Olympic Theatre Arts welcomes Bainbridge Island improvisational comedy group “Imagined Reality” for their first appearance at OTA at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, in the Gathering Hall, 414 N. Sequim Ave.
Since 2016, Imagined Reality Improv has been conjuring comedy out of thin air by taking audience suggestions and making up scenes on the spot. The seven members come from all walks of life: a scientist, two lawyers, a classical musician, an HR guru, a marketing expert and even a teenage student. Each member brings something different to the performances, group members say.
Imagined Reality Improv’s home stage is the Frank Buxton Auditorium at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, where their most recent show sold out.
Improvisation, or improv, is a form of live theatre in which plots, characters and dialogue are made up in the moment. Improvisers will often take suggestions from the audience to get themselves going, and then rely on fellow actors to keep the comedy rolling. One unique aspect of improv performance is that they are all just that – unique, as the audience never sees the same show twice.
General admission tickets are $10. Tickets can be purchased in advance online at OlympicTheatreArts.org, at OTA’s box office (open Monday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.), by calling 360-683-7326, or at the door, if available.
About the players
• Michelle Allen – Allen’s nine-year stage resume includes acting, writing, directing, producing, stage management, improv, and teaching. Prior to that, she worked as a scientist.
• Nancy Peterson – As a professional clarinetist, Peterson spent most of her career performing the works of others. She found her inner “funny” through improv while living in Southern California. She performs with Imagined Reality and directs an improv group in Port Ludlow. With music still a lifelong love, she also performs with the Port Angeles Symphony and Toot Sweet, a Victorian-costumed clarinet quartet.
• Marybeth Redmond – Redmond has been acting, singing, dancing and being silly on stage for the past 10 years in Kitsap County. She has appeared with Bainbridge Performing Arts, Ovation!, Jewel Box Theater, Island Theater and NW Actors Lab. Her favorite role was playing Mrs. Tottendale in “The Drowsy Chaperone” at BPA because Mrs. T spent the whole show with no clue what was going on – just like improv.
• Patrick Ryan – As a herdsman in a school play, Ryan fell from the stage, garnering laughs from the unexpected pratfall. Undaunted, his stage career continued with plum roles such as “townsfolk” or “background.” He even spent a summer after high school telling jokes at Astroworld, an amusement park in Houston, Texas.
• Rose Weaver – Weaver, 13, has lived on Bainbridge Island her whole life. She started acting when she was 5 and has loved it ever since.
• Tyler Weaver – Weaver had been doing improv for many years when he invited a bunch of friends to his basement with the idea of forming a group. Years later, here we are. Weaver still has his day jobs as a father and a litigation consultant, however.
• Andrejs Zommers – Zommers spent his youth hyping up crowds as the announcer and owner of a touring action sports show. He also played The Wheedle, a mascot of the Seattle Supersonics NBA team. A number of years ago, Zommers began doing improv with his son, Talis, an emeritus member of Imagined Reality. Outside of improv, he also makes stuff up in the advertising world.
