Olympic Theatre Arts is welcoming “Imagined Reality,” a Bainbridge Island-based improvisational comedy group, for their second appearance at OTA at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 23, in the OTA Gathering Hall, 414 N. Sequim Ave.
General admission tickets are $10 and may be purchased in advance online at OlympicTheatreArts.org, at OTA’s box office open 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 1-5, by calling 360-683-7326 or at the door, if available.
Since 2016, Imagined Reality Improv has been conjuring comedy “out of thin air” by taking audience suggestions and making up scenes on the spot, OTA representatives say. 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 – and each member brings something different to the performances.
Imagined Reality Improv’s home stage is the Frank Buxton Auditorium at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.
Improvisation, or improv for short, is a form of live theatre that sees plots, characters and dialogue 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.
About the troupe
Michelle Allen’s nine-year stage resume includes acting, writing, directing, producing, stage management, improv and teaching. Prior to that, she worked as a scientist.
As a professional clarinetist, Nancy Peterson has spent most of her career performing the works of others. She found her inner “funny” through improv while living in Southern California. Nancy performs with Imagined Reality and directs an improv group in Port Ludlow.
Marybeth 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.
As a herdsman in a school play, Patrick Ryan fell from the stage, garnering laughs from the unexpected pratfall. Undaunted, his stage career continued with plum roles such as “townsfolk” or “background.”
Rose Weaver is 13 years old and has lived on Bainbridge Island her whole life. She started acting when she was 5 and has loved it ever since.
Tyler 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.He still has his day jobs as a father and a litigation consultant, however.
Andrejs 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, he began doing improv with his son, Talis, an emeritus member of Imagined Reality.
