Buy the Book
The Louisville Improvisers at the SLANT
Culture Theatre Festival
Reviewed by
Keith Waits
Entire contents are copyright © 2012, Keith
Waits. All rights reserved.
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| Jenni Cochran, Chris Anger, Brian Hinda and Alec Volz. Photo by Lily Bartenstein. |
In Buy
the Book, The Louisville Improvisers trade in their usual menu of short
form improv games for a daringly extended format that takes its inspiration
from one source. A local author reads a brief passage from their latest book,
providing the raw material for the four-member group to depart on a 45-minute
journey into the absurd.
Opening night the author was broadcast anchor
Barry Bernson reading aloud from his memoir, Bernson's Corner: A Reporter’s Notebook, a section that provided
the image of a five-year-old aspiring newshound in 1952. For anyone familiar
with The Louisville Improvisers, the action begins much as it would in their
customary “day in the life” segments, with the facts quickly being forgotten in
the wake of a more imaginative version of the seed story.
Chris Anger took the role of little Barry,
The Boy Who Can Read – a child gifted with literacy in a world in which this is
a rare skill. The fact that his journey to adulthood encompassed summer camp, a
visit to the Great Wall of China, and involvement in a secret plot controlled
by two mysterious German agents named Hans and Dieter is indicative of the
inspired lunacy that sprang to life onstage. It was fascinating to see how the
improvisation grew from seemingly random choices in which the players (besides
Mr. Anger, Jenni Cochran, Brian Hinds and Alec Volz) are eagerly seeking
laughs, to a fully-fledged narrative structure, albeit a sprawling and
nonsensical one, that incorporated elements as disparate as the history of
carbon paper and Jason Vorhees (from Friday
the 13th).
Good improvisational comedy feeds off of the
audience, and opening night was graced by a good-sized crowd that found the exercise
a raucous pleasure, including a clearly delighted Mr. Bernson, who seemed to
take no umbrage at the extremity of the literary license being taken with his
life. The show format will be repeated during the SLANT Culture Theatre
Festival with other authors, but Mr. Bernson will return for a second round on
Friday, November 16, at 9:30 p.m.
Buy the Book
November 10, 11, 16, 17
The Louisville Improvisers
Nancy Niles Sexton Stage at
Walden Theatre
Part of The SLANT Culture Theater
Festival
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