Tongue & Groove improvises ‘WHO’

When you hear “improv,” do you think Whose Line Is It Anyway? That’s short-form improv, which is heavily based on game-playing with assigned personas. In long-form improv, the members of an ensemble get a starting place from the audience — often no more than a single word — and create from there.

Tongue & Groove Spontaneous Theater relies heavily on the audience for their inspiration material, passing out index cards to people as they enter the theater and asking them to write down their anonymous answers to a question. The performers begin the show by picking out a few cards and reading the answers; they then weave those answers into a 75-minute show with monologues and multi-person scenes that can be funny or serious — or often both at once.

The troupe, which has been performing at spring and fall runs of shows for the last eight years, is undertaking performances at the Adrienne Theater the second Friday of every month, hoping to build an audience by appearing more consistently. They’ll be experimenting with different show formats and collaborations, but all shows will be based on anonymous personal information submitted by members of the audience. “We hope to continue to guild a relationship with a large, diverse community so that we may challenge and excite each other,” says producing artistic director Bobbi Block.

The next performance, on Friday, June 12, will revisit their popular show WHO. The audience will be asked “Who are you?” The answers should be interesting — and the show created out of the answers should be magical.

Tongue & Groove Spontaneous Theater, Who. Friday, June 12, 8pm at the PlayGround at the Adrienne Theater, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, third floor. Tickets are $18 at the door, $15 in advance if purchased online, $10 for groups of 5+, and $8 for students. http://www.tongue-groove.com/

The author is happy to personally endorse Tongue & Groove’s performances as outstanding long-form improv. She has written about her own adventures in improvisation here.