Show: 17
Title: Bury The Leads
Category: Comedy / Drama / Improv / Audience participation
By: Special When Lit
Created by: Sam Landman & Nissa Nordland
Location: Mixed Blood Theatre
Summary: An improvised show about two character actors Faye and Clyde as they go through their life of auditions and rehearsals and other theatery things.
Highlights: Fringe vets Nissa and Sam have been performing this show about two character actors, perhaps inspired by real life, at Bryant Lake Bowl and other venues, but this is my first time seeing it. Their experience with these characters shows, as it feels like we're picking up with them in the middle of their lives. The show is improvised around a structure of various scenes - self-tapes, auditions, rehearsing an intimacy scene (based on audience suggestions), life outside of the theater at the office or the mall, and Fringe specific scenes of Fringe Central (the after-hours hangout) and attending a Fringe show, when they come out into the audience and take a seat. But Sam and Nissa don't just play Clyde and Faye, they also morph into other characters in the stories - actors, coworkers, casting directors - sometimes going back and forth within a scene. They're both great and natural improvisors, and work well together to create a picture of these two people and their theater lives, with a sweet friendship between them. Each scene is noted with words projected on a screen so we know where we are, and the interstitial music (recorded by Sam and Nissa) is delightfully silly. This is improv at its best, by two experienced performers.