“Improv-A-Sutra,” an improvisational comedy night at Moorpark College, provided lots of laughs, and sometimes coarse humor, but mostly ‘PG’ content for a wide audience.
Judging by the laughter from the audience, Saturday night’s show was a riot. With sketches on everything from a goofy “Dracula Convention,” where a fed up janitor stabs all of the vampires with a makeshift broom handle stake, to a spoof on the popular MTV show “Next,” to Joe the Plumber’s Greatest Hits, where the actors sang themed songs, there definitely was something for everybody.
Danielle Kaufman, one of the actresses, said that she enjoys being a member of the cast.
“(I like) just being able to be crazy and ridiculous and having witnesses to the crazy ‘ridiculosity,'” Kaufman said.
Before almost every skit, a different actor would engage the audience by asking for input on a scene or scenario, often following the night’s Halloween theme. For instance, when an actor asked the audience to name some scary things, a member shouted “President Palin.” Sometimes the audience offered some bizarre ideas. When an actor asked, “Why is the girl breaking up with her boyfriend,” an audience member responded, “because he eats peanut butter with his toes.”
With Halloween only two weeks away, the third and last installment of “Improv-A-Sutra” revolved around trick-or-treating, vampires, werewolves, and other spooky topics. In one sketch, one of the actors said that the best thing about Halloween is “watching all my favorite superheroes walk around in real life because now I know that they are powered by candy.”
Another male actor tried to tell his favorite part of Halloween.
“I can just put on a dress and…” to which a member of the audience interrupted with, “I knew it!”
This had the audience in tears, with the actor stunned in disbelief at being shown up by the audience.
In a skit called “Costume Party-NEXT,” Kevin Kellogg played a lonely boy looking for love. He said, “My name’s Ted, I like… (as he read the prompter) Pineapples?”
One of his female suitors smelled like tater tots and wore edible underwear made from the crusty remains of “soup dried around the edges of the pot” from the school cafeteria where she worked. Regan Roberts played the female looking for love in the second skit while all the male actors lined up to try their charms on her.
Britteny Tang, 24, a first-time Improv-A-Sutra attendee enjoyed the show.
“They were very descriptive when describing their favorite Halloween moment,” said Tang, referring to the frequent reference to cross-dressing.
Jeffery Marzec, 19, has attended all three live shows and said that the biggest difference between each show was the theme. Night one addressed the collapsing stock market, night two followed up with a “post- apocalyptic” aftermath of the collapse and night three revolved around the upcoming holiday.
With admission at only five dollars, the show was worth the laugh lines. Although Saturday night was the last improv show for this season, students who are interested in upcoming Moorpark theatrical performances should visit the website at http://mcweb.moorparkcollege.edu/theatre/.
Improv-A-Sutra drew a large crowd, full of wacky requests to make the evening fun
