My First Fully Realized Long-Form: The Lost Comedies

After completing my undergraduate studies at Roosevelt University, I jumped on a train and started my graduate studies at Western Illinois University in Macomb. I had made my first valiant effort at an original long-form before leaving Chicago in 1995 (read about it here if you’d like), and I was certainly still inspired by this style of play. In my second year of graduate studies, I pitched the idea of a full-length improvised Shakespearean comedy. It took some cajoling – I still recall some faculty questioning why an improv show would even need a spot in the season and access to one of our stages – but I eventually secured a time and venue. Like musical improv, spontaneous Shakespeare was just one of those sub-genres of improv that intuitively called to me. I enlisted the help of many fellow graduate student friends and the result was The Lost Comedies of William Shakespeare: An Improvisational Romp Through the Land of the Bard. I think this still holds the record for my longest title, and I’ve come up with some long titles in my efforts to weave “improv” into the mix somehow!

The Basic Premise: Four roaming members of the King’s Men (and their ever-faithful minstrel companions) anxiously await delivery of Shakespeare’s newest unseen comedy in celebration of his birthday on this, the 23rd of April, 1616. Unbeknownst to the company, however, fate has intervened, and their favored poet is not to make it to this fine premiere. News of his untimely death and the presence of the assembled audience demand an extemporized performance in an effort to raise the spirits of all in attendance. Cobbling together their knowledge of his earlier works and the audience’s generous memories and suggestions, the King’s Men create a one-of-a-kind improvisational romp—a lost comedy of William Shakespeare!

While my first effort at long-form construction had been rough around the edges, one of the incredible happenstances of this production was access to a team of designers who generously applied a can-do (and will-do!) attitude and created a really dynamic world to play within. Key members included Matthew Hallock on set, Jacob Welch on lights, Monica Mazzaro on costumes, and Ken St. Peter as music director. Among the many lovely touches I recall were a four-person band of live minstrels providing musical underscoring and Foley effects, a dynamic multi-layered set assembled from any and all platforms we could get our hands on, a lovely array of Shakespearean costume pieces to inspire our characters, and a light-bulb on a pull cord in a cavernous nook created by a center stage overhang which actors could just activate as needed. This little touch still makes me smile when I think of it. The technical and design elements far surpassed the meager means we had to mount the piece. I think this collaboration also reinforced in me the belief that improv gains so much when it fully utilizes all the design means of traditional live theatre.

Lessons

Memories can tend to be fickle but I recall really boisterous full houses completely embracing the concept and abandon of the piece. Our department chair, Gene Kozlowski, a brilliant practitioner who was extremely reserved in his praise of anything, uncharacteristically noted that the experience made him rethink what theatre could or should do, which obviously so struck me that I still remember that nod all these years later. We were so nervous as players as this was wildly outside all of our comfort zones. Doug perhaps put it best during the rehearsal process when he noted that there really wasn’t a moment you could tune out in the piece as our company of four would no sooner leave the stage than be needed in a different costume in a different locale for the next beat. Kimmarie’s role was responsible for starting the first scene coming out of the opening prologue and she brainstormed a huge list of possible activities – I want to say that swabbing the deck of a ship was one of the more memorable ones. As was typically the case in most things – at least on the exterior – Adam was chill, and we engaged in a lot of duels and bawdy word play battles on stage.

I’ve revisited this piece twice since that debut in 1997, each time trying to build on and expand the core model. In 2006, I brought the piece to Sak Comedy Lab as my second long-form work there with a larger cast of nine performers rotating into the four player positions on any given night. We had engaged in some modest dramaturgical work in the original WIU show, looking at a handful of emblematic scenes and breaking down how they worked, but we all drew on our general Shakespearean studies in the department. No longer on a campus, I endeavored to work through some of the plays more systematically with the Sak company for this second installment, but I think this didn’t quite materialize the way I had hoped. But the improv was brave, and bold, and joyous.

The third version occurred on the stage of the Annie Russell Theatre in 2014 with a much enlarged ensemble: every performance involved fifteen players, including myself as the Player King, the role I’d played in both prior runs. This was in addition to a live Foley Artist, professional improv musician, and all the live designers, stage management, and crew members. This was one of the most heavily researched pieces I have undertaken, and involved a companion semester-long class co-taught with my dramaturgical colleague Jenn-Scott Mobley in which every Shakespearean play was explored or mined (although about half were assigned to only a couple of students to study rather than the class as a whole.) Some students might argue that it was too much research – perhaps fairly – but each night the company entered the stage with a treasure trove of period-appropriate details at their fingertips alongside a good dose of whimsy and abandon. If you’ve visited my website, you’ll see ample photos of this production everywhere as it was gorgeous in its design elements, stunningly photographed, and there was some palpable creative magic flowing between the performers.

If someone was to ask me to name a project that defined my course as an improvisational deviser and practitioner, that WIU production in 1997 would stand as a top contender. Until that moment, I had imagined what an interesting type of long-form might look like when framed with a heightened sense of theatricality, but this was my first opportunity to see such an idea become a fully materialized reality. I’m deeply indebted to all those initial collaborators for that opportunity and experience.

First produced in 1997, then nine years later in 2006, then eight years later in 2014… if the pattern is to hold (and allowing for the lost covid years) that would make the time ripe for a new production! Any takers?

Cheers, David Charles.
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