may #4: improvised shakespeare co.

friday night i had the pleasure of seeing (for the third!! time) the improvised shakespeare company.

what: the improvised shakespeare company team
where: iO
accompaniment: dustin, emily, & aj!
drinkability: bar at the space!
show length: a little over an hour with an intermission
out of four: four/four

its funny how opportunities to see shows fall into your lap sometimes. i had been planning for the last couple of weeks to see the hypocrites' ivywild this weekend, until a facebook caption contest appeared for the ISC and i entered and (to my surprise) won tickets to the 10:30pm show on friday. just like that, plans changed. (fingers crossed i still get to catch ivywild before it closes!)

yes, this is my third opportunity to see the improvised shakespeare company. once when my mom was in town i convinced (see: dragged her) to see it (much to her surprise she loved it) and then later we took two friends to see it as well. this third time i think was the most polished of them all, and quite possibly my favorite of all three performances.

here's the deal: a group of 5+ actors (the company is comprised of fourteen actors who rotate performances) come out on stage dressed in simple black pants and tunic-like shirts. they ask for suggestions from the audience to base their improv for the evening around. friday night's suggestion they took from the audience was "sexy handshake", and off they went.

friday the performers were: blaine swen, matt young, ross bryant, brendan dowling and two other actors whose names/headshots were inconveniently not listed on the iO or improv shakes website. :) shortly after the topic is announced one actor steps forward to recite a rhyming prologue...you know, just off the cuff. then the play begins, complete with an act break, obvious scene changes and an epilogue. again...just completely on the spot (as improv goes.)

these guys are truly professionals. we all know from the little bit of improv rules that are discussed in tiny fey's bossypants or more recently from tobias funke ("yes, and, yes, and, yes, and") that the number one rule of improv is to agree to what your partner gives you and continue to move the show forward. these guys did this flawlessly! not only are they moving a story forward with different plot lines running simultaneously but they are doing all with an emphasis in shakespearian verbiage and tone.

there's simply no need for me to say anything more about the performances i've seen than this: these guys sell out their houses twice a night every friday for a reason. they're incredibly talented, incredibly funny and all work well together. as far as i could tell everyone got ample stage time and they all supported and included each other throughout the show. that in itself is impressive.

the only thing i'd like to see in future ISC shows is the addition of some females! as far as i can tell from the shows i have seen as well as the cast listing on their website - this group involves no females whatsoever! while one might argue that in shakespeare's time there were no females allowed on stage... this is the modern age, dude! i'd love to see some lady talent up there.

go see them. every friday night, 8pm & 10:30 at iO. buy tickets in advance!
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shows i'm considering for june:
-the hypocrites' ivywild
-the brown paper box company's aloha, say the pretty girls
-prop thtr's slaughter city
-TBD

join me, will you?http://www.improvisedshakespeare.com/

may #3: big love

friday evening i had the pleasure of seeing strawdog theatre company's BIG LOVE.

what: big love by charles l. mee

where: strawdog's space, 3829 n broadway.

accompainiment: dustin!

drinkability: beer & wine for purchase at the space. wine for me, champagne of beers for him.

show length: 100 minutes, no intermission.

out of four: three and a half/four

i've been excitedly curious about this show since i got strawdog's season announcement postcard in my mailbox many many months ago and saw my talented pal michaela petro laughing wildly in a wedding dress and wielding a chainsaw. i knew nothing about this show, but i knew i couldn't miss it. so, i nabbed a couple of tickets on hottix (love me some hottix) and headed to the theatre.

big love is the story of fifty brides on the lam from greece from their fifty grooms...who also happen to be their cousins. (you can now imagine why these fifty brides have fled on their wedding day.) the 'fifty' are represented by twelve women (and conversely 12 men are their grooms) with three women mainly highlighted from their group: olympia (played by sarah goeden), thyona (played by michaela petro) & lydia (played by stacy stoltz). they stumble into the home of piero in italy who reluctantly takes them in for dinner & a promise for a short stay. soon after the grooms find their brides and come in in tuxes, demanding to be wed. thus the struggle of the show. should these brides give in and marry their grooms? should they wait for true love? should they marry at all?

the biggest thing i loved about big love was all the commentary on men vs women, marriage, love, and equality. i'm about two and a half months away from being married myself to a man whom i chose (big love's marriages are arranged sometimes even before a child is born) so it was extra interesting to not only watch the show itself but walk out and have so much to talk about.

the only confusing part to this show was the addition of songs. i most definitely wouldn't call it a musical. i almost hesitate to call it a show with music. there were a handful of songs (both original as well as mash ups of popular contemporary jams...which were definitely decided on per strawdog as 'call me maybe' was not around in 2000 when this show debuted) peppered in which definitely added to the show in an interesting way...but in the end confused me as to what their role was and why mr. mee (or simply strawdog?) chose to add them in...and not make it a musical or the songs more prevalent.

standouts for me in the show were the performances by michaela as thyona...a woman who knows what she wants (and better yet: knows what she doesn't want), clad in fishnets and military boots she urges the women around her to stand strong and isn't afraid to threaten death to any man who gets in their way. she is manipulative, smart and cunning, but when she breaks...you break with her. 

her groom counterpart, constantine (played by shane kenyon) came off as a bit cheesy and overdramatic when he led the grooms on stage for the first time. he appears as a playboy who has no control over his temper & is consistently being held back by his 11 other teammates. later on in the play in an exhaustive scene with the two grooms paired with the leading females, he gets the chance to go on an exhilarating tirade of the expectations of men in the eyes of women/society. my opinion on the over-the-top-uncontrollable-unlikeable character totally shifted for me. (you know its a good sign of a good performance when dustin can sense i'm so impressed that he tells me to put my acting boner away)

the ending was sudden for me... mostly because i was left wanting more. cheers to the cast of big love and to strawdog for this show. go see it, you only have 1 more weekend.

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upcoming may shows:

saturday may 25, 7:30pm: the hypocrites' ivywild

join me, will you?

may #2: gentrify

friday night i had the pleasure of seeing the upright citizen brigade (east)'s GENTRIFY.

what: gentrify, a multi-act comedy show running every friday night at ucb east!

where: ucb east, east village

accompaniment: dustin & brittany (with gracious tickets from the awesome audrey)

drinkability: there's a bar! wahoo! we had wine.

show length: an hour

out of four: three/four

we just returned from a four day jaunt in the concrete jungle of new york city! i had never been before (i know, i KNOW) and dustin had only flirted with the city a bit during a couple of previous tours through there. staying with my pal brittany in hamilton heights in manhattan she showed us the city as if we lived there, avoiding the typical long lines of top-of-building sights and statue of liberty tours. instead she took us all around manhattan, through central park, to the met, here there everywhere...and friday night we ended our evening in the east village in brooklyn for some comedy.

a good friend from college, audrey, is working and studying at ucb and offered us some tickets when she found out we were coming into town. she suggested gentrify and we agreed. (thanks aud!!) we also chose front row seats...nothing better than being right up in the action, right?? i was actually incredibly surprised at how large the room is at ucb east. i've experienced many iO shows here in chicago & the room seemed double the size. either way, super simple with just a stage, some mics, and a single curtain, we were set to go.

gentrify is set up like this: they have their typical team who starts the show (according to the site this includes d'arcy carden, alden ford, kelly hudson, brandon scott jones, and justin tyler, but our cast was slightly different) with an audience warm up and a few jokes as a team. they take this opportunity to poke any fun at the audience they can (out of towners, what what!) and then to ultimately introduce their guests. we got the opportunity to see stand up comedians austin rodrigues, don fanelli & dru johnston, michelle wolf & peggy o'leary.

and then game on! each comedian gets about 10 minutes to do a set and the wonderful thing about the particular performance we saw is how different all the performers were. also: i've been with dustin for three and a half years now and i can count on one hand how many times i've seen him laugh as hard as he did that night. awesome.

between acts pairs of the team come out to comment on the last performer, make a few jokes of their own and keep the game moving forward by getting the next performers out on stage. my two highlights from the show were comedy team don fanelli & dru johnston, determined to convince the audience that billy joel is in every circumstance better than the beatles. also: the last performer of the evening michelle wolf. giant curly red hair (of my dreams!!!) she stole the show for me. you...go..girl?

anyway. then the team ends with improv from a suggestion from the audience. ours was "circuit breaker"...and the improv that followed was just about as exciting as the topic. but! alas, we loved the show and the experience and the wine (which i gave to dustin to finish. $4 margaritas at blockheads before the show made for shifty eyes in whitney).

this of course is just one of many many shows that ucb offers. i'd definitely return to see more talent in the city...and so should you.

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upcoming may shows:

friday may 17, 8pm: strawdog theatre's big love

saturday may 25, 7:30pm: the hypocrites' ivywild

join me, will you?

may #1: the robbers

saturday night i had the pleasure of seeing strangeloop theatre's THE ROBBERS.

what: the robbers by friedrich schiller

where: the side project theatre space in roger's park 

accompaniment: dddddustin

drinkability: you can buy soda at the ticket office. tis all. :..(

show length: 3 hrs with a 15 minutes intermission

out of four: one/four

what intrigued me most about THE ROBBERS and what ultimately got me in their seats was strangeloop's decision to make this formerly all-male (save one character) cast into an all-female cast. last year i was in an all-female production of quentin tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS and my first month of this blog saw an all-female cast of JULIUS CAESAR. i am enchanted when companies choose to do this because right off the bat they're making a statement. and you as an audience member have the chance to figure out what exactly that statement is.

the robbers (a tale i was previously unfamiliar with) is richard iii mixed with a bit of macbeth and king lear. its the tale of one brother (francis) who decides he wants to be the top of two siblings and seeks to have his father disown him, woo his wife, and generally remove his brother (charles) from his general world. death, deception, lies and corruption unfold in this three hour (yes, three) tale. 

the set was somewhat of an interior of a home, with a couple of simple staircases, small playing spaces used as bedrooms and balconies, and the main floor space with a few twigs, branches, and an idea of a tree/woods on stage right. an unspoken/modern pre-show begins wherein we get to see all members of the cast on stage walking in and out, grabbing books and items from the set, then leaving excitedly with their cohorts. shortly after, the play begins...with no real explanation of what the preshow exactly meant or stood for in any way as all characters change clothing, lose the modern appliances (soccer balls, headphones, etc.) and appear in 'period' clothing, never to return to the outfits & props as used within the first 5 minutes of the show.

in short i think the best thing that could have been done to help this production is some cuts. its a hard argument when i hate thinking how engrossed we are in our twitter society of 140 characters (or less) and instagram gives us just a quick visual into everything we need to let you know that we're currently doing. i'm not saying cut this play in half, but an easy hour could have been shaved off of this show. the cast had an opportunity to say a lot of beautiful and complicated things that i think would have been highlighted if they were simply that: highlighted.

getting back to the aspect of an all-female cast, i was curious going in to see if pronouns would be changed to reflect the all-female cast (something i also was curious about in JULIUS CAESAR) and was disappointed when they didn't. but at the same time i admired the strength and grounding the two leads (played by margo chervony & holly robison) brought to their roles. they are manipulative, well spoken leaders who aren't afraid to do what it takes to defend themselves. they also had a hefty responsibility to carry the weight of the dialogue in the show.

the stand outs to me in this production were pat parks (seen as old moor/father dominic/pastor moser but shining in the father dominic role) & letitia guillaud (seen as amelia). both had the best command of the dialogue and most emotional connection to the words coming out of their mouths. while not prominent characters, these two shined for me.

i walked away still unsure as to why brad gunter and the folks at strangeloop made the decision to make this an all-female version of this tale. sure, the women were perceived as strong. sure, they were shown to be manipulative and sword-weilding. (libby beyreis from babes with blades choreographed an awesome short knife fight about 3/4 of the way through the show. kudos.) but while a bunch of girls can be strong, tough, manipulative, and well spoken, it often felt forced: as if these girls were pretending to be boys pretending to be men...a band together in the woods a la lost boys style. i'd urge strangeloop (and any other company for that matter) to simply let strong women be strong women. you'll get your point across, i promise you.

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upcoming may shows:

friday may 10, 10:30PM (NYC): upright citizens brigade's gentrify

friday may 17, 8pm: strawdog theatre's big love

saturday may 25, 7:30pm: the hypocrites' ivywild

join me, will you?

may update//shameless plug

alright, one last time, the shameless plug:

richard iii is closing on friday night and its your last chance to catch me as the sad coked out lady anne. it's been a big chapter and a long run, so if you haven't had the chance to see it, get a ticket and join us at underground wonderbar on friday night! tickets available here.

i've got my may picks down. here's what i'm seeing:

saturday may 4th, 8pm: strangeloop's THE ROBBERS (discounted tickets here)

friday may 10th, 10:30pm (NYC): upright citizens bridgade's GENTRIFY (reservations here)

friday may 17th, 8pm: strawdog theatre's BIG LOVE (discounted tickets here)

saturday may 25th, 7:30pm: the hypocrites' IVYWILD (discounted tickets here)

again another month where you can see all of these shows for under $20! thats cheaper than a movie with snacks! insane. get out and see theatre in chicago and join me, will you?

april #4: much ado about nothing

tuesday night i had the pleasure of seeing the unrehearsed shakespeare company's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

what: much ado about nothing by william shakespeare

where: this installation occurred at mrs. murphy & sons irish bistro, 3905 n lincoln

accompaniment: many a pal including ally, emily, megan, & krista.

drinkability: this one was in a bar! perfect.

show length: just over two hours.

out of four: two and a half/four

if you're a shakespeare fan, especially a fan of the comedies, you've most likely seen, been involved in, read, or are just generally familiar with much ado. its a tale of love, mischief, confusion, hijinx and plenty of sexual innuendos as all good comedies are!

this interpretation is different though. the concept of the company is to put on a show in the style that we believe is as close to the elizabethan style as possible: quick, quirky, and off the cuff. actors show up not knowing exactly which roles they will play and are handed scrolls before the show with their lines indicated and only a few words of the previous cue line to give them an idea of when their line is up next. they have a script supervisor who jumps on the line if there is a silence gap and who will also jump in the action if the play gets all out of whack. the only other bit of help the actors get is a general outline of entrances per scene which is taped up on the wall. in the preshow we were informed that the actors were encouraged to not read the script or try to familiarize themselves with it (minus what they as actors who probably went to college already know). then, game on.

this formula simply makes for a hell of a good time, especially on a tuesday night in a tiny room on the top floor of the bar. the actors are darting in and out of the room and in and out of the crowd. they aren't afraid to ask you questions, indicate to you as a character, poke fun, dote on, and even cheers you (see above). the emphasis on this performance isn't perfection, its about sharing the text with a room full of happy drinking people who get the chance to yell their 'yea's and 'boo's without restraint.

due to the fast paced nature of this production the text tends to be over emphasized and over acted a bit. especially with this being a comedy i understand that the actors are playing for laughs, but several times throughout the night the flailing around totally lost me as to what they were saying. but again, its about the challenge to the actors to be on their feet and interpret as they go along then it is about perfect delivery, so i can put that to the wayside.

its also a little impossible to believe some of these actors were unfamiliar with the exact script as at several moments during speeches even actors would put down their scrolls and recite from memory. either they have an incredible previous grasp on the script (sure, its possible they've played those roles before) or the actors did a little cheating beforehand.

the program for the evening boasts much ado as unrehearsed's 8th chicago performance. keep up with their website and facebook page to see when their next performances roll in. can't beat a night of friendly shakespeare for a suggested donation of $5, can you?

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it's a new month! my may decisions have yet to be made, so keep an eye out and join me, will you?