The Bit Players

Bit Players News!

2011-11-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

The Bit Players: Now Available In Late Night

The Bit Players are continuing to sell out every Friday and Saturday, so if you don't make your reservation by calling 1-401-849-FIRE (3473) four our 8PM shows you may be in luck. The Bit's are now going to be adding 10PM Shows! Make sure to call ahead and see if you can see the Bit Players do a late night show, even if you can't make the first show.

This Past Saturday Night the Bit's performed for two back to back packed houses, and did two shows on Friday as well!

Auditions!

This Saturday at 3PM at The Firehouse Theater (4 Equality Park Place, Newport RI) The Bit Players are holding auditions! Check Out the Audition Notice:

The Bit Players, who won the awards of "Best Comedy Night" (Providence Phoenix) and "Comedy Troupe of the Year" (Motif Magazine) are looking for more funny, talented people to join their improv family.

The Bit Players perform every Friday and Saturday to sold out crowds ...in Newport, RI. They blend fast-paced scenes with hilarious musical numbers, hysterical characters, and razor sharp wit. Do you have what it takes to perform with them? Come out and show us!

Since it is improvisation, you don't need to prepare anything for this audition, just come ready to have some fun and play some different improv games.

If you have a special talent like playing music, singing, dancing, mime, uni-cycling, gymnastics, etc PLEASE make sure you let us know when you come to the audition. If you can do these things but have no interest in improv we may still want you!

Hope to see you there!

Gloria Gemma Fundraiser Show

Wednesday 11/30 at 8 pm, The Bit Players take on breast cancer with both hands and some humor to boot! We'll be doing our first ever fundraising show in partnership with the Gloria Gemma Foundation in RI. Tickets are $25 and include food, drink (still BYOB for alcohol, though) and the knowledge that you did your part to laugh breast cancer right out of town for good!

All proceeds go toward the Gloria Gemma Foundation.

What You Missed Tonight!

2011-11-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

The Bit Players had another packed house tonight with a great audience and some great games and moments! Highlights were:

A Knitting Competition with an Oedipus complex
Two Lunch Ladies (PC: Lunch "people") who believe "If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It" is a good motto
A Chimp who had a problem with chimp poo!
A Play in a "Nut Shell" that turned Puss in Boots into an X-Rated Reference

And We Serenaded two very important Newporter's! Derek Luke The Brewmaster and Founder of the delicious Newport Storm Brewer and his wife to be Newport Life Magazine Managing Editor Annie Sherman! It is great to have such prominent Local Business people on our stage for us to mock senselessly!

Check Out Newport Storm and Newport Life online at the links below, and be sure to call ahead for your Reservations for The Bit Players and we are selling out fast!

Call 401-849-FIRE (3473) FOR RESERVATIONS!

And Be Sure to Visit Our Friends:

Newport Life Magazine- http://newportlifemagazine.com/

Newport Storm Brewery- http://www.newportstorm.com

This Weekend: Rare Hosts, Rare Games, and more!

2011-10-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hello Bits Fans!

This weekend is sure to be another great weekend for Improv in Newport. Make sure to get your tickets for Friday and Saturdays shows early, as it is Oktoberfest in Newport this weekend and we do sell out! 401-849-FIRE (3473) For Tickets!

This Weeks Casts:
Friday: Vlad, Jim, Kevin, Dylan, Neal, Jarrod
Host: Kevin! Making his Official Bit Players Hosting Debut!

Saturday: Vlad, Jim, Kevin, Dylan, Ryan

Host: Dylan! A Rare host, with a smaller cast setting up what is sure to be a high energy, fast-paced show!

Rare Games

Also in store this weekend are some Rare Games, New Games and Bit Players classics including:

Scene in Time: A New Bit we have introduced, showing the same scene at different points in history. And it always shows the Bit players have some brains when it comes to history, with puns a plenty and lots of classic moments

Slideshow: An old standby, painting a portrait of a vacation that never goes to plan and using all the Bits at once!

Moondoggy: The classic interview game where 3 bit players speak as one person, and we always learn something very unexpected!

Bartender: The Bit Players classic, a game we claim we do better than anyone else, now come check us out and watch us prove it! Singing, Laughter and a whole lot of fun!

AND MORE! So what are you waiting for? Call 401-849-FIRE (3473) For Tickets before it is too late!

What You Missed This Weekend!

2011-09-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

The Bit Players had a great weekend with three shows, you can check out the pictures from our show at The Newport Arts Festival below, and see pictures from our Sat night show right here:

New Game!

The Bit Players broke out a brand new game Sat Night called "Scene in Time", the game went over great with The Scene taking place in present day, The Revolutionary war and The Dark Ages! Puns were about with Red Sox vs Yankee's turning into Red Coats vs Yankees. And A War in The Middle East today turning into a War in the Middle East (Virgina...that is) in the Revolution! If you missed this game come out and see a show soon, we're sure to play it again!

Pictures!

Good Cop, Bad Cop with a rare perp: Dylan! Dylan was one smart Criminal, figuring it all in record time!

Anna wasn't feeling so Hot during Bartender, she had The Plague...

Kevin sings a Hymn about his life in a Bomb Shelter with Jim and Dylan as his angel choir

Dylan responds with a Hymn of his own, solving Kevin's problems!

Tap The Audience, Frank and Dylan we're not very good Janitors

Jim and Kevin attempt to Dance...and fail...

In Mini-Musical Jim was Sir Arthur protecting his land from violent invaders Dylan and Anna

Check back later in the week for more news, updates and pictures!

The Bit Players at the Arts Festival!

2011-09-24T15:19:00.001-07:00

The Bit Players had a fun time performing at the Newport Arts festival! Check out some more pictures of the event below!

Weekend Update: The Casts!

2011-09-22T17:06:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wanted to know what Bit Players are performing ahead of time? Well now you can! Come out and see your favorite Bit Players, or members you haven't seen as often, either way your in for a good time!

This weekend The Bit Players have THREE shows in just over 24 hours. So Check out the Casts!

FRIDAY:
Bits Perform @ 8PM
Dylan, Frank, Jim, Vlad, Neal
Special Host: Dylan!

SATURDAY
Newport Arts Festival:
Bits Perform @ 3:30 PM
Frank, Jim, Vlad, Dylan, Anna, Kevin

SATURDAY:
Regular 8PM Show
Frank, Jim, Vlad, Dylan, Anna, Kevin
This Cast is pulling Double duty, so come support us, we need your energy!

That's the Line-up for this weekend, now come out and support us at our regular shows and at The Newport Art's Festival! And Check back this weekend for Pictures from the Festival and our shows, and as always the latest news and info

A Bit Original: Shakespeare Alphabet

2011-09-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

A Recent trend in improv has been Improvised Shakespeare. With Companies like Chicago's famous Improv Olympic (io Chicago) having whole teams devoted soley to performing Improv in the style of the Bard.

For some improvisers, Improvised Shakespeare can be the most terrifying game, and as Bit Players we found a way to make it even more terrifying! While performing in the the style of Shakespeare we add in the element of an Alphabetical Scene, or an A-Z scene. So not only are the performers speaking in verse, iambic pentameter, or just using thou and prithee a lot, they also must start each line with the next letter of the Alphabet!

This takes the Shakespeare format, combines it with a classic scene game and gives us the Bit Players original: Alphabetical Shakespeare!

If you have seen a Bit Players show, let us know what your favorite Alphabetical Shakespeare scene was, did you have a favorite line? Here are some Alphabetical Shakespeare scenes you may have seen recently:

A Jousting Match between two daughters to determine which one the father loves best, complete with Bit Players as horses and the father diving on the spears to save his daughter in the end

A Husband convinced his wife was plotting to kill her, only to find she is totally devoted to him before he savagely slays her and leaves her for her sister

An arranged marriage turning on its head when it turns out the groom fancies a more masculine type of man, and thus chooses to end his life rather than live a lie

Plus many more, and all these scenes manage to be Shakespearean, Tragic, Alphabetical and Laugh out Loud funny! Who knows what Shakespearean twists you might be in for when you come to a Bit Players show and watch a Bit Players original: Alphabetical Shakespeare

What Does It Take To Be a Bit Player?

2011-09-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year The Bit Players held auditions, before that we had an interview with The Newport Patch about what it takes to be a Bit Player, and filmed some fun scenes as well

Check out the video and see the full story here:

http://newport.patch.com/articles/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-bit-player

Bit's at the Newport Art's Festival

2011-09-21T18:49:00.001-07:00

The Bit Players are performing at the Newport Arts Festival this weekend at the Newport Yachting Center.

The Bit Players are scheduled to perform at 3:30, so make sure to be there to support us. And Don't forget we also have our regular 8PM show that night, and Friday at the Firehouse Theater!

Admission to Newport Arts Festival is $8/adult, and children under 12 are free. Tickets may be purchased at the gate the weekend of the event, or at the Newport Yachting Center box office. All proceeds from Newport Arts Festival benefit Looking Upwards ( www.lookingupwards.org ) and our mission of supporting adults with developmental disabilities and children with diverse needs to live fulfilling lives.

He's making it up As he goes

2011-09-20T19:59:00.001-07:00

Want to be funny? Stop trying so hard, says Frank Fusaro. The Artistic Director of The Newport Firehouse Theater, located just "off-Broadway", teaches improvisational comedy and performs each weekend with The Bit Players. As word has spread, The Bit Players have been selling out it's audience participation shows. Fusaro, a Newport resident, has trained and performed at notable comedy houses like New York's Upright Citizen's Brigade, Chicago's Second City and ImprovBoston and was formerly a member of Unexpected Company before joining The Bit Players. Having to think on his feet comes in handy for his job as a substitute teacher at South Kingston High School

Since the beginning of this year The Bit Players have had at least one sold out show a week, what do you think is the key to your success?

We end our shows the same way every night: "The best way for you to help is go out and tell the world we have a show here every Friday and Saturday night. So if you enjoyed the show, tell your friends, and if you hated it, tell your enemies." And they do. We've had people from Philadelphia, California, Georgia and North Carolina who we're all told by friends that when they are in Newport, RI this is the show to see.

What can make or break a show?

The audience. I tell the audience every night that they are as much a part of the show as we are. We make sure they are ready to help us the entire night- we start at 8 P.M. and usually we are offstage by quarter of 10- but a smart, clever audience can help, a dirty one can be shocking, an older crowd can be high-brow, a younger audience can get louder as the night progresses. If we have people celebrating birthdays, anniversary's, anything, we try and get them on stage and do a game with them. Whenever we have a Bachlorette party we do a game called Serenade with them. So we find out some information about them and then Serenade them on the spot. And it's the best gift because it dosen't come with a receipt, so even if they don't like it they can't return it.

Can you do one right now?

What do you want to do?

Serenade the Mercury

We don't have a guitar or anything, but I'll try. I'm usually the bass line (Frank flips through a copy of the Mercury) There are a lot of adds in here. (Continues flipping while he preps to sing) It's to the tune "My Girl" : Oh Mercury, you are a great publication. I go to your backpage when i need an occupation. Knowing what's going around town is possible, and amongst all the advertisements I may even find an article. Oh Mercury, Mercury, talking about Mercury! Mercury!

I've never done it about an inanimate object before. It's usually a person, something with a pulse. But that's improv, you never know what the audience wants

Is that the secret to being funny?

Funny is giving the audience what they want to see. Hilarious is giving the audience what they don't know they want to see.

What do you mean?

One of our games is Bartender. We ask the audience to yell out a problem. A Guy in the front row yells out " You have hemorrhoids!" The audience laughs but no one wants to see a song about hemorrhoids. So as the host I may say "Sir, i asked for a problem. This is not a time for your personal confessions." But then I'll take it, but i may change it to how my spaceship was hit my a hemmoROID or the new drug all the athletes are doing, hemROIDs. Or i may say "That girls skirt is so wide it must be a Hem-Roid". Get it? A Hem on Roids. I am just improv-ing here. You're hearing what goes on in our minds, but in a split second, instantly we go through 100 thoughts, and that's what we call A to C

What's That?

A is the suggestion, B is the link the audience never hears, and C is the end result. Say a Word

Negligee

Negligee. I automatically thought negligent, my mind jumps to this other place. The it goes to a scene about a father who has twins and love's one of them but dosen't acknowledge the other one's existence. And in the end we find out the father wears Negligee's underneath his suits to work. On paper this may sound creepy, but on stage it would be hilarious, because your giving the audience what they wanted and more on top of it

Do you have any pre-show rituals?

Being lactose intolerant, i try and eat as much dairy as I can a half-hour before the show to create a sense of urgency. The Audience thinks "Man, he is a ball of energy. He won't stop moving. He's so quick!" When really i am just fighting off the urgent need to poop

How did you get into Improv?

I was in college at URI and a kid, Justin Lang, came up and asked me if i wanted to do Improv. I knew what Improv was, but I didn't know people performed Improv. I showed up to the second meeting and I was hooked

Do you remember your first performance?

I didn't do so much performing as I did standing and thinking of good ideas and never executing them. I was so timid to just jump onstage and start doing it that it took my parents threatening to never to come to a show again for me to finally step on the stage and start improvising in front of people

What's your greatest weakness?

Accents terrify me. And Physicality. I'm not a very physical performer

Does the ability to do Improv come naturally or not?

I personally think you have to have a quick wit and think fast on your feet and you can be trained to perform Improv. My number one thing with performing Improv is you have to be intelligent. Anybody can play down. But it's hard if your not intelligent to play up and keep up. Our shows are BYOB and often after a show, there's one or two confident individuals who come up to me saying "I can do what you do, everybody tells me I'm Funny" I say "Okay, make up a song about Cheryl the hairdresser right now". After one long akward pause I usually say "Thanks for coming, have a great night!"

A lot of my friends want to try Stand-up, but they won't take the first step. Any advice for funny people who are too scared to step on stage?

I have two pieces of advice. One, Know what you are getting into. Study, Learn. Comedy isn't just something most people can dive right into and be successful at. The Second thing- just do it. If you're naturally funny, it'll show, but the minute you try to be funny you'll lose your audience

Future Goals?

Get a Real Job. I love my life, right now, and if it paid the bills I would be happy. I'm going to have to get a bit more serious. Hopefully that will be in the audiovisual industry, but I'll never stop improvising

The Bit Players peform every Friday and Saturday Night at the Firehouse Theater. 4 Equality Park Place, Newport Rhode Island. Tickets are 15$ but get 5$ off if you mention the Mercury. Reservations recommended. 401-849-3473. www.firehousetheater.org

Bits Featured in the Newport Mercury

2011-09-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Before Launching our most successful summer season yet, The Bit Players we're featured in an article by the Newport Mercury. Included in the article was an interview with Bit Players Artistic Director Frank Fusaro:

Full Interview Text in Next Update!

Bits Accept Award!

2011-09-20T19:36:00.000-07:00

The Bit Players accept the honor of "Best Comedy Night" at The Phoenix Awards Ceremony.
Bits Pictured: Jim, Matt, Ryan, Vlad, Anna, Kevin, Jarrod, Neal

Did You Know?

2011-09-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

The Bit Players are the only Improv Group to win The Phoenix "Best Comedy Night" Award? And The Players also won The Motif Award for best Comedy Group in the same year, 2011!