Newport This Week - November 11, 2010

Page 14

Page 14 Newport This Week November 11, 2010

The Bit Players: Newport’s Masters of Improv By Meg O’Neil The Firehouse Theater is a rather diminutive, bare bones space with seating for up to 70 people, but the laughs that come from the crowds on Friday and Saturday nights are anything but small. That’s when the Bit Players, Newport’s own comedy improv troupe, take to the stage in their off-the-cuff performances where the only thing that’s assured is that the audience will become part of the show. Improv is a form of theatre in which the actors, in this case, the Bit Players, use acting techniques to perform spontaneously, using audience suggestions to guide the performance as they create dialogue, setting, and plotting extemporaneously. The cast of 10 Bit Players rotates weekly, as do the “bitsâ€? they perform, so the audience is guaranteed to never see the same show twice. Much of the show is determined by the crowd, who is welcome to shout out suggestions that set up the Bits when asked by the leader of the group. For example, in one Bit Players original skit called “Bartender,â€? three players walk into a makeshift bar on stage where they go in to get a drink and confess a problem of theirs to the bartender, who then dispenses his sage advice afterwards‌all in song. The audience is asked to shout out three problems that the players must instantly create a character and song for. On this

particular Saturday night, the suggestions for Anna, one of the original Bit Players, had to sing a song on tax evasion; while Vlad, another original Bit Player, who happens to be a bulky Russian with years of training in mime, had to sing a song about his desire to become a ballerina; and the newest Player, Matt, had a problem pertaining to a third nipple. Dylan, who played the bartender, then had to respond to each patron with a song that offered them help to resolve their issues. Most of the players have at least a few years of improv training under their belts. Ryan Hartigan, one of the players with the most improv experience (one month short of 20 years to be exact), says, “A lot of people think imrpov is something you can just do, but it takes time to do it, like any type of performance. What you have to train quite often is not just knowing the games or skits, it’s the willingness of the group to find them together. You’ve got to explore and find what works.� Hartigan went on to say how much the Bit Players enjoy the Newport audience in particular. “We have a lot of regulars, locals, and Newport visitors and they realize how part of the show they really are. Sometimes you have an audience that’s so quiet. And they’ll come and be quiet and we think they hate us and then something amazing happens. One of the most

See BIT PLAYERS on page 17

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Participating Restaurants 15 Point Road, Waterfront Dining

The Bit Players perform weekly improv at the Firehouse Theater on Friday and Saturday nights to a packed crowd that helps the Players set up scenes and scenarios. (Photos courtesy of Donna Maytum)

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Yesterday’s

Newport Nights

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