FIASCO PLAYHOUSE created by the NATIONAL THEATRE OF THE WORLD (Matt Baram, Ron Pederson and Naomi Snieckus), with nightly guests, as part of SummerWorks, August 5-14, 9 pm (doors 8 pm). Performance Bar, Lower Ossington Theatre (100A Ossington). Pwyc. summerworks.ca.
In the bright kitchen of a house in Little Italy, a blender full of frappuccinos explodes all over Naomi Snieckus’s summer dress and onto the floor. A few minutes later, Rufus the dog ambles into the room with the cone of shame on his head.
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No, this isn’t the set-up for some modern farce – Twitch City: The Sequel – but it could be. Snieckus and her two housemates/National Theatre of the World partners, Matt Baram – who helps clean up the spill – and Ron Pederson, are among the country’s funniest improvisers.
As they’ve proven in their monthly Impromptu Splendor (where they perform an entire play in the style of a well-known playwright) and weekly Carnegie Hall Show (a spoof of Kennedy Center Honors spectacles), they’re experts at adapting. A bit of spilled chilled coffee is nothin’.
And consider the name of their latest venture, Fiasco Playhouse, which they’re doing 10 times in the 11-day SummerWorks Festival, mounting a different kind of two-and-a-half hour show each night, incorporating guests from the worlds of music, theatre, dance and burlesque.
Most artists wouldn’t tempt fate with that title – what if their shows do become fiascos? Two weeks before the first of them, they haven’t nailed down all their concepts, but that’s nothing new. They often come up with a poster before they’ve agreed on a show’s format.
“On opening night, we want to take the SummerWorks program, read the blurb of a play and improvise on that,” says Pederson, an actor who spent several years with MADtv in L.A. before coming to Toronto and hooking up with Second City veterans Snieckus and Baram on the indie comedy circuit at places like the Comedy Bar.
Another night will include an improvised “new play reading” – with actors in front of blank pages on music stands coming up with an entire play, complete with stage directions.
Baram, who’s Snieckus’s offstage partner as well, wants to have a night called Dr. Saul Rubinstein Explains What’s So Funny, where he and a guest, in lab coats, will explain scientifically why certain improvised scenes are hilarious.
When NTOW formed a couple of years ago, they wanted to bridge the gap between theatre and comedy. At last year’s SummerWorks, artistic director Michael Rubenfeld programmed Impromptu Splendor, and theatre geeks ate up their spins on Judith Thompson, Chekhov and Tennessee Williams. That clearly helped legitimize them. Last month’s string of Fringe shows performing Carnegie widened their base even more.
Meanwhile, their scope reaches outside the fest circuit, where they’ve earned runs at Theatre Passe Muraille (Andy McKim is a tireless champion), Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius, Neptune Theatre in Halifax and (this fall) London’s Grand.
They’ve been nominated several times for Canadian Comedy Awards, but Baram says one of his goals is to get the troupe some Dora Award love. This idea stirred up controversy before this year’s theatre and dance awards.
“I approached someone from the Doras, who told us we needed to have a run, so we spoke to Andy McKim at TPM and we did that,” he says.
“Then the committee decided we weren’t eligible because our shows aren’t repeatable. Well, nothing’s really repeatable. Unless you’re on Broadway and you’re a robot and you have to do the same thing over and over, every show is different. Our play is what it is because it’s different each time. Judge us based on that.”
When their friend Rebecca Northan got nominated for her improvised show, Blind Date – in the actress and production categories – they asked the committee what was up but didn’t hear back.
“Even with Blind Date,” says Baram, “people came up to her after the performance and said, ‘I loved your show – but it’s not theatre.'”
Not that they spend all their time bitching. The three work regularly in TV and film, not to mention commercials, where for a while Snieckus was ubiquitous in her slightly manic wife persona.
“It might sound like a privileged thing to say, but theatre is a bit of a luxury for us,” says Baram, who’s appeared in Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium as well as the Ron James Show and The Border.
“Not doing it would diminish the quality of our lives. We’re making a living doing what we want to do, and we know we can say no. So it’s a pretty cool life. If NTOW didn’t exist, things would be all right. They just wouldn’t be as much fun.”
Mind you, not everything has been equally riotous. There was the time the juggler wanted to perform with lit torches in The Carnegie Hall Show’s intimate Bread & Circus venue. They told him it wasn’t safe, so he used sticks.
“Which he ended up dropping all over the place,” says Snieckus. “Thank god he didn’t use flames.”
In a workshop with McMaster science students – to coincide with their Theatre Aquarius run – one student insisted that their show wasn’t improvised, because Snieckus had used a jar of pickled herring as a prop in their Ibsen play.
Still, NTOW know the troupe – which also includes actor Chris Gibbs and musician Waylen Miki in The Carnegie Hall Show – is in a unique space, straddling several disciplines, networking for themselves as much as for others. Unlike stand-up comics, who tend to be loners, improvisers play well with others.
In that sense, “Playhouse” is the perfect word for their show, bringing to mind a kid’s imagination and limitless freedom.
For Fiasco Playhouse, they’re looking forward to playing with indie songsters like Maylee Todd and Laura Barrett, but also someone like Zeesy Powers, a video performance artist who creates water-based paintings and then dances with them.
“We’re connecting all these different artists,” says Pederson. “We’re friends with Rich Talarico, who used to write for MADtv and The Late Show With Conan O’Brien. I sent him one of Maylee’s songs, and he said he wanted to use it for a short film he’s doing with Rachel Dratch.”
And about that name? Originally, they called themselves the National Theatre of Canada, but soon discovered it was owned by a company of drag queens.
“They were also lawyers,” points out Baram, “so we had no recourse.”
But with a couple of ideas floating by network executives, an increased web presence and hopes of eventually taking their act to theatre-savvy cities like New York and London, they’re looking forward to living up to that name – and working with anyone, anywhere.
“We’re inclusive,” says Snieckus. “If someone wants to do a bit at The Carnegie Hall Show, I tell them ‘Yes, you can.’ I assume that if someone wants to sing, they actually know how to sing.”
“Sometimes they’ll appear once,” says Pederson.
“Okay, there are a couple of people we won’t ask back,” jokes Snieckus. “But that’s just because Ron dated them.”
Additional Interview Clips:
NTOW on struggling to find an audience for The Carnegie Hall Show (and how the title came about):
Baram and Pederson on meeting in Edmonton (the jingling is dog Rufus). Then reuniting in Toronto at Second City:
On possible Impromptu Splendor shows on MacIvor, Panych and… one-person shows.
New NTOW ventures, like webisodes and “bad stories”
glenns@nowtoronto.com
