As the crowd anticipates what will happen next, so do the performers. With nothing but a single audience suggestion, the Improvised Shakespeare Company builds an entire play in real time, creating the plot, characters and language on the spot.
Founder and creator Blaine Swen debuted the company’s first show 20 years ago in Chicago at The Second City’s student stage, Donny’s Skybox. This Friday and Saturday, the ISC will make its second appearance at the McCullough Theatre in Austin with three unique performances.
“We say, ‘If you’re ever wondering where the story is going, so are we,” Swen said. “We’re inventing as we go along. What the audience will see is an entire play — beginning, middle and end — based just on that suggestion.”
One audience member suggests a title that determines everything. Past productions have included titles like “Rocky Hamlet Picture Show” and “Gothello,” alongside entirely unrelated prompts such as “Justin Bieber” and “Munchos versus Funyuns.” Whether the title references Shakespeare or not, the moment it is announced, the actors must imagine their characters, the tone of the play and the shape of the story.
“The titles run a wild gambit, from the sublime to the ridiculous,” actor Ross Bryant said. “Some are referential to specific Shakespeare plays and some are total non sequiturs. The first thing I’m thinking of when the title comes in [is], ‘What’s an emotional way into this title?’ In Shakespeare terms, ‘What’s a poetic way in?’”
After working together for nearly two decades, the cast has developed a rare level of trust.
“You have to trust we’re here together to create something bigger than ourselves,” actor Joey Bland said. “Anything somebody says, we take as gospel truth for this show, and we build on it. You have the freedom to say anything.”
Though comedic in nature, the show doesn’t limit itself to humor. In the spirit of Shakespeare, actors say they aim to balance wit with emotional depth.
“One of the things I love about this show most is it can be so ridiculously silly and stupid,” Bryant said. “It can also be poetic and have some real emotional gut punches.”
To Bryant, there is both “a beauty and a tragedy” in knowing each performance only exists once.
”It’s ethereal,” Bryant said. “It’s a conversation with that particular audience on that particular night, and we all get to share it together. The tragic downside to it is it just happens once … That’s the beauty and the curse of improv.”
Returning to a city where it has performed many times before, the company continues to develop a particular affection for Austin and its audiences.
“What the city brings to the show is the people who come and the energy of the people that come into the building,” Swen said. “The energy of the people in Austin has always been fantastic.”
For Swen, the ultimate goal of the ISC goes beyond performance — it’s about bringing people together under one roof.
“I hope what the audience walks away experiencing is an evening of joy with fellow humans,” Swen said.
