When spontaneity is planned

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The EDGE improv troupe has racked up over a decade of laughs on the island.

They must be doing something right.

After 10 years on the Bainbridge Performing Arts scene, The EDGE still packs ’em in for 90 minutes of sidesplitting fun.

The island’s favorite, dare we say, only improvisational troupe takes the Playhouse stage again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

“We are an on-going phenomena,” director Ken Ballenger said. “We’ve developed an audience that is magnificent. They come for a party.”

The EDGE takes audience suggestions and turns them into songs, skits and dances, incorporating everything from classical music references to foreign films. Contrary to popular belief, they actually do rehearse.

“We have scheduled rehearsals three or four times a month,” Ballenger said. “We rehearse techniques.”

For example, the troupe performs a lot of improvised music, so they need to know how to make up a song and make a story out of it.

“You have to make sure everybody knows how to come in…you have to learn how to do it. During the show we make up the lyrics. We’ll practice blues numbers and we’ll practice other types of music,” Ballenger said.

The troupe is “very strong musically and in scene work,” said troupe member and co-founder Frank Buxton. “We create a scene from audience suggestions or nothing at all.”

What began as a workshop in 1993 has mushroomed into a much-anticipated event with a cultish following.

By Ballenger’s estimate, two-thirds of the audiences are repeat viewers.

“There are people who have seen 20 or 30 shows and they come back and they challenge us,” Ballenger said.

The 10 core group members are successful largely because they keep it fun.

“We may be the oldest living improv group around,” Ballenger said. “We have a really broad range of people and talent…from about age 30 to about age 76, which is pretty unusual. Most improv groups are under (age) 30.

The troupe members “developed the chops they need” through their experiences, be they on Broadway or in movies or community theater.

Although not everyone is an actor by trade, together the members “bring a deeper dimension” to their improv work,” said Ballenger, who is an insurance broker by day.

“We all like each other. We’ve been working together, most of us, for about 12 years (and) we’re good friends,” he said.

This is the first year The EDGE has corporate sponsorship. The BPA approached Harbor Square Condominiums, Opus Northwest, said real estate manager Gary Blakeslee.

“In terms of timing, they thought their clientele was very consistent with what our target market probably is, but we’d already sold a whole lot of condos by then,” Blakeslee said. “The more we talked, the more it seemed like it’s a good way to contribute to the (arts) community. The pace of the sales has exceeded our expectations and this is our way to give a little something back to the community.”

The company will look at continuing the relationship on “a year-by-year basis,” Blakeslee said. Ballenger said the sponsorship means more money for advertising and more exposure for the improv troupe and the BPA.

The troupe also features co-founder and BPA board president John Ellis, Susan MacPherson, Matt Whitman, Cynthia Lair, Dr. Andrew Shields, Gary Schwartz and Bhama Roget. They perform off-island in such places as Bellingham, San Juan Island and the Kitsap Peninsula, as well as for private and corporate functions, although they do less of the latter now than in years past. The EDGE also does a lot of “sponsored shows,” Ballenger said, providing the entertainment for school and sports fund-raisers.

The EDGE welcomes adults and children to its PG-13 shows.

“We look to see who’s in the audience,” Ballenger said, “and we will tailor the show to them.”

“We play a lot of games, and we usually end the show with a Broadway musical number,” Buxton said.

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It’s showtime

It’s time again for The EDGE Improv shows. Performances are 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays Sept. 3, Oct. 1 and Nov. 5 at The Playhouse. The material is suitable for PG-13 audiences; i.e., children are welcome.

Tickets are $8 for students and seniors and $10 for adults. They are available at The Playhouse box office, 200 Madison Ave. N., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday; from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday; and one hour before each performance.

Charge tickets by phone by calling 842-8569 or purchase online at www.theplayhouse.org.