A Tale of Two Genres

A Tale of Two Genres is an improvised musical in the style of the audience's choice—as if written by Charles Dickens. The audience supplies the genre: it could be a post-apocalyptic drama, a western on the American prairie, a Tarantino heist story, or whatever else strikes their fancy. The Un-Scripted Theater Company uses that genre to improvise a full-length musical, as filtered through an absurd, complex, Victorian world, with quirky characters and sly narration that Dickens himself might have created.

Alan's blog posts about A Tale of Two Genres 2010

Run Dates: 
Thu, 11/18/2010 - Mon, 01/24/2011
Performances: 
21
Venue: 
SF Playhouse 2nd Stage 11/18-12/22/10 (20 shows); Off Market Theater's B.O.O.M Fest 1/24/11 (1 show)

Asst Director

Additional Production Team

Show Summaries

  • Jasper's Lot - Thursday, November 18, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Stephen King

    Trouble is brewing. Young Cecilia Holmes (Joy) has reached marrying age and her father, James (Michael), has not yet chosen a suitable husband for her. So, in an act of rebellion, she has set her sights on the opium-smoking, servant-killing, secretly vampiric tanner, Jasper Diehl (Gregg).  What she doesn't know is that her father and his friends Muriel, Dudley, and Pamela (Mandy, Paul and Merrill) are members of the Mystical Order of Immortals.  As the waring sides battle, James is turned into a vampire. Cecilia must find her own inner strength in order to stand up to Jasper and defeat him once and for all. 

  • A New Dawn - Friday, November 19, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Stephenie Meyer (Twilight)

    Young Jason Watson (Michael) hopes to start his life afresh at the Twitchwit Boarding School, but soon finds he is tormented by the closed minded students and people of the town who do not accept him because he is a poor orphan. Still, the haughty Dardanella Pickwick (Melissa) finds something about him irresistible and takes him under her wing, but Jason is more than just an orphan: he is a vampire. Can their budding romance survive his true self or the werewolves that hunt him? With a little help from Miss Modesty (Joy) and the visions that she needlepoints, anything is possible.

  • Play it Again, Jonah - Friday, November 26, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Wartime Romance (Casablanca)

    Persephone Sweetbottum (Melissa) wanders the seedy streets of London searching for news from the front of her fiancée, Jonah Whitehouse (Greg), but he is trapped behind enemy lines in France. As he struggles to survive, he becomes tempted by the sweet farmer's daughter Sophie (Merrill), but when he is betrayed by the local resistance, he manages to escape back to England. Can he find Persephone before the mean streets consume her? 

  • The Trouble with Sarah Appleton - Saturday, November 27, 2010 - 3pm

    Suggestion: Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo)

    There's a new pastor in town. When Sarah Appleton (Merrill), the troubled wife of the local inventor (Paul), comes to him for help, Pastor Dartel (Michael) becomes embroiled in a chess match he never quite understands. Then Sarah's twin sister Dora (Merrill) comes to town and changes the game. Can the pastor hold on to his sanity--let alone his life? 

  • The Spice Who Loved Me - Saturday, November 27, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: James Bond (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)

    Only one man can stop Godric Nobchomper's (Michael's) plot to seize control of the spice trade: White. Jeremiah White (Paul). The Victorian superspy returns from assignment in India to tackle the case, only to find Nobchomper's real ambition is to control the world's food supply! The fate of the world rests in his ability to rescue the sweet ingénue accountant Melissa Etheridge (Mandy) from Nobchomper.  Will White stop the poisoned cinnamon from infiltrating England's shores? Will he save Miss Etheridge? What side is Paprika Forkworthy (Joy), England's only female naval captain, really on? 

  • Fine Young Cannibals - Thursday, December 2, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park)

    In an effort to save his dying mother Priscilla (Joy), Dr. Clenchface (Greg) works tirelessly to develop an anti-aging serum. He tests it on the poor vagrant population of London and succeeds in reversing the aging process! Unfortunately the serum also robs people of their senses, turning them into mindless cannibal zombies. When Priscilla tells her son that she does not wish to live forever, he must confront his own fears and find a way to save London.

  • The Soot - Friday, December 3, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix)

    James Abernathy (Christian) has a simple life, but everything to him seems covered in a layer of soot. Then a mysterious Duchess (Mandy) who claims to be his mother frees him from the soot and makes him the aristocrat he was born to be. Soon he finds he's being trained for more than just a place in the aristocracy. The Duchess is waging a war on the industrial revolution and he has been chosen to lead the charge. When she is kidnapped by Agents from Scotland Yard (Alan & Michael), Mr. Abernathy must penetrate their inner sanctum and rescue her. 

  • Professor Who? - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - 3pm

    Suggestion: Time Travel (Doctor Who)

    Professor Evangelus (Scott) creates a clock that allows him to travel through time and space. Modesty Greene (Merrill), the daughter of Aloyisius Greene (Greg), famous sea captain and friend to Prof. Evangelus, longs for adventure and excitement, but gets more than she bargained for when she meets up with Prof. Evangelus and travels to ancient Egypt. Soon Modesty is kidnapped by the Sleepers of Eldritch who are trapped in time and more or less imprisoned in Big Ben. With Modesty in danger and all of London stuck at eternal midnight, the Professor has no time to lose. 

  • Tower Wars - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Star Wars

    Peter Gillowsby (Michael) lives in the small rural town of Ardenshire, miles away from the power struggles in London where the King was securing his totalitarian power. Then on his 21st birthday his boss, Mephisto Haverford (Christian), gives him his father's sword and reveals to him that he, Mr. Haverford, is the last of the Queen's Special Guard. He offers to train Peter in the ways of the Samurai. Meanwhile Lord Grimsby (Alan), head of the King's Secret Service and a Samurai himself captures Emma Whitefield (Merrill) and tortures her for information on the resistance. Peter and Mr. Haverford rush to the Tower of London to save her, but Mephisto is slain by his old pupil Grimsby. Peter attacks Grimsby in a fit of rage only to find out that Grimsby is really William Gillowsby, Peter's father. As the dark lord is thrown into the moat, Peter and Emma barely escape before the Tower burns to the ground. 

  • Lord of the Book - Thursday, December 9, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Fantasy (Lord of the Rings)

    A large red leather book has been passed down through generations to David Atwater (Alan) under strict instructions that it never be opened, but David can't resist cracking the spine. Soon he finds himself and his servant Frederick (Christian) being chased by denizens of the underworld hell-bent on retrieving the book. David must take it to Ayers Rock in Australia and throw it into a bottomless void, while the last remaining descendants of Atlantis pursue him and their lost book of magic. If he fails, all of England will be overrun, but can he succeed without it costing him his life?

  • The Godmother - Friday, December 10, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: The Godfather Saga

    The Flannery sisters Nan (Merrill) and Colleen (Mandy) leave Ireland and move to London with their younger brother Arn (Alan) in search of a better life. When they open a small watering-hole, they run afoul of Elizabeth Boudicca McGinty (Melissa), a 3rd-generation Irish immigrant who controls everything around the docks. The stubborn sisters try to fight the McGinty clan, but their scuffle erupts into a bloody war with no winners. 

  • Henry Darling and the Lost Jewel of Technocticlan - Saturday, December 11, 2010 - 3pm

    Suggestion: Indiana Jones Adventure

    Archeologist Henry Darling (Alan) retrieves the lost jewel of Technocticlan only to have it taken from him by his French counterpart Jacques Sinclair (Greg). As Sinclair builds a pyramid under the city of Paris to harness the jewel's power for the vile French, Darling must not only reach the staff of Amun Rah in Eqypt before the French, but he must save the love of his life, Anna Tompkins (Merrill). Can Darling and his trusty side-kick Frederick Hayes (Christian) save the world from the French? 

  • West End Story - Saturday, December 11, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: West Side Story / Grease

    When Mary Lingshen (Merrill), a flower girl from a violent family, meets Patrick Wilcox (Michael), servant to London's richest man, they instantly fall in love, but in England servants and merchants are sworn enemies. When Mary's brother Frankie (Paul) finds out about the romance, he and his pals beat Patrick up in a bar fight. Mary and Patrick vow to marry anyway, but before they can, Frankie's continued harassment gets Patrick fired. As Patrick despairs that Mary will no longer have him, he runs into Frankie on the street. They fight and Patrick kills Frankie... in front of Mary. She runs away, and Patrick turns himself in to the police only to be sentenced to hang.

    His hanging is in the square on a busy market day, but Mary does not come as she cannot stand to look at him. He dies thinking of her, his feelings unchanged.

  • Witherlite - Thursday, December 16, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

    Young Oxford student Tesla Witherspoon (Michael) didn't have many friends. Numbers meant more to him than people. After suffering one too many humiliations at the hands of his fellow students, he befriends inventor Jeramiah Turnbottom (Christian) and soon Tesla has created his own invention: The Witherlite - the first electric lightbulb. Soon Tesla is the richest most powerful man in London, but along the way he turns his back on Turnbottom and wins then loses the love of his life Ms. Turner (Mandy). Did the ends justify the means? Not even Tesla is certain. 

  • Algae - Friday, December 17, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Jaws

    The beachside city of Brighton begins drilling special hotsprings to bring in tourists. Problem is, after they start drilling, people start disintegrating and dying in the springs. The mayor, Bartleby St. James (Paul), is hellbent on continuing to drill more springs, no matter the risk. A London journalist Howard Hubbard (Greg), a grizzled ship's captain Barnaby Willkins (Christian), and a discredited hydrologist Edna Sharpedge (Mandy) join forces to fight the true cause of the disintegrations: Ancient Red Algae released by the drilling. Are they going to need a bigger boat? 

  • Filkins - Saturday, December 18, 2010 - 3pm

    Suggestion: Dexter

    Tom Filkins (Christian) works as a sketch artist at Scotland Yard with Inspector William McGinty (Alan), an Irishman turned London lawman. Tom has a lovely wife (Joy) and two perfect kids, Emma (Mandy) and Nicholas (Alan), but he also has a dark secret: He kills and butchers London's most despicable criminals. As the City lives in terror of "Jack the Ripper," Tom's daughter Emma and his partner McGinty start putting the pieces together, but Tom knows that once something is broken, the pieces can never be made whole again.  

  • Sara in Hatland - Saturday, December 18, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Alice in Wonderland

    Poor young Sara Townsend (Melissa) dreams of a wealthier, more colorful life where she can stay a child forever. Then one day she journeys down aisle 47 of the hat shop of Mr. Hatter (Greg) and Mr. Lupine (Scott) and finds herself in a strange and magical world where all the inhabitants are hats. Along the way, she encounters many strange and magical beings, including the imperious and dangerous Queen of Hats (Mandy). Enthralled by the Queen's power and riches, Sara loses track of time, forgetting that if she stays there she will become a hat herself and never be able to return to her family. Will she stay in Hatland forever or return to her simple life with her mother (Joy)?

  • The Princess Elizabeth - Monday, December 20, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: The Princess Bride

    Elizabeth Crumpnoggin (Mandy) falls in love with her family's servant Jeremy Turnpike II (Christian), but he feels he needs to make his own fortune in order to be worthy of her. As such, he disappears to India. While he is away, Elizabeth's father (Scott) betroths her to the local land owner Sir Charles Jenkins VI (Alan). Soon, however, Elizabeth is kidnapped.

    Can Jeremy overcome death itself to save his true love, or will she be forced to marry the evil Jenkins?

  • December 21, 2010 - Tuesday, December 21, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Gilligan's Island

  • December 22, 2010 - Wednesday, December 22, 2010 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Pulp Fiction

Director's Notes

An improvised Dickensian musical — but in the genre of your choice. Though a delightful mélange it seems indeed, you might wonder, Dear Reader, whence came this idea. Read on, and all shall be revealed.

The seed of this show came from the San Francisco Improv Festival last year, when it was the “Temporary Improv Festival.” Un-Scripted did a set, and we decided to perform a genre-combo longform, as is our wont. That night, we ended up with four genres: John Hughes (that was the week after he died), Dickens, tragedy and horror—and we performed a show that turned out to be extremely fun. So much so, in fact, that we made it an entire run, to round out season eight.

The other part of the show came from our lingering desire to do a Dickens-themed show. At last, here was our chance! And I was excited to direct it, since I wrote my master’s thesis on adapting Oliver Twist into film (did you know how many films have been made about that story, including both terrible animated adaptations AND pre-1900 silent movies?) and I have always loved Dickens.

The thing I’ve always loved about his works (which might be the thing some people hate!) is his vibrant attention to detail. Too many words, people say sometimes. But I love the delight he finds in everything he describes, whether it’s the way the light falls on the cobblestones at a certain time of day, or the grand vistas of the city, or the absurdity of someone’s social interactions, or the quiet dignity of a street person whom everyone else might walk by, eyes averted. This delight in the details, whether for serious or comic purposes, is how I see the world, and I find Dickens infinitely fulfilling, for that reason.

Hey, here’s a cool thing: Dickens was living at the time when people were getting to have a greater perspective on their own world: magic lantern shows were like pre-movies, and attractions like the Panorama of London allowed people to see their own city as if from far away. It’s even been posited that the train also acted like a movie theater: from your window you could see the world pass by at an enormous rate, and the view unfolded before you almost like the story of where you were going. (Thanks Joss Marsh, for your Dickens in Film class!) My goal, in translating the Dickens style to the stage in this way, is to achieve that same diversity of perspective: the grand vista of whatever world we create, AND the familiar, minute, personal details of the people who live in it.

As you can tell, if you’ve read to the bottom of this director’s note, I’ve had a great time working on this show, figuring out how to use acting and narration to get a Dickensian view of a world *you* are about to describe to us. I hope you have a great time watching it!
Enjoy the show!

— Mandy Khoshnevisan

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