Improv comes to Common Ground Theatre

This weekend, Common Ground Theatre will showcase the unpredictable. On Friday, Mar. 1, the Purple Jessups, a rock band made up of improvisers, will perform what they call “BandProv”; a fusion of music and improv. The Purple Jessups was created in September of last year by Jeff Day, the group’s drummer and manager, who sought out musicians to collaborate on his “BandProv” project. Day had already been renting out the Common Ground Theatre for a few improv shows under the name Bravest Face when he wanted to incorporate music into his performance. The band is made up of five musicians, four of whom are also improvisers, a dynamic that Day says contributes to the spontaneity and excitement of the show.

“Playing music with improvisers is hilarious,” said Day. “We bond really well and have this dual relationship where we practice two arts that I love.”

Friday will be the debut performance for the Purple Jessups, and to the group’s knowledge, their particular combination of rock music and improv is a new direction that they’ve never seen explored. The band will begin by playing a set of six songs, covering artists including Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, The Offspring and Metallica, among others. The band members will be dressed in character, each of them portraying individual band members while also alluding to their personality outside of the performance. After their first set, the rock band will morph into an improv group and perform a long-form piece based on any topic, which will be determined by the audience. After the improv interlude, the group will finish as a rock band once again.

Branching out of the typical improv style, the Purple Jessups are diving into an entirely new type of performance—one that unhinges audience expectations. The following night, a different but equally innovative type of improv show will take place at the Theatre. Transactors Improv Company, the oldest currently active improv group in the South, will be performing a piece called Addicts Anonymous, where the actors portray an addiction that is chosen by the audience. Anoo Brod, the company’s show manager and performer, has been teaching improv for several years, including at UNC’s School of Public Administration. Brod said that the improv exercises were starting to become boring, but a quick Google search inspired Addicts Anonymous and revitalized her interest in crafting new performances. The goal of the show is to illustrate the challenges, relationships and triumphs of these characters through a comedic yet meaningful lens.

“[The original show] was supposed to be a five-minute piece about an addict’s experience, and I thought it would be interesting to turn it into an hour-long performance,” explains Brod explained. “I thought this [would create] a juicy and high-stakes performance. Because of the nature of the subject matter, everyone has to be very invested emotionally. It’s interesting, funny, intense, real...it makes for really good theater.”

With the unpredictability of the audience and a sensitive subject matter, how far are the improvisers willing to go for comedy yet avoid parody?

“Our job as improvisers is that, no matter how silly of an addiction we get, we have to play it real and serious,” said Brod. “Sometimes we get really silly addiction suggestions – for example, in class someone suggested toothpicks, which seems like a bizarre addiction to have, but [the show] isn’t going to be interesting unless we play it like it’s a real addiction.”

It may be hard to know what to expect from Addicts, as it is a serious topic that’s handled in this case in a spontaneous manner. Yet Brod recognizes the array of emotions that she will expect to see. “The audience should expect to laugh more of the time. We try to have our laughter come from real and/or emotional places. It will definitely be a combination of silly and serious.” After all, Transactors Improv’s motto is, “if you laugh, we’re doing comedy; if you don’t we’re doing drama.”