Friday, October 5th (Goodbye to Sunshine)

Our own "Little Miss Sunshine"
Brittany Hunt

With the advent of autumn,  as days shorten, sunrises get later and later, and only weeks away from moving our clocks back, signaling the end of daylight savings and losing our long days in the sun, so too are the Bit Players losing their own “Little Miss Sunshine”, Brittany Hunt.  Brittany will be leaving us for the bright lights, and culture of historic New Orleans.  We wish her well, and always an open door to come back and play with the Bits.

Musicians: Chase Ceglie and Jim Foley

On Brittany’s last night of zaniness, she was joined by fellow Bits, Frank Fusaro, Vlad Tenenbaum, Neal Leaheey, Tim Bric, and hosted by Dylan Eberle.  Adding the musical accompaniment was Chase Ceglie and, normally at the front of the stage, as a purveyor of mirth, Jim Foley was filling in on keyboards.

The Bit Players perform "Ghost Story, Die!"

Now that we have entered the month of October, the Bit Players have added a few new Halloween inspired bits to their repertoire.  Starting off the top of the show was “Ghost Story Die!”  In this bit, each player must tell the same continued ghostly tale.  When a player is being pointed to by the director Vlad, he/she must continue the story from the exact point the last player left off.  If Vlad finds them boring or missteps in any way, Vlad kills them off, leaving the remaining players to continue telling the story.  On this night it was a tale set in the murky confines of Transylvania, with Carlos and his magic burrito.  Carlos dies an unfortunate death while attempting to eat a burrito.  Wanting desperately to return to his loving wife, the ghost of Carlos finds himself before The Devil in hell.  The Devil makes a deal with Carlos, telling him that he could return to earth, if Carlos played the fiddle for him.  Although Carlos does not know how to play a fiddle, his love and a passionate soul inside him allow him to play the fiddle albeit badly. However badly was Carlos’ fiddle playing, the Devil loved it anyway, and wanted to keep him in hell.  Carlos argued with the Devil saying “That’s not the deal we made!” and hit the Devil upside the head with the burrito that he as still carrying.

Tim and Brittany took center stage for “Shakespeare Alphabet” joined by Vlad.  In this bit, the players tell a Shakespearian styled story about an audience supplied topic, but with a twist!  The players must tell it using dialog beginning with the next consecutive letter of the alphabet.  In this scene about “Betrayal in Customs”, Tim and Brittany attempt to adhere to the rules.  However, throw in our resident, Russian, Vlad and all alphabetical rules get thrown out the window!!  Watch the hilarity that ensues as Brittany and Tim try to stick with the convention of the game, while Vlad continuously derails them.   Click -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyLboBFFXMQ&feature=plcp

Frank, Dylan and Neal perform
"Doo Run" song for Celine

The Bit Players did not know whether to believe their luck or believe they were being duped by audience member Celine.  In the bit, “Doo Run” where the Bit Players make up a song about a person they interview from the audience, Celine told them that she was a professional curler from an area bordering the Canadian provinces, who was out celebrating the fact that it was the first Friday in October.

Dylan hosted a spooky version of “Radio Show” entitled “The Torture Garden".  In this bit the audience is engulfed in the darkness of the theater, and the players play the parts in an old time radio drama.  In this scene, we meet John Adams on his Ireland estate, inherited from his great uncle.  Drawn to the garden in the rear of the grounds, John finds the gate is locked.  John meets the creepy groundskeeper, David who has the only key.  The irate David is angry with John for having inherited the estate, and feels he is owed his due for having served Jonathan’s uncle.  David reveals his diabolical plot to gain control over John and his estate. David had John’s love, Samantha, held captive and locked in the bowels of the secret maze of this garden of terror.  David demands that John sign over the deed if he ever wanted to see Samantha again.  John enters the maze to rescue Samantha which was set ablaze by David. Undeterred by the flames, John vows “I’ll run through the flames and not care about any part of it, because I feel the flames of our love…”  Stay tuned for our next episode of... "The Torture Garden"... muhwhaahahahaha...

The Bit Players in "Jeopardy"

With “Jeopardy” up next on the set list, Vlad once again stole the show with his disregard of and deficiency with, the English language. (especially with a call-back to professional curlers with his Rollie Fingers reference).  Watch and be amused! Click Here ->  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4IjtD8TrQ&feature=plcp

Frank, along with the Bit Players "Serenade" Cowboy Doug

In the second set, the honorary “Mayor of Newport” also known as Cowboy Doug was called to the stage to be “Serenaded by The Bit Players.  A longtime friend of the Bit Players, Doug has been a mainstay at karaoke bars often frequented by the players, where The Cowboy can often be heard belting out country hits like Lonestar’s ,Walking in Memphis, and Toby Keith’s, I Love This Bar.  The Bit Players created a song, on the spot, inspired by their infamous friend, Doug.

The Bit Players perform "The Blues"

Finishing off Friday’s second set, the Bit Players performed “The Blues”.  The audience, who was also in the mood for the upcoming candy-laden and spooky holiday of Halloween, provided the suggestion  of Trick or Treating, as the topic of this improvised blues song to end the night’s merriment.

One more note for our Bit Player fans we want to once again remind you about the special Halloween Show on Wednesday, October, 31^st 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!