As the writer of this Blog, I am going to apologize in advance for my self-interested ramblings in this blog entry. I hope you can understand as a proud Momma, the need for me to gush… just a bit. After all, on Friday night my beautiful daughter, Stephanie received a proposal of marriage by her long-time boyfriend TJ, LIVE on stage in front of a full house at the Firehouse Theater during the Bit Players show. The Bit Players have had their share of Bachelor/Bachelorette, Birthday, Anniversary and Girl’s Night Out parties, but this was a FIRST actual live proposal on stage. The audience not only witnessed the proposal and the acceptance, but were an integral part of the experience. Especially with our new friends, “The Hecklers” in the front row, who were jokingly egging TJ on to propose, and unbeknownst to them, that was exactly what they were about to witness!!!
But before we get too much more into TJ and Steph’s special moment right now, although it’s hard to remember, there were OTHER things that happened at the Bit Player’s shows this weekend! On Friday night the cast included: Host, Dylan Eberle, with Frank Fusaro, Vlad Tenenbaum, Jim Foley, Stephanie Conrad, and Lobo Linhares.
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| Dylan and Frank in "Ghost Story, Die!" Hosted by Vlad |
Starting off the first set of the night was “Ghost Story Die!”, a bit where the players, directed by Vlad must spin a collective, cohesive, spooky story about a character and a few details supplied by the audience. However, if at any time the players stumble, pause too long or are boring, Vlad can, at his discretion, kill off the players one by one. As Friday night’s story progressed we learned about Darius’ adventures in a graveyard, with his soap-on-a-rope. Darius came upon his own headstone while cleaning the stones with his soap.
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| Lobo as the "perpetrator" with Dylan and Frank as "God Cop/ Bad Cop" |
An audience favorite bit, “Good Cop / Bad Cop” was up next. This bit saw Lobo confessing to the crime (provided by the audience) of killing Doug Funny with a Lobster Trap at Band Camp. The cops, Dylan and Frank, provided the clues for Lobo, through their unique art of interrogation to guess his crime. The audience squirmed with delight to see Lobo squirm in the hot-seat, struggling on Lobster Trap. But the crowd rejoiced as Lobo completly understood Frank's reference from American Pie, "That One time... That one time" at Band Camp!
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| Stephanie, Jim and Vlad perform "Late To Work" |
“Late To Work” is another favorite of the crowds. In this bit, a chronically late employee (played by Stephanie) must come up with a plausible excuse to tell her angry boss (Played by Jim) for her latest tardiness. Stephanie’s co-worker Vlad helps her out by miming clues behind Jim’s back as a reason for her being late. The clues as provided by the audience were that when Stephanie awoke and got out of bed, she stepped on a mousetrap. Trying to free her foot from the trap she attempts to use WD-40 to release herself from the snare. When that didn’t work, Stephanie used a plunger which did the trick. However now feeling quite hungry after her ordeal, Stephanie goes to her kitchen to find there is nothing to eat, so she takes an empty cereal box, fries it, and eats it. Satiated, Stephanie go outside to find her car had been eaten by zombies. Stephanie them hitchhiked to obtain her ride to work and was picked up by a passerby, on a segueway, who dropped her off at work.
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| Stephanie, Frank, and Vlad in "Survivor" |
There is no rest for the weary, as Vlad had his work cut out for him in the next bit, “Survivor”. Initially played by the entire cast and directed by Dylan, a scene is concocted by an audience inspired suggestion of a Subway Station. When all of the players have “played their part” Dylan stops the scene, and the audience votes one member out. The scene is then replayed, but all of the characters created in the initial scene must be played out. After each round, the audience votes out another player until only one remains who must act out the entire scene by himself acting out all of the roles. On this night, Vlad was the sole SURVIVOR!
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| The Bit Players in "Doo Wop" |
The musical bit, “Doo Wop” was up next. Watch as the players sing their devotion for a “Solo Cup” suggestion supplied by the crowd with solos by Stephanie, Jim, Frank, and Dylan. (Click here to view the video -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ItkNqnsu4&feature=youtu.be )
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| Dylan, (Bluegrass), Lobo (Jock Jams), Frank (Rap), and Jim and Stephanie (Sonny & Cher) in "Telethon" |
A “Telethon” for Facial Hair Awareness ended the first set. In this musical bit Dylan was endowed with the musical genre of “Blue Grass”, Lobo was offered “Jock Jams”, Frank took on “Rap” and Stephanie and Jim were bestowed with “Sonny and Cher”. Each player assigned their unique music style must then create in improvised song about the Telethon’s topic. (The audience seemed to agree that Jim’s Cher impersonation could rival some of the best drag queen impostors out there).
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| Frank and Jim in "Actor's Nightmare" |
In the second set, Jim and Frank took on “Actor’s Nightmare”. In this bit Jim can only read his lines from a script selected by an audience member, and Frank must somehow justify Jim’s the lines of dialog. The scene was inspired by the audience suggested occupation, Flight Attendants.
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| Vlad and Lobo in "Sportscasters" |
“Sportscasters” was up next in the rotation. In this bit, Frank and Dylan play the roles of sports announcers in a pseudo-sports-like action played by athletes, Lobo and Vlad. In “Soot Bowl 2012” our athletes competed as chimney sweeps. In the scene we saw Rodriguez (Lobo) from the South American Leagues get eviscerated by Bubbles the Monkey (Vlad).
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| TJ proposes to Stephanie LIVE on the Bit Players stage |
Next up, all eyes were on Stephanie and TJ for the Bit Player’s “Serenade” of them preceded by “The BIG Proposal”. Share Steph and TJ’s joy along with the Bit Players as you watch this clip of the momentous occasion! Click the link here -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxcd8BMGU6g&feature=plcp
The Bit Player’s ended Friday night’s performance with a Blues Song from an audience suggested topic, fittingly entitled “The Engagement Blues”.
Saturday night’s Bit Players performance saw an entirely different and boisterous crowd. Included in the audience, the Bit Players welcomed Groton Dunstable High School all-girl improv troupe. These high schoolers had the opportunity of honing their skills by spending the afternoon training and learning the art of improv with the Bit Players. By all accounts, these girls who are just starting out with improv have a bright future ahead of them.
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| Frank and Patrick, hosted by Vlad in "Ghost Story, Die!" |
Another new beginning saw Patrick Dugan take the stage as a new improviser with the Bit Players in his first ever show! Patrick surprised everyone in “Ghost Story Die!” In tonight’s story about Michel and her Bagel in Florida, Patrick hung in there, duking it out with big dogs, and surviving until the end. Left to finish the story Patrick attempted to pick up where the story left off as the bagel holes with teeth had enveloped Michel in darkness. But Vlad had had enough and killed off Patrick as well, in this first ever elimination of the entire cast.
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| Frank, Clayon, Jim, and Patrick sing "Irish Drinking Song" |
Patrick also saw some playing time (joined by fellow bits, Frank, Jim and also Clayon McFarlane) in “Irish Drinking Song”. In this musical bit, audience member Lillia was the focus of attention. Lillia, a self-purported domestic engineer, (or as Frank pointed out, a Mom, which is the hardest job of all), also admitted that she had one day dreamed of being an astronaut. The Bit Player’s fulfilled Lillia’s dreams in their own unique way as a special present for her birthday. Watch what could have been Lillia’s destiny. (Click the link here -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0vnci5eMIo&feature=plcp )
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| Vlad and John perform in "Location, Career, Death!" |
In the second set Vlad and John Mulligan performed in “Location, Career, Death”. In this bit, with John out of the room, the audience provides suggestions of a location (a bubble bath), an occupation (sex therapist), and an object (banana) that Vlad must convey to John only through the use of mime. When John thinks he knows what each is, he claps and Vlad will move to the next item. When John thinks he understands the identity of the last item, he must then through mime, kill Vlad with it. Of course, the visual of John getting into a bubble bath with Vlad had the audience in hysterics!
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| Jim, along with The Bit Players "Serenade" Henry |
For the next bit, the proverbial joke was on The Bit Players as audience member, Environmental Consultant, Katherine nominated her boyfriend, Henry as having a birthday. Accommodating as usual the Bit Players brought Henry up on the stage to be “Serenaded”, to which Henry conceded that it really wasn’t his birthday. The Bit Players proceeded to serenade Henry anyway. Learning that both Katherine and Henry enjoyed sailing it helped to set Katherine up as the butt of a few jokes. Katherine was chided by Jim telling her “she wasn’t gonna get a ring”, Patrick provided that she was “no longer gonna get to raise his mast” and Frank added that Katherine “should use her energy to find a real career”.
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| Patrick chooses Frank!!... in "The Dating Game |
Patrick was highlighted in yet another bit entitled “The Dating Game”. With Patrick out of the room, the audience provided the three eligible bachelors played by Jim, Vlad and Frank three unique quirks. Jim was endowed with being a clown, Vlad was slowly turning into a vacuum cleaner and Frank was reliving his own private fantasy in The Lion King. The bit was hosted by John who led Patrick through a gauntlet of questions for the bachelors to deduce their peculiarities. In the end Patrick identify each player’s oddity and eliminate them one at a time until he chooses which bachelor with which he would most like to date. In the end, Patrick also shared Frank’s fantasy, and chose to cuddle with Simba .
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| Frank and Jim, along with audience members Lauren and Emily in "Tap The Audience" |
Emily and Lauren were called to the stage to help Frank and Jim with the next bit . Emily and Lauren were from the improv troupe previously mentioned who were training with the Bits that afternoon. In this bit, “Tap The Audience” Emily and Lauren had to fill in the blanks when “tapped” by Frank and Jim. In this scene about travelling salesmen selling dead baby products, Lauren and Emily were troupers. Fitting in with the weekend’s theme, the scene ended with Jim down on one knee asking his prospective customer, “Will you marry me?”
One more note for our Bit Player fans - we want to once again remind you about the special Halloween Show on Wednesday, October, 31st from 8-9 pm. Fans coming to the show dressed in costume will only pay $5 at the door for admission. There will be lots of candy and a costume judging contest with prizes too. Make your reservations early. You don’t want to miss out!
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 and information about all of the shows 401-849-FIRE (3473) And it is always BYOB!
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