SEQUIM — Will Tyler finally admit his crimes? Will an audience member find a love match? Will Marybeth successfully play all five of the characters in a frenetic scene all by herself?
Troupe members from Imagined Reality Improv bring these situations to the stage at Olympic Theatre Arts (OTA) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets are $10 for the general public and are available at OTA’s box office, 414 N. Sequim Ave., from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or online at www.OlympicTheatreArts.org.
The audience is a critical part of improvisational comedy (or “improv”), and the Bainbridge Island-based Imagined Reality group brings that spirit back to OTA, where they’ve played several shows in recent years.
Imagined Reality Improv performer Marybeth Redmond said she’s is attracted to improv because “it stretches me to think quickly on my feet and go places I never thought I could go as an actor.”
Fellow troupe member Patrick Ryan said he likes the collaborative aspect between the audience and the performers. He also shares a group-wide feeling of relief from not spending weeks memorizing lines.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t rehearse.
Typical rehearsals or pre-show warm-ups, he said, involve exercises in creating well-rounded characters, relationships and environments on the spot.
The creativity of Imagined Reality Improv shows also comes from the varied backgrounds of the seven performers: a scientist, two lawyers, a classical musician, a human resources guru, a marketing expert and a teenage student — each bringing something different to the collaboration.
The group formed on Bainbridge in 2016 and performs all over the Olympic Peninsula, but the members have many decades of combined theater study and performance in their backgrounds.
For more show information and more about Imagined Reality Improv, see www.Facebook.com/IRImprov.
For more about Olympic Theatre Arts, call 360-683-7326.
