BIG’s improvisational play ‘Unscripted’ is playing weekends at Hampden’s Mobtown Theater through Saturday March 17th.

CREATIVE PRODUCTION
WILL RUN IN HAMPDEN
THROUGH MARCH 17th
 
By Tim Young
 
“Unscripted,” the Balti- more Improv Group (BIG)’s initial attempt at a full-length play, began its run this weekend and did not disappoint.

The concept seems simple: take nine improvisational actors, put them on a stage with props, and let them perform for a long enough time to create a play. But what actually occurs is much more coordinated and complicated than that.

The production began with director Prescott Gaylord’s invitation to the audience to assist the cast: “Write the beginning of this together,” he proposed. Then from the few minor suggestions and props brought by the audience for the actors to use, the play began.

At the onset, it feels a bit rough, the actors clearly feeling each other out and developing a plot line that audience members may doubt will last; but near the end of Act 2, you realize that you’ve just seen something unique, approaching genius, constructed right in front of you.

Each full play is completely different. This night there was a salacious tale of a broken home in the Poconos (location chosen by an audience member).

CAST MEMBERS ‘DESIGNED’ THE SET

The play began with Megan, played by Emily Franzwa, and her mother (Bridget Cavaiola), who discussed their family relationships. Cast members, who were on the sides of the stage not in the scene, took cues from Franzwa and Cavaiola’s dialogue and quickly costumed the characters, in effect “designing” the set. Later those same actors would reverse roles to become onstage participants while others did the same for them.

In her second appearance onstage, Franzwa actually forgot that her name was “Megan,” announcing herself as “Rose,” but then quickly recovered to call herself “Megan Rose.” As the story developed, we saw new characters arise, loves lost, virginity lost, and lives lost.

It is hard to say that one person was a better actor than another in a unique situation such as this. Each actor was also a writer and a set designer and each played an equal part in the show’s success.

THE ‘VOICE OF THE AUDIENCE’

One standout performer, just because the situation permitted, was Roy Taff, who played “Herbie,” a common sense-speaking handyman. Taff said he wanted to personify the “voice of the audience” in scenes that felt deeper than what they actually were. His common sense statements were a hit with the crowd, which laughed at almost every one of his lines.

In the end, this can’t be called a play as much as an “experience.” You see the director work his magic onstage and almost wait for the cast to screw something up, but that virtually never happens. It’s also easy to forget that the lighting and sound are also improvised along with the acting, which adds a mindblowing amount of complexity to the show.

Eight incredible improvisational minds and one genius director come together onstage and somehow coordinate with a completely separate lighting and sound booth to create a wildly entertaining piece that no one will ever see again.

THEATER AND IMPROV AT ITS BEST

This is theater and improv at its best, right here in Baltimore, in our own backyard.

“Unscripted” runs March 8, 9, 10, 16 & 17 at the Mobtown Theater, a 68-seat venue at Meadow Mill, in the former London Fog factory in Hampden. For more information, go to www.BigImprov.org  (click here). Show time is 8 p.m.; tickets are $15.

In addition to BIG, Meadow Mill is home to a number of artistic Baltimore-based nonprofit organizations, including the Handel Choir, Baltimore Pottery Guild, Morton Street Dance Company, and the Baltimore Gemcutters Guild.
 
timyoungjd@gmail.com
 
Editor’s Note:  Tim Young is a Baltimore-based journalist and nationally touring stand-up comedian from Charm City. His work has been featured by Huffington Post and The Washingtonian magazine, as well as on Fox News, Patch.com, and Talk Radio News. He can be found on Twitter @timrunshismouth and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/timyoungjd.