If you are interested in spending time in a wonderland of improvisation hasten your step to Impro Theatre’s “Twilight Zone Unscripted” at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank running through Sept. 29.
This is more than your average night at the theatre. It is an imaginative, fearless and bold trip down the freeway of risk and chance without a net. Eight performers create four scenes, different each night, purely unscripted and based in part on the classic science fiction television series “The Twilight Zone.”
The beauty of Impro Theatre is that each performer can act as well as do improvisation. Therefore the company offers an ensemble of experienced and highly-trained performers who invest heart, soul and spirit in every character they portray.
The ensemble has improvised full-length plays in the styles of such classical playwrights as Anton Chekov and Tennessee Williams and will soon be improvising works by the English novelist Jane Austen.
Directors Jo McGinley and Stephen Kearin have expertly cast the ensemble and gotten them to believe in the power of make believe.
McGinley and Kearin have somehow convinced their talented company that improvisation can be as powerful, if not more than, regular drama or comedy. And it pays off.
Standouts include Lauren Rose Lewis, whose innocence, sensitivity and imagination throughout the evening made this critic take notice.
Edi Patterson , whose wonderful sense of humor moves the scenes and the narration along.
Michelle Spears, who seemingly comes to us from another sphere, and misses not one chance to make us laugh, and, surprisingly, in some instances, cry. Hers is a performance of intelligence, wit and wisdom.
But it is Mike McShane who steals the show. Playing a different character in each of the evening’s four scenes, it seems McShane was born on stage. This regular on the television series “Whose Line Is It Anyway” gives all he has all the time.
This critic looks forward to seeing more of this powerhouse performer with the electric stage presence on the boards in Burbank and Los Angeles soon.
All in all, Impro Theatre’s “Twilight Zone Unscripted” is improvisation as an art form. As such it moves, challenges and inspires us to not only be better creative spirits, but human beings. What more can one say about a theater company.
Wed.-Sat. At 8pm, Sun. at 4pm PRICES: Weekdays: (Wed/Thurs): $34.50-$37.00 Weekends (Fri/Sat/Sun): $39.50-$42.00 Student Rate: (valid student ID): $27.00 TICKETS: (818) 955-8101 WHERE: Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91505
