A Tale of Two Genres 2011

The Un-Scripted Theater Company is reprising 2010's successful improvised musical, A Tale of Two Genres, performed 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. 

Run Dates: 
Thu, 11/17/2011 - Wed, 12/21/2011
Performances: 
22
Venue: 
New York Premier - The Magnet Theater || San Francisco - SF Playhouse - Stage 2

Director

Christian Utzman

Asst Director

Mandy Khoshnevisan

Producer

Bryce Byerley

Cast

Aaron Saenz
Bryce Byerley
Christian Utzman
Clay Robeson
Diana DiCostanzo
Greg Shilling
Mandy Khoshnevisan
Melissa Holman
Merrill Gruver
Molly Robertson
Paul Kursky
Scott Keck
Vanessa Speed

Musicians

Jacob Russell-Snyder

Crew

Aaron Saenz
Bryce Byerley
Clay Robeson
Diana DiCostanzo
Greg Shilling
Mandy Khoshnevisan
Melissa Holman
Scott Keck
Tara McDonough

Show Summaries

  • The Sun Never Sets on the British Mind - Saturday, November 5, 2011 - 9pm

    (At the New York Musical Improv Festival at the Magnet Theater in New York City)

    Suggestion: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

    After a particularly heated argument with her beau Jonathan Pickwickle (Christian), Elaine Malgruben (Merrill) finds herself at the offices of Dr. Helburg (Clay) who claims to possess a tonic that will erase memories. When Jonathan finds out what Elaine has done, he proceeds to do the same, eliminating her and her father (also Clay) from HIS memory. Fast forward several months.  Jonathan is wooing the blushing Miss Cherrybottom (Mandy) but keeps calling her by the wrong name. Elaine is being persued by Mr. Rochester (Greg) who just happens to be the assistant of Dr. Helburg.  However, fate steps in and causes Elaine and Jonathan to constantly run into each other in public, and each meeting shakes loose memories that were supposedly long forgotten.  After an unsuccessful second treatment of Elaine, Dr. Helburg and Mr. Rochester flee London for Scotland, leaving Elaine and Jonathan to rediscover their perfectly imperfect love for each other.

  • Hollow of the Moon King - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Apocolypse Now

    Lt. Charles (Aaron) is just on the verge of retirement from Her Majesty's armed forces, but he's been tasked with one last mission: retrieve Col. Joseph Cornwall (Greg), leader of the Black Flag team. Once tasked with expanding Her Majesty's empire, Cornwall has gone AWOL in the jungles of Indonesia. Going on what they think will be a short jaunt down the river to retrieve the Colonel, Charles and crew (Vanessa & Merrill) are taken prisoner by followers of the "Moon King." Crazed by opium, haunted by the ghost of an old love and corrupted by good old British hubris, the Colonel has set up a mini blood-fueled empire in the jungle. On his voyage, Lt. Charles encounters poverty, despair, and fear, and comes to the brink of his own inner darkness. The two men, old comrades -- so alike in origin yet so different in fortune -- meet at last in the jungle for a final showdown...

  • Tomorrow is Another Day - Friday, November 18, 2011 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Groundhog Day

    Cynical, citywise Mr. Robert Archbrow (Christian), London coal magnate, is making yet another trip to the cheerful, provincial, coal-rich Westchester -- which is also, to his shame, his hometown. He has brought Mr. Nathan Fibbert (Clay) along to convince him to invest in an extension to the coal mine, which by the way would block the view of the town's centuries-old clock tower -- but his surly attitude turns Fibbert off, and he loses the investment. A freak snowstorm stops Archbrow from leaving by train, and in the morning he wakes up to the same day all over again -- the day of the Clock Tower Gala. Trapped in what seems like hell, with the same simple folk and the same conversations every day, he tries everything to get out. Fleeing, suicide, debauchery, book learning ... until one "day" he wakes up with a desire to improve the town and its people instead. His investment in refurbishing the clock tower wins Fibbert's approval, the eye of young Miss Lucy (Diana) -- and the dawn of the day AFTER.

  • The Frogs - Friday, November 25, 2011 - 8pm

    Suggestion: The Birds

    High society in London loves nothing more than keeping up with the latest fashions, however absurd or destructive. Currently, dining on frog legs is all the rage, a la Paris. But curiously, London fishermen are having harder and harder times finding any frogs at all. Young Miss Shrewsbury (Melissa) follows a curious young man James Clement (Paul) to his hometown in southern England, lured by the promise of the next new fashionable food. But in that small hamlet (where all the nation's frogs seem to be quietly gathering), fashion means nothing. And when people start being mysteriously attacked and killed, the suspicious inhabitants turn on Miss Shrewsbury as the cause of the problem. But soon the amphibious attackers have her cornered too ... where she and her young man must face what's really important, before it's too late.

  • David's Game - Saturday, November 26, 2011 - 3pm

    Suggestion: Ender's Game

    Little David Foster (Paul) is a genius ... but he doesn't know it yet. The Fosters are living squarely in poverty, and little David is unable to find steady work to help support the family.  One day, David and his brother Silas (Vanessa) are picked up by two other kids, Squib (Melissa) and Coleridge (Greg), who are the main operatives for Mr. Knuckles Chambliss (Christian), a shady character with an army of child "actors" to do his bidding. Learning to be an actor just feels like playing, and David is having a great time. He's learning to strategize and organize the other children, even create assembly lines. He's practically their leader. But when his gig "playacting" as a chef results in the entire Silesian embassy ball dropping dead, David realizes what his work has been all along, and it's definitely not a game at all.

  • The Little Commoners - Saturday, November 26, 2011 - 8pm

    Suggestion: The Little Mermaid

    The seaside is where Londoners go to escape. In the seaside town of Chester, Miss Portia Bartlett (Diana) is taking a weekend with her guardian, Mr. Reginald (Bryce). She's always loved swimming in the ocean. Also in town for the week-end is Sir Arthur (Clay), who happens to be a Duke -- though he'd rather learn to be just a fisherman. While both masquerading as commoners by the docks, the two meet and fall in love; over the course of months, they find themselves returning to Chester looking for each other. Still ignorant of the other's true identity, they are both willing to give up their own money and influence for each other, and they become engaged, thinking themselves only a fisherman and his wife-to-be. But real life intervenes; crushing debt, a hard-nosed Ducal fiancee (Merrill) and a guardian still in love with his charge's dead mother force the truth on the couple, and their new life turns to sea foam and floats away...

  • A Tale of Two Families - Thursday, December 1, 2011 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Home Alone

    Young Tim (Scott)'s family is going to Paris ... accidentally leaving him behind! While Tim is camped out in the stables, the family maid (Merrill) sells all the family's possessions to the Binghamton gang. Upon his family's return, they disown him and send him to debtor's prison on their behalf. Three years later, at age 12, Tim is a hard young man who needs a home. The Binghamton gang, now nouveau-riche, takes him in, and "Lady" Binghamton (Diana) becomes his surrogate mother. Tim's beloved sister Maria (Molly) sees him on the street, and together they hatch a plan to give the Binghamtons a taste of their own medicine by stealing their possessions back. Now guess who's going to Paris ... and leaving a boy behind? A mirror-image theft takes place, and Tim regains a home, a family, and the mother he becomes a man for.

  • Elixired - Friday, December 2, 2011 - 8pm

    Suggestion: Cocoon

    Mrs. Bonaparte (Melissa) runs a respectable, spartan boarding-house, specializing in elderly clients. Alas, they annoy her, so she slips some McGonagall's Elixir into their gruel, hoping for... something. Much to her surprise, her boarders regain a spring in their step and run out to enjoy the warm day -- even skinny-dipping in the Thames! Mrs. Bonaparte is frantic to obtain some more Elixir and summons its maker, Mr. O'Connell (Greg). The problem is his elixir really ISN'T a sham. It's from Tir Na Nog, the fairy kingdom, and a Sidhe spirit (Vanessa) appears, seeking payment: a human life. The four boarders have a lovely afternoon ignorant of all this, until the Sidhe comes to take one of them. They take up arms and prepare to fight off death now that they have a renewed love for life and for each other...

  • The Dame and the Rogue - Saturday, December 3, 2011 - 3pm

    Suggestion: Lady and the Tramp

    Mrs. Putnam (Mandy) is the imperious head of household for the wealthy Macheever family, but Mrs. Macheever (Merrill) fires Mrs. Putnam to make room for her sister (Christian) to come stay. Seeking solace at a tavern, Mrs. Putnam meets the roguish Charles Wainsway (Clay) who serves as a keep there on Tuesdays. In fact, he has a different occupation for every day of the week, from barkeep to ambassador! Mrs. Putnam stays in Wainsway's inn for several months. Though the two become close, Wainsway is afraid of being tied down to the same life every single day. Trouble arises when Mrs. Putnam discovers that on Fridays, Wainsway is a common criminal. Rescuing her from his own gang shows him what's really important, and the two return to the Macheevers in blissful triumph.

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