EDMOND —
In its last performance until summer, OKC Improv offered up some foot-stomping, blow-your-drink-through-your-nostrils fun.
Based out of Ghostlight Theatre Club in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma’s first ongoing professional showcase of local and regional improv groups has enjoyed a successful six-month run so far, delighting audiences with its irreverent, spontaneous and ingenious humor. Fans are not only drawn to the outstanding comedy, but delight in helping create the zany themes.
The night’s offerings began with guest artists “Cueless,” the official improv troupe of Stillwater’s Town & Gown Theater. Members Matthew Able, Diane Keenom, Angie Lindley, Meg Price, Nicole Vance, Jason Watts and Dawn Wilson opened the show with a series of improv games including “ABC,” “Change” and “Pan Right, Pan Left.” Based on suggestions from the audience, the group acted out scenarios within the rules of each game.
The ongoing “Villain: The Musical,” a completely improvised, 45-minute extravaganza that parodies Broadway’s smash hit “Wicked” and Joss Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” featured Stephanie Bidelspach, Cristela Carrizales, Buck Vrazel, Clint Vrazel and Raychel Winstead. Based on responses from the crowd, the beachfront laboratory set the scene in which Winstead, the audience-appointed villain, won the support of the multi-talented robot/pianist Bidelspach and the experimental blob Buck Vrazel in gaining power over lab boss Clint Vrazel and co-worker Carrizales.
Bidelspach provided piano accompaniment to the company’s ingenious up-tempo and romantic solos and choruses to complement their hilarious dialogue. The quintet fed off each other’s energy, their timing and skills rivaling top-rated television sitcoms.
The second half of the evening opened with “The MiDolls” as no-nonsense, ruler-wielding Catholic matriarchs.
Ann-Lisette Caveny, Tiffany Fawn Elam, Jodi Nestander, Sue Ellen Reiman, Brenda Williams and “Villains” co-stars Winstead, Carrizales and Bidelspach donned the habits of Sister Mary John, Mary Paul, Mary George Michael, the crimson-lipped Mary Ringo and others to embark on a road trip to Albuquerque. A brief quiz preceded their adventure, with several onlookers winning glow-in-the-dark crucifixes for correctly answering questions about the saints featured on cards distributed just prior to the show.
Twinprov’s Buck and Clint Vrazel concluded the night’s laugh-fest with their debut of “Rap-City.” Accompanied by Bidelspach, the brothers performed a series of impromptu scenes, ending each with original, on-the-spot rap numbers. Based on politics and other current events, their clever storytelling is heightened by rhyme set to hip-hop beats.
Also members of “The Closers,” “The Ones Your Mother Warned You About” and “Villain: the Musical,” the Vrazels co-produce OKC Improv with Marcy Fleming and Eric Webb for Mirror Image Productions.
OKC Improv performances will continue June 26 following Ghostlight’s production of “[title of show].” Tickets for each performance are $10, cash at the door. Reservations are encouraged and can be made via e-mail at okcimprov@gmail.com or by calling 343-1570. For more information, go to www.okcimprov.com.
JANET MURPHY PATTERSON is an Edmond resident.
Arts & Entertainment
Related Photos
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PHOTO PROVIDED | MARCY FLEMING The MiDolls played no-nonsense, ruler-wielding Catholic matriarchs during OKC Improv's second run. PHOTO PROVIDED
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OKC Improv wraps up second run
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