reignite the spark – a queer Hero’s Journey-type story structure. Pride & Seek’s directors – Hermes and Liz Brenner – are a lesbian couple brought together by improv, and the show has an entirely queer cast and tech staff, including improvisers Ras Alhague, Andy Gutierrez, Cameron Primm, Matthew Leyden, Katarin Nunez, Rachel Austin, and Nick Desai as well as Kris Raab behind the tech booth.
To fill out all the wacky Pride hijinks in the show, the cast plays with and stretches queer archetypes they’ve found in their own life experiences. “There’s so many interesting, niche parts,” Brenner says of the show, “and different kinds of characters in the queer community.” After rehearsal, they will often go out for drinks and talk over what sorts of characters feel exciting: people who have cropped up in their lives and sparked something. “I get to share the things that I have noticed in my queer experience,” Hermes says. “But then, Matthew [Leyden] will have a really different opinion [as] a younger gay man.”
“You know, at the end of the day, we’re just people, and we’re all very different, and an identity is just a piece of us,” Brenner adds. “I think it matters to be able to be playful with identities … and it feels freeing to be able to do that.”
For the reader who might be wondering how an unscripted improvised play works, the actors often have a loose structure in mind, usually starting with a planned opening and an anchor scene in the middle of the show that the group will collectively work toward. “That’s just a roadmap,” Hermes says, “but it’s not set in stone.” Sometimes they mess it up in rehearsal, but when no two scenes are the same in improv, the mistakes are what make the show work. “We aren’t taught in life that it’s acceptable to fail at things, but it’s part and parcel of the process of doing a show,” Brenner emphasizes.
Improv theatre has always felt like play to Brenner – something that feels like a crucial piece of life after her day job as a lawyer. “Doing improv made me realize how so much of our life is play,” Brenner said. “It’s so much pure joy to be playful.”
“I think improv changes the way you connect and interact with people,” Hermes adds, “and your ability to tolerate the unknown.” Beyond philosophical reflections on the theatrical form, she also believes “that it is wonderful to have a group of queer people laughing together, and I just feel like we fucking deserve it.”
Pride & Seek
Weekends in August, ColdTowne Theater
This article appears in August 15 • 2025.
