The ShowBlog

Whew! In a world where our last show is over . . . our new show is coming right up!

We're having auditions for A Tale of Two Genres: An Improvised Dickens Musical this upcoming week, and I'm super excited. Why? Because it's going to be super awesome. The show will be a musical in the genre of the audience's choice -- as if written by Charles Dickens!

We're going to build on past successes (Un-Scripted has done plenty of improvised musicals before) but I, as the director, am also toying with ways to use narration, since Dickens is all about the voice of the author. Every show is a learning process, and the cast helps shape the outcome. I can't wait for it to open! But, ahem, we're not quite there yet.

In the meantime: we're having AUDITIONS for the show!

If you're not signed up yet, it's not too late -- email mandy (at) un-scripted.com and choose your day; either Monday, Sept. 13, or Tuesday, Sept. 14 -- from 7:30 - 9:30 or thereabouts; audition locations are in downtown SF. Email us and we'll send you a confirmation with more info.

We're looking for a few good improvisors, who ideally have longform experience plus singing (and possibly dance). If you think this might be you, let us know! We'd love to meet you.

See you at auditions!

--Mandy

Week Five took place in a world where we actually had FIVE (yes, five)
different worlds!  Between our regularly scheduled shows, and the San
Francisco Theater Festival, we explored two extra worlds this last week!

Thursday, 8/5: In A World... Where the Disney Villains Always Win

It's a world with Match.com, CraigsList, and adorable woodland creatures
that follow innocent peasant girls around until they are beaten down by
the Prince she loves and baked into a pie.  The typical Disney ladies
(whose mothers are all dead, of course) start off in the typical Disney
situations (Princess not in love with the Prince she wants to marry,
Peasant in love with a Prince betrothed to someone else), but wind up in
quite unexpected places in a world where cartoon evil reigns supreme.

Friday, 8/6: In A World... Where Everyone Sings When They're Lying

Sing for your supper, and you'll likely get a plate of food in your
face.  When everyone's fibs are made fortissimo, people come up with
some creative ways to avoid obviously lying to each other. Whether it's
husbands and wives, teachers and students, or priests and parishioners,
everyone tells a white lie now and then... only in this world, every
white lie has a melody.

Saturday, 8/7: In A World... Where Everyone Has an Evil Twin

When you're born knowing you have a twin, and that twin is evil, you
have a choice to make.  Work with them, or spend your life avoiding
their mischief.  Or are those the only options?  How do you deal with a
spouse who switches places with his evil twin so he can have an affair?
And what happens when the evil twin realizes he's happy in the life he's
made in the mean time.  Good and Evil blurred and changed as we explored
a world where even the President's evil twin got some time in the Oval
Office.

Sunday, 8/8: In A World... Where Everyone Expresses Their Anger Through
Interpretive Dance (at the SF Theater Festival's Rock Circle Stage)

MUNI Schedules, Playground Bullying and BP's Oil Spill all raised the
ire of the denizens of this world.  When anger becomes artistic
expression, even the most mundane irritations will have people dancing
in the streets.

Sunday, 8/8: In A World... Where Everyone Can Read People's Emotions by
the Color of Their Aura (at the SF THeater Festival's East Garden Stage)

How difficult is it to be color blind in a world where people literally
wear their emotions on their sleeves (and around the rest of their
bodies, too)?  If Magenta, Fuchsia, Garnet, Ruby, Scarlet and Vermilion
are all just "Red" to you, how do you accurately judge your wife's
emotional state?  And what about those little blue pills that help you
stay Green when it really counts?  This world provided us with a wealth
of colorful situations to explore.

This week's cast:

Thursday: Dave, Larissa, Alex, Paul, Melissa

Friday: Christian, Trish, Mandy, Paul, Melissa

Saturday: Clay, Alex, Trish, Mandy, Larissa

In A World... opened last week to wonder and delight. Three worlds down, only twenty-one
to go! If you were there with us, you saw:

Thursday, 7/8: In A World . . . Where Everyone Can Talk to the Dead

Being dead can be great for your life. It can help you spy on your children, find
long-lost relatives you never knew, and even get rid of your pesky body so you can
spend more time at work. In this world, one dead man must make a choice: will he
follow a new love into the Great Beyond, or stay behind and support his pregnant
wife -- who's shacked up with his brother!

Friday, 7/9: In A World . . . Where Humans are Owned by Animals

Some humans have it made, with a cushy place to live and a wheel to run on while
their dog's at work. Some live in less friendly conditions, like underground with
earthworms. Others are strays, fleeing the Mancatcher to stay out of the pound.
In this world, can the pound posse plant an adoptee in the cat-mayor's house,
uncover the truth behind the spay/neuter law, and start a pet revolution?

Saturday, 7/10: In A World . . . Where There's No Personal Space

In this crowded world, people treat others' bodies as their own, and everyone's
pretty happy. Relationships are fluid as water, when people live and work literally
cheek to cheek. But ominous dread lurks behind this free love -- the only open
spaces left are graveyards, and when a child dies, he's replaced by a neighbor so
there's no empty space. In this world of universal bland affection, can one couple
find a REAL connection?

Tickets are onsale now for the rest of the run . . . who knows what intriguing worlds
are left to discover?

This week's cast:

    * Thursday, 7/15: Clay, Alex, Paul, Gina, Erica
    * Friday, 7/16: Dave, Clay, Bryce, Melissa, Erica
    * Saturday, 7/17: Bryce, Paul, Mandy, Gina, Larissa

Everyone put on your best Don LaFontaine voice (may he rest in peace!) and read this text with me:

In A World ... just like our own—with one key difference.

  A cultural norm.  A technological miracle.  Or even the laws of physics...

Each night, you determine the change, and the Un-Scripted Theater Company will be your guide on a feature-length improvised-theater journey to this new world. Spanning the gamut of genres, from science fiction to magical realism to just plain . . . different, the only boundaries are in your imagination. Find out how life is different, yet strangely familiar, In A World...

Playing July 8 through August 28 in a theater near you. Which theater? There can be only one. The SF Playhouse, at 533 Sutter St. In San Francisco.

That's right! In A World..., our newestest show, opens Next Week! Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm -- and we're back at the SF Playhouse again, hurrah!

We've never done this show before, and as you probably know if you're reading our blog, the show, especially a new one, evolves throughout the process, so come help us shape our new creation! On the first night of the show (and possibly the rest of the first weekend), we have a talkback after the show -- where YOU tell US what you thought. What did you like, what were you expecting, what could we add that would be awesome, that sort of thing.

And to help you out, you can get tickets for our subscriber price: 25% off! Just use the coupon code SPECIAL on our website between now and opening weekend, to get that awesome deal.

(AND, as you also may know, patrons at the first weekend get a special present: coupons to come see the show AGAIN at half price. Cause this is an eight-week run. We expect it to change a LOT.)

See you at the show, improv fans! Start dreaming of your alternate universes NOW.