Worst Case Scenario: Star Wars
New Improv Group Debuts with Star Wars-based long-form show.
A month featuring debuts from no less than two new local theatre companies also plays host to a brand new Milwaukee improv group as the newly-minted Worst Case Scenario opens its first show late this month.
On July 23rd at ComedySportz, a fusioon of ComedySportz players and members of the popular improv group Meanwhile will take the stage to do a long-form improv piece forged from audience suggestions brought into George Lucas’ enduring Star Wars universe. The area just south of downtown which houses ComedySportz’s performance space bears little resemblance to the desert of Tunisia or a soundstage in England, but the borderland between downtown and Walker’s Point feels like a suitable place for a new experimental improv group. According to the press release, Worst Case Scenario looks to “incorporate techniques and brand new games that no one has played before.” Sounds ambitious—improv has been around for a very, very long time. One might be tempted to say that the furthest frontiers of improv have already been explored.
In addition to playing with new imrpov tools, Worst Case Scenario will have its hands full trying to craft some kind of comedy out of the ether in an effort to pay tribute to one of the most successful and influential movie franchises of all time. The group plans further improv experiments that will be staged on a monthly basis.
Worst Case Scenario’s Star Wars Improv hits the stage of ComedySportz (420 South First Street) at 8pm on July 23rd. Tickets are available by reservation by calling 414-272-8888.
Although people have been making stuff up forever, the theater style we recognize as improv is relatively new. Most of it can be traced to the Theatre Games of Viola Spolin in the 1940s, making it younger than cinema, and a little older than rock music.
As the birthplace of Dick Chudnow's ComedySportz, Milwaukee has already been home to one of the major develpments in the history of improv theatre. Who knows, - maybe the next wave starts here this month!