Coventry comedy show donates to local charities

Chris Waterman and show Creator Deena Nyer Mendlowitz having fun in the improv portion.
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Four people get a word and then have a week to write a true story from their lives using that word as inspiration. They read those stories in front of a live audience and a group of five improvisers, who, in turn perform a comedy show based on these stories. That is This Improvised Life, running Saturdays at 9 p.m. through Aug. 27 at Big Dog Theater (2781 Euclid Heights Blvd.). All tickets are $5.

Besides providing a unique evening of entertainment, the theater also donates money from this show to charity. Money from the first two shows in August will benefit organizations picked from a hat, based on audience suggestions. Money collected at the third and fourth weeks’ shows will go to local charities Shaking with Laughter and Milestones Autism Organization.

Raising funds for charity while also providing comedy is not new to the show’s creator, Deena Nyer Mendlowitz, who recently returned from an intensive workshop at the world-famous Second City in Chicago. Since co-founding Friends with Benefits Improv with Kimberly Pride in 2008, she and the group have raised more than $4,000 for various causes. Their motto is: "Saving the world faster than Oprah."

“We don’t have a network or a magazine to worry about, so that’s two less distractions for us," Mendowitz has said.

Shaking with Laughter is a newly established Cleveland organization, whose mission is to fund research for a cure for Parkinson's Disease. Founded by Karen Jaffe, a local OB/GYN, and her husband Marc, a comedian and writer, after Karen was diagnosed with Parkinson's, Shaking with Laughter presents fund-raising events that include.

Milestones Autism Organization was founded by Cleveland parents in 2003 to promote life-long strategies of success for individuals with autism, from childhood through adulthood. Dedicated to improving autism programming in Northeast Ohio, each year Milestones educates 1,500 parents and professionals and receives more than one million visits to its website. Its services include parent mentoring and professional development, consultations and referrals, conferences and workshops, on-line resources and newsletters.

For more information, e-mail Mendlowitz at denm18@yahoo.com or go to www.bigdogtheater.com.