Beasts, Brides, Spirits, & Genres in the Fringe, 2/9

[Roy Janik]

Here's the crazy plan for the Free Fringe this week (2/9/2011: The Sixth Show!)

The Bestiary, produced by Thedward Blevins

There's a pretty awesome technique/game in improv where you play your character by taking on the characteristics of animals in human form. So if you're a mouse, you might play shy but excitable.

The Bestiary takes that one step further. All the characters are animals. They cannot speak human language; they can only make animal noises.

starring: Brad Hawkins, Sandra Ybarra, Marguax Binder, Karen Jane DeWitt, Thedward Blevins

Spirit of Influence, produced by Mitchell Deane

The bareness of the improv stage is both its blessing and its curse. A few chairs, a few curtains, and our words are used to create everything in the universe. But there's so much that's unseen.

In Spirit of Influence, there will be an "unseen" person who provides the characters and scenes with subtext and texture by stating these things out loud. This can be anything from granting characters emotions such as "rage" or "euphoria" to giving them specific characteristics like "allergic to peanuts" or "has Smashmouth song stuck in his head"

starring: Mitchell Deane, Karen DeWitt, Brandon Martin, Sam Schak, and Heidi Rogers

The Library, produced by Justin Davis

We all have our own unique perspective on life. No two people are the same.

But what happens when all the people in a story literally come from different universes? The library is a long-form narrative show with each improviser playing from a different genre perspective. Science fiction, romance, horror, Southern gothic, quirky meet-cute indie movie, whatever.

One story, multiple genres.

starring: Justin Davis, Kacey Samiee, Nicole Beckley, Jon Bolden, and Karen DeWitt

Firth & Arjet

A wedding is the happiest day of a woman's life. And the most stressful. It can be regretful, exhilarating, and/or traumatic. Firth&Arjet present Always a Bridesmaid.... One gets to be a bride, the other remains just a bridesmaid. These two women bring the audience into the scene, chatting and flirting and swapping secrets with their reception guests, as they discuss life, weddings, guys, and anything else that comes to mind -- 100 percent made up on the spot. Wedded bliss or a wedded mess? With the audience's help, the answer unfolds.

Tickets are free, but you can reserve your spot here:
http://www.hideouttheatre.com/shows/thefreefringe

[Justin D.]

Here's the crazy plan for the Free Fringe this week (2/9/2011: The Sixth Show!)

The Bestiary, produced by Thedward Blevins

There's a pretty awesome technique/game in improv where you play your character by taking on the characteristics of animals in human form. So if you're a mouse, you might play shy but excitable.

The Bestiary takes that one step further. All the characters are animals. They cannot speak human language; they can only make animal noises.

starring: Brad Hawkins, Sandra Ybarra, Marguax Binder, Karen Jane DeWitt, Thedward Blevins

Spirit of Influence, produced by Mitchell Deane

The bareness of the improv stage is both its blessing and its curse. A few chairs, a few curtains, and our words are used to create everything in the universe. But there's so much that's unseen.

In Spirit of Influence, there will be an "unseen" person who provides the characters and scenes with subtext and texture by stating these things out loud. This can be anything from granting characters emotions such as "rage" or "euphoria" to giving them specific characteristics like "allergic to peanuts" or "has Smashmouth song stuck in his head"

starring: Mitchell Deane, Karen DeWitt, Brandon Martin, Sam Schak, and Heidi Rogers

The Library, produced by Justin Davis

We all have our own unique perspective on life. No two people are the same.

But what happens when all the people in a story literally come from different universes? The Library is a long-form narrative show with each improviser playing from a different genre perspective. Science fiction, romance, horror, Southern gothic, quirky meet-cute indie movie, whatever.

One story, multiple genres.

starring: Justin Davis, Kacey Samiee, Nicole Beckley, Jon Bolden, and Karen DeWitt

Firth & Arjet

A wedding is the happiest day of a woman's life. And the most stressful. It can be regretful, exhilarating, and/or traumatic. Firth&Arjet present Always a Bridesmaid.... One gets to be a bride, the other remains just a bridesmaid. These two women bring the audience into the scene, chatting and flirting and swapping secrets with their reception guests, as they discuss life, weddings, guys, and anything else that comes to mind -- 100 percent made up on the spot. Wedded bliss or a wedded mess? With the audience's help, the answer unfolds.

Tickets are free, but you can reserve your spot here:
http://www.hideouttheatre.com/shows/thefreefringe

I love what Free Fringe is turning into. Also, Roy changed my copy for The Library and manged to do so in a way that got me even more excited to do it.

[Katie T.]

Karen sweeps the Fringe!

[Brad Hawkins]

Karen sweeps the Fringe!

Not unless the closing act is Firth&Arjet&DeWitt. But she is in three shows, which is impressive… sort of a three-for-one. On a Thursday. There has to be some kind of name we can give that.

[Chuy!]

Shouldn't it just be a hat trick? Duh.

[Marc Majcher]

Those sound amazing. Fringe win!

[Justin D.]

Those sound amazing. Fringe win!

And indeed they were. Just for history's sake and so people can know, the chosen genres in The Library this time around were:

Kacey -- Southern gothic (think Tennessee Williams)
Karen -- Coming of age
Myself -- Horror
Nicole -- Young Adult Mystery
Jon -- Naturalism/realism (think Anton Chekov or Henrik Ibsen)

They all worked pretty damn well together too.

Now, I must go. The rose tattoo on my arm is spreading again. Its vines and thorns demand blood or it will take over my body. I have to feed the flowers.