Mark Cofta’s theater picks: This month, skip the script

The panel discussion Improv Is the Future of Theater, which I moderated during last month’s Philly Theatre Week, inspired me to take a closer look at the improv performances happening this month around the city (here’s a take on the panel from former BSR editor Judy Weightman). For theater critics, improvisation is tricky: We can describe the setup and report the results, but nothing we explain will happen in the next performance, since each is entirely original. For audiences, though, Philadelphia improv is booming.

Stranger danger and dueling soloists

Many of the panel's participants have experience with ComedySportz Philadelphia (CSz), "Philadelphia's longest-running comedy show," which performs two improv shows every Saturday night at the Playground at the Adrienne. It features fast, funny, game-inspired improv set up like a sports match between two teams, using audience suggestions. On the last Friday of each month at 10 pm, catch The Blue Show, an adults-only version of CSz’s usual shows.

CSz also hosts guest artists. On Sunday evenings in March, Matt Holmes performs his improv comedy Matt&, plucking a random stranger from the audience to join him. The show, which has been running for 10 years, also incorporates improvised musical accompaniment, lighting, and sound effects.

Two-Man, One-Man (written and performed by Benjamin Behrend and Patrick Romano) incorporates improv, and CSz hosts this 2017 Fringe Festival hit on three consecutive Friday nights (March 16, 23, and 30). It imagines two one-man shows scheduled to perform on the same stage at the same time.

The group also teaches improv to students of all ages and works with professionals on communication skills and risk-taking.

Mad in March

Tongue & Groove Spontaneous Theatre has performed its unique long-form, realism-based improvisation on each month's second Friday since November 2014, but it's ending this particular series on March 9 with a "March Madness" show inspired by the audience's anonymous answers to the question "What ignites your fury?" Starting next fall, they'll perform short runs four times a year, plus their annual Fringe Festival appearance.

T&G will continue The Stolen Set Series — performing on plays' sets in The Drake Theater, using themes from those plays, on April 7 and June 9. They're also taking to the Internet with The Left-Overs, short videos using suggestion cards gathered during live performances, each Friday on Facebook.

In a world where movies are improvised

PHIT produces a full schedule of improv comedy shows by its in-house troupes, including Not Yet Rated: An Improvised Action Movie (Thursday nights); Thank You, Places: An Improvised Musical (Saturday, March 3 and 17); Study Hall: Improv Comedy Inspired by College Lectures (Saturday, March 3); With Mirth and Laughter: Improvised Shakespeare (Saturday, March 24); and many more, with performances every evening of the week plus family-friendly fare and class shows on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

PHIT also offers training in improv for teens and adults, sketch comedy, standup comedy, and acting, as well as corporate improv workshops designed to boost communication skills, creativity, and teamwork.

A cool dinner party

Ben Lloyd's theater, improv, and comedy company, based in Elkins Park, PA, has an ensemble of improvisers called Bright Invention. Their own "immersive improv" performance, dubbed In the Round, "feels like more like cool dinner parties, where you're the guests of honor." They perform in Elkins Park on March 3 and in West Philly on the last Saturday of each month (March 31). White Pines also offers classes for students of all ages and creative corporate training.

There's plenty of great theater playing in March, but it's also a good time — as every month is — to check out Philadelphia's growing improv scene.