Improv at the Jungle: "Off-Book"

With the recent closure of HUGE Theater, your Uptown home for improv for 15 years, local improv troupes and shows are needing to find new venues at which to perform. Jungle Theater, just blocks away from HUGE, has stepped up to be one of those venues. They have a new series called "Improv at the Jungle," with a group called The Neighborhood performing regularly, as well as a show called Off-Book, hosted and co-directed by Sean Dillon and Isabella Dunsieth. I saw the latter this week and I just may have a new favorite improv show! Keep reading for why, and make plans to see their next performance on March 3. Visit the Jungle website for info and tickets to all of their improv shows. You can also see improv at Strike Theater in Northeast Minneapolis, The Hive Collaborative in St. Paul, Brave New Workshop (which hosted the long-running show Family Dinner in December), and other locations around town. Visit this website for a list of improv events in the Twin Cities.

I've heard about Off-Book before and thought it sounded fascinating, but I've never seen it until this week. The concept is simple, and brilliant. In a series of two-person scenes, one performer (the Actor) is performing one half of a dialogue from a scene from a play that they have memorized. The other performer (the Improvisor) has no idea what the play is or what the scene is, and improvises their half of the dialogue. The result is something quite magical - a scene that almost sort of makes sense, that bears some resemblance to the original play but is also something entirely new. The group of performers I saw this week featured some of the best actors and/or improvisors in town, and they were all just incredible! I'm not sure who has the harder job - the Actor who has to stay on track with the scripted lines while also reacting to the Improvisor and somehow make it make sense, or the Improvisor who has no idea what scene they're in and just has to react in an honest and interesting way.

Here's a list of plays and performers (Actor and Improvisor) at the January 27 show. Watch the Jungle website for info on the March 3 cast. I've only seen one of these plays before, but now I want to see all of them. The plays/scenes are very well chosen and lend themselves well to this experiment.

• The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov - Christina Baldwin and Alsa Bruno
• The Great Nebula in Orion by Lanford Wilson - Emily Grodzik and Molly Ritchie
• Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons by Sam Steiner - Cheryl Willis and Tom Reed
• The Motherfucker with the Hat by Stephen Adly Guirgis - James Rodriguez and Chris Rodriguez
• The Flick by Annie Baker - Destiny Davison and Taj Ruler
• Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl - Michael Rogers and Jill Bernard

Destiny Davison and Taj Ruler discussing movies in The Flick
(photo courtesy of the Jungle)