Friday, March 23rd 2012

Jim, Dylan, and Stephanie in
Doo Run song for Daphnie & Riley



The balmy spring evening brought a moderate gathering to the Firehouse Theatre for the Bit Player’s Friday night performance.  Although somewhat tranquil at the start of the show, the crowd soon warmed as the players (Stephanie Conrad, Tim Bric and Jim Foley) recognized two audience members, Daphne and Riley, who were celebrating their 5^th Wedding Anniversary with a Doo Run Song.



Stephanie and Tim in "Revolver"

Jim and Dylan in "Revolver"

The Bit Players had the audience’s attention with a bit called “Revolver”, a scene game that rotates players partnered with each other through different scenes.  Stephanie and Tim, given the suggestion of “romance” by the audience, settled into a quirky, disturbing set of scenes framed with restraining orders and bizarre obsession.  As the lovesick Stephanie professed her love to Tim, Tim responded with “I would love it if you would just leave me alone!”, as the audience erupted with approval.  The pairing of Dylan Eberle and Stephanie brought them the suggestion of a “sad balloon” which evolved into a scene with Dylan, an Eyeore-like character, eventually attempting to commit suicide with a balloon gun.  The pairing of Dylan and Jim given the suggestion of Pokémon, found Jim singing very bad Japanese to Dylan causing Dylan to resurrect his balloon gun from his other scene and kill himself rather than be subjected to any more of Jim’s bad Asian-styled songs.

The Bit Players rolled into the second set and captured the audience with the ever-entertaining “Radio Show”.  Tonight’s episode entitled “Pirate Radio” entranced the crowd who were plunged into the darkness of the theatre, and inundated with a strange tale of piracy, narrated by Dylan.  In the story, we were taken on a pirate ship to the coast of Argentina with the ship’s captain and hero, Johnny Greenboots.  An epic battle ensues with the villain of the story, Lisa Scallywag tying Johnny Greenboots to the mizzen mast on the poop deck. But Johnny knows all too well that “Girls can’t tie knots.”  Then the pirate ship is engulfed in a squall and our hero and villain form an alliance and sail the ship out of danger to the cheers of the crowd.

Vlad interviews Stephanie, Tim, and Dylan
(Mrs. Roosevelt the Astrologer) in "MoonDoggy"

MoonDoggy  was up next on the docket for the players.  This bit involves three players (Dylan, Stephanie and Tim) who speak in one voice and as one character.  This character is also an expert on a topic provided by the audience.  Our interviewer, Vlad Tenenbaum, asks questions of our “expert” on the topic of expertise.  Tonight, our expert in astrology,  Mrs. Roosevelt was able to tell the future not only by reading palms and reading the earth’s lines, she also had the aid of her “warjew”…  Further explanation of this mysterious object revealed that a “warjew” was a soldier who was also Jewish.  The audience also had some questions for the expert.  When asked “What is the Milky Way?, Mrs. Roosevelt deftly replied, “It is a part of space made of nougat.”   Also, when asked, “Who will be the next President?” our expert, without hesitation, replied… “ME!”

Dylan and Jim in "Puppets"
assisted by audience members Tom & Cheryl

The energy of the audience was high and soon to be raised even higher as two members of the audience Tom & Cheryl, celebrating their 2^nd year together, were called up on stage to help out in a scene called “Puppets”.   Tom & Cheryl  got to bend and move the players, Jim and Dylan, in awkward positions, all the while the players justifying their positions, making sense in the scene.



Vlad, Dylan, and Jim in "Epic Poem"
"The Day Jane Danced"



However, the Bit Players were not done with assists from the audience.   In the next bit,  Jane,  an audience member was regaled in “Epic Poem” fashion in a poem about her secret desire entitled, “The Day Jane Danced” starring Vlad, Dylan, and Jim.

The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday night at 8:00pm at the Firehouse Theatre, 4 Equality Park Place (off Broadway), Newport, RI 02840.  Please call the box office for reservations   

     401-849-FIRE (3473) 

And as always, it is BYOB!

Saturday, March 17, 2012 (Happy St. Patrick's Day)

It seemed that the Newport miscreants had had their fill of St Patrick’s Day revelry and headed for their dark basement dwellings to work off their two-day drunk.  The streets were left to the respectable, moderate folk who found their way to the Firehouse Theatre which provided them with an evening of laughter and escape from the devastation which overtook their town earlier in the day.

Ryan, Neal, Stephanie, Jim, and Tim
perform "Story Styles"

The Bit Players did not disappoint as they began their first set with “Story Styles” a narrative game where each story teller conveys their version of the story in their own unique style.  We learned about Basil and his love of French fries.  As the story wound through gleeful, pop culture TMZ references, the childlike innocence of Popeye and a French fry loving, cartoon cat.  The story soon meandered into Victorian era,  Oscar Wilde dramatics, ending in Puritanical Boston and Nathanial Hawthorn’s Scarlet Letter.  This was where Basil found himself about to be stoned to death.  Basil standing before God tore open his shirt revealing the Scarlet French Fry, and then passed away before the townspeople’s very eyes.

Neal sings to Bartenders, Stephanie and Jim

Ending the first set with the Bit Player signature piece, “Bartender” Neal Leaheey crooned about his “Monster-In-Law”.  Bartender, Stephanie Conrad offered her judgment of his mother-in-law, believing Neal’s wife to be the Devil’s Spawn. Vlad Tenenbaum regaled the audience with his song about discovering a new way to play music on his broken zipper.  Bartender Jim Foley compared Vlad’s new music stylings to Kurt Cobain with Vlad’s music giving pleasure in the pain.  Tim Bric entertained a tale about his robot disobeying him, keeping Tim from accessing porn sites because his Wifi was down.  Stephanie offered guidance to Tim to use “Manual Doodling” and access the pretty ladies in his mind.  Rounding out the bit, Ryan Hartigan sang about his obsession with Billy Joel, the wasteland of Rhode Island… Central Falls, and his pick-up line “Sick of Dancing With Myself”.  Jim too lamented about Central Falls. And although Jim sang about the bright spot of Central Falls, native Viola Davis, who lost the Oscar to Meryl Streep, Jim offered the idea of Ryan possibly hooking with Ms Davis.  However, their nuptials would probably not result in a White Wedding.



Ryan gets advice from Jim and his porpose wife, Neal



In the second set of the night the Bit Players performed a Mini-Musical, “At The Beach”.  This had the audience cheering as we saw our Lifeguard hero (Ryan) reluctantly conquer his demons, (sharks and electric eels too) of losing a swimmer.  Ryan is taken under the wing of an old, crusty Lifeguard (Jim) who married a porpoise (Neal).  Jim trains Ryan and gives him a new outlook on his job.  Oddly a Russian spy (Vlad) enters the scene who tries to abduct women from the beach.  Ryan saves the day and protects the woman (Stephanie) from the Russian. A tug-O-war ensues…  Jim’s voice is heard in the distance urging our hero to believe in himself, and thus Ryan saves Stephanie from the Russian and the sea life rejoice!



Neal, Ryan, Jim, and Tim
perform "Irish Drinking Song"



And with it being St Patrick’s Day, it was a fitting end to the show with an Irish Drinking Song about Felix the gay Mountain Climber, with Neal, Ryan, Jim, and Tim.

The Bit Players perform at the Firehouse Theatre every Friday and Saturday night at 8:00pm.  Additional performances are added when shows sell out, and special performances are staged for groups, birthdays and other occasions.  Please enquire with the theatre to arrange your event.  Check back with this blog, and the theatre's website   http://www.firehousetheater.org/   for announcements on special shows.  Call the theatre for reservations  401-849-FIRE (3473) 

Can't get enough BITs?  Check out the Bit Players YouTube Channel.  New videos are posted weekly.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BitPlayersNPT?feature=watch

Friday, March 16th 2012

Dylan, Ryan, Vlad, Brittany, Jim, and Stephanie
perform "Try That On For Size"

The festivities of St. Patrick’s Day began early for some of our audience members who were already basking in the “spirit” of the holidays at our Bit Players, Friday night showing.  To start things off, the Bit Players resurrected an old favorite entitled “Try That On For Size”, a mimed action [supplied by the audience] that the player must justify in words why he /she is doing that action.  We saw the mimed action of a mailman become interpreted by Jim Foley as Billy Blanks doing Tae Bo, the action of a skier becoming what Vlad Tenenbaum may have done on his honeymoon (??) or the way Stephanie Conrad may bowl (in the wrong direction), and an action of paying taxes becoming what Dylan Eberle construed as “Voting in Florida {Pre-2000}”

Brittany and Ryan in "Genres"

Moving into a scene game called “Genres”, where the players must perform a scene and then switch to the new genre or movie style provided by the audience .  The scene started off poignantly with Brittany Hunt and Ryan Hartigan (Hank) going on an innocent date to the movies.  As the genres changed from “Horror” to Silent Movies, the scene became weird, as we watched as Hank became a serving robot.

Ryan and Vlad perform "Location, Career, Death"

The audience delighted in the miming and jibberish of Vlad and Ryan in “Location, Career, Death” .  Without Ryan’s knowledge, Vlad recieved suggestions from the audience of a location (the Beach), a career (a Beekeeper), and an object (a corkscrew).  Then when Ryan returned to the stage, Vlad conveyed to Ryan these three items without using real words and through mimed actions. As Ryan thought he knew identity of the item, he clapped to move on to the next. The last object was used to “kill off”  Ryan and end the scene. At the conclusion of the game, Ryan then guessed what each item was.  The audience applauded loudly with each correct guess of Beach, and Beekeeper, and gave Ryan props for guessing Newport Storm beer for the object, since it’s a local favorite.

Dylan, Brittany, and Vlad in "Visual Interpreter"

“Visual Interpreter” was, by far, the audience favorite bit of the evening.  Brittany, the teenage interviewer, interviewed the resident expert on underaged drinking, Jean Claude Van der Castle, (played by Dyan).  The scene was “interpreted” by Vlad in what we call Vlad-language (mimed expressions of what the characters are saying).  We learned that Mr. Van Der Castle was an expert on drinking because he had been drinking wine from the age of two and took us though his exploits as a baby.  Baby Van Der Castle expressed at the end of a rather lively encounter on top of a building, on a tight rope, that passers-by, below on the street were “Not to  F**k with the Baby!”  And to end off the zany scene we saw Van Der Castle on a capsized ship, blowing through a conch shell to call Poseidon, The God of the Sea, and ask him for a lift.

Watch the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEGrHVqwSB4&feature=youtu.be

The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday night at 8:00pm at the Firehouse Theatre, 4 Equality Park Place (off Broadway), Newport, RI 02840.  Please call the box office for reservations   

     401-849-FIRE (3473) 

And as always, it is BYOB!

Friday and Saturday (March 9th and 10th ) 2012

Our Friday night performance saw the return of two Bit Players to the stage; Brittany Hunt, who has been continuing her studies at Vassar College, and Ryan Hartigan, who has working on other artistic endeavors with the Contemporary Theatre Company in South County, RI.   

Vlad, Stephanie, and Ryan in "Bartender"

Subdued at the top of the show, our Friday night crowd was soon laughing uproariously with the Bit Player antics of “Radio Show”.  From the darkness of the theatre the audience was taken on the adventures of Lance Lancelot battling an unruly octopus (with a Russian accent, (played by Vlad Tenenbaum) who confused his pained tentacles for pained testicles.   

Closing the first set, Stephanie Conrad took on "Bartender", offering her song stylings to Ryan who had the problem of thinking he was Cyndi Lauper. The delighted audience joined in with Stephanie’s advice to Ryan, in a chorus of “Time After Time”. 

Watch the video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=647v2HcPR_A&feature=share

The highlight of Friday night’s show had to be in the reworked Bit Player classic “Late To Work”  game, which became “Late for Curfew” starring Brittany as the Mom, Tim Bric as her rebellious son, and Vlad as her faithful son.  Vlad attempted to mime an excuse, [provided by the audience] to Tim explaining to his Mom why he was late.  If Satan stealing Tim’s car didn’t have the audience already in stitches, Tim’s attempt to cover up his nudity with a candy cane DID!

Kelly, "The Bachellorette"
 is Serenaded by the
Bit Players

Our jam-packed Saturday 8:00pm crowd was primed from the start.  With several birthdays, a 54^th wedding anniversary, and a large Bachelorette Party in the house, the Bit Players had their work cut out for them. 

In honor of March and referencing St Patrick’s Day, the bit “Pot O’ Gold” bit is always a favorite.  With poor Brittany as the obstinate Leprechaun (with a confused Australian accent?),  Jim Foley and Tim had the job of interrogating Brittany to find out that she stole  the gold from Peter Pan, hid it  in a boot and put it in her 401K. 

Vlad doing what Vlad does best

Vlad surprised everyone with a wonderful “Love Story” about Doris and Ben, (our 54 yr wedding anniversary).  After interviewing the interesting couple, Vlad then told the story of their life in mime and words.  The crowd loved the references to handsome big, bad Ben, and Doris’ pooping pooch.

Topping off the 8:00pm show was another March favorite, “Irish Drinking Song” performed by Brittany, Ryan, Jim, and Tim, about Grace, the NASCAR driver.  Although the audience gasped at Tim’s possible faux pas with changing Grace’s name to Allison, to the amusement (and amazement) of the crowd, the Players not only made it make sense, the confused Grace/Allison became a transgendered driver named Kevin!

Just watch the video, you'll see...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRYE0EHuReQ&feature=share

Ryan, Brittany, Jim, and John in "MoonDoggy"

The 10 pm show kept the energy ball rolling as Gaelin, a lucky audience member and Marine Biologist, was privileged to be “Serenaded”  by the Bits. 

And then… the audience experienced something quite magical!  It was quite possibly THE BEST OF in the history of playing the game of “MoonDoggy”. With Ryan as the interviewer of our "Dinosaur Expert", played by Brittany, Jim, and John Mulligan, they took the audience through the amazing world of Dinosaur emotions explaining in detail that Dinosaurs do cry like humans, especially while watching the movie “Field of Dreams”.  And finally the audience was told by our “expert” that Barney, was in fact a FRAUD!

The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday night at 8:00pm
(A 10:00pm show is sometimes added on Saturdays when 8:00pm show sell out).

The Firehouse Theatre, 4 Equality Park Place (off Broadway), Newport, RI 02840. 
Please call the box office for reservations and information.

     401-849-FIRE (3473) 

And as always, it is BYOB!

"Farewell Frank" - Friday and Saturday (March 3rd and 4th) 2012



Good Cop / Bad Cop (with Frank Fusaro, Jim Foley and Dylan Eberle)



It was a bittersweet weekend with the Bit Players, as they bid farewell to one of their own, and much loved players, Frank Fusaro.  Playing to packed houses (with multi-paged “Wait Lists”) on Friday and Saturday nights, the Bit Players did not disappoint the masses. 







Tap The Audience

While the raucous and bawdy crowd at Friday night’s show attempted to lead the Bit Players down a seedy path, with endless references to male genitalia, the Bit Players handled the onslaught with smart quips and retorts to the delight of the audience who called for an “Encore” which the Bit Players satisfied by adding a Blues Song to end the evening.



"Guy Love" (with Jim Foley on keyboard,
Chase Ceglie, Devon Mello, Dylan Eberle, Matt Lindman
Kevin Killavey, John Mulligan, Vlad Tenenbaum,
and Frank Fusaro)



Saturday’s boisterous crowd, although a little less seamy with their suggestions, were pleased with the wistful, quirkiness that the Bit Players brought to their suggestions referencing Frank’s last show.  The audience was thrilled, when unbeknownst to Frank, the Bit Players culminated the show, singing to Frank their own farewell sendoff song “Guy Love” resulting in a standing ovation by the capacity crowd… 



“Guy love,
That's all it is,
Guy love,
He's mine, I'm his,
There's nothing gay about it in our eyes.”

 Watch "Guy Love" at our YouTube site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFSxrjQEO60&feature=share

Standing Ovation

The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday night at 8:00pm at the Firehouse Theatre, 4 Equality Park Place (off Broadway), Newport, RI 02840.  Please call the box office for reservations   



     401-849-FIRE (3473) 



And as always, it is BYOB!