All rights reserved. Copyright verge 2008, 2009, 2010. Content may be used with permission only. About Us. Contact us.
Schrödinger’s Cat presents Extreme Theatre Games!
A new improv troupe begins performing at Le Chat Noir on First Fridays.
“Freeze!”
A performer in her chair becomes inspired and takes the place of another on stage. She copies her predecessor’s position as a person looking up into the sky, and restarts the scene with a completely new plot.
“What is that?! Is it a bird? Is it a plane?” she inquires of her scene partner as she jumps around the stage.
To the audience it seems obvious that she’s trying to reference Superman, but then her scene partner answers: “It’s a bird-plane!”
The audience laughs. Undeterred, the jumping actress replies, “Oh, I hate those! Their messes can cover your whole car!”
Hysterical belly laughter is heard from the audience as the scene continues, now consisting of a discussion on how to clean the giant messes left by bird-planes. Suddenly, one of the performers stalls mid-sentence and a robed judge in the front row of the house blasts a bicycle horn, while the rest of the judges yell, “Die!” Michael Ray, the group’s musician, keys a classic “Wah-wah-wahhh,” and the scene is over.
This is Schrödinger's Cat, a group of a dozen or more local performers who meet at Le Chat Noir on Wednesdays to hone their improvisational skills and have some good fun. The group is co-directed by Gary Dennis, who hosts, and Krys Bailey, who runs lights. Dennis is hesitant about the ‘director’ title. He explains, “When we say we’re directors, we just mean we’re in charge of content. We decide which games are played, and when. The rest comes from the performers’ heads.”
The group has been around for five months now, slowly building up its number of players and games in an informal setting. The people who come hear of it by word-of-mouth. Many players are Le Chat alums and also appear in the alternative theater’s performances throughout the year.
The players arrive each week, chat and prepare for the challenge, free drinks and fun.
This last dress rehearsal, however, is all business. Gary Dennis gives the performers a pep talk about the upcoming performance, their first for a public audience, and the crew sets up costumes and props. The show is ready to begin.
The players come out and divide into two teams, currently named What’s New, Pussycat? & Your Mom’s a Beach! Then the judges arrive, dressed in long robes and carrying numbers. Gary Dennis obligingly coaches the audience to boo them. There’s a coin-toss and the winning team challenges the other to a game (which changes after each round). Each team then plays a short-form improv game. Situations are chosen by the audience. At the end, the teams are humorously given points by the judges, who demonstrate varying levels of bias, and the next round starts.
Even those who are not improvisational aficionados are sure to recognize and enjoy some of the games the group plays, including Helping Hands, where one performer stands behind another and acts as his arms throughout the scene. Other favorites include the Alphabet Game, Freeze & Justify (which was responsible for the opening scene of this article), and Lines from a Hat, where the performers must insert lines the audience has written for them in the middle of their scene.
Those who attend the performances are guaranteed an interactive experience. The audience is constantly asked for scenarios in which to place the performers in and, often, get to participate in the games themselves. The audience even gets to help the actors “warm up” by counting down from five before every game.
Improv is an exciting field, sometimes even more so for those who aren’t on stage. Michael Ray, keyboardist for the local band My Instant Lunch, has become the official musician for Schrödinger’s Cat and adds a great deal to the variety and overall effect of the show. He admits that improv is a new experience for him and it is as improvisational for him as it is for the actors. “I spend most of my time trying to keep up with the performers, and hopefully to stay a step ahead of them.”
The group’s next performance will be on Friday, February 5th at Le Chat Noir, and admission is $5. Information about Le Chat Noir can be found at www.lcnaugusta.com.
