Review Fix Exclusive: Nannette Deasy and Robert Baumgardner Talk ‘Big, Rich and Powerful’

Review Fix chats with Nannette Deasy and Robert Baumgardner, who discuss their new production “Big, Rich and Powerful.”

About “Big, Rich and Powerful”:

Big, Rich & Powerful, the Improvisational Repertory Theatre Ensemble’s stylized show centering on a supremely wealthy (and powerful) family is an homage to late-night soaps like Dynasty;  Dallas; Blood & Oil; Dirty, Sexy Money; etc. But here’s the twist … the audience will create the lusty tale!  Every night will be different – like TV episodes. Had a good time? Tune in tomorrow!

IRTE takes the best of Improv and mixes it with traditional theatre production to create a new form of entertainment. A polished play drenched in the shock and anything-can-happen excitement of Improv.

The audience will choose the family’s wealth (oil, media, stocks, computers, music, bacon, post-it notes… whatever!) at the start of the show. Then the over-the-top characters will develop, crises will grow, plot twists will just sorta happen, and … let the games begin.

BIG, RICH & POWERFUL
FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS March 18, 19, 25 & 26, 8:00pm, Tickets $12 (Group Discounts available)
The Producers Club, 358 West 44th Street, NYC

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?

Nannette Deasy: Every year before we go into rehearsals, the company meets to work on pre-production, a big part of which is planning the season – brainstorming and pitching show ideas to each other. We often come up with hundreds of ideas that are discussed, whittled down and then voted upon. The four favorites become our season. Big, Rich and Powerful was one of our “winners” this year. It was Robert’s idea.

Robert Baumgardner: I, for better or for worse, come from the TV generation, and many of my inspirations for IRTE projects have come from television shows. “Big, Rich, & Powerful” is inspired by those melodramatic primetime soap operas like Dallas, and Dynasty. These days, Dallas has risen again, there’s also Blood & Oil, even the Real Housewives series illustrates TV’s fascination with wealthy families. When I create and direct one of these projects, I don’t aim for a direct parody of any one of these shows. I think in terms of developing a show that is in the same genre.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Baumgardner: From the beginning, we’ve played around with approaches to improvisation. We’ve created both long form and short form shows. We all come from an improv school and mindset that defines the long form show only in terms of building blocks of scenes. In the improv community, they’ll call a group of building blocks a form, the most popular one at the moment is the Harold. It’s a very simple form to understand and is a form mostly for students. However, there are some masters at the Harold who can take it to unbelievable heights. At the heart of the Harold is a building block that goes like this: two person scene, then another two-person scene, then a third two person scene, then a group game (or scene). In the Harold, this is repeated two or three times, and voila, a show. Other building blocks and forms are out there. There’s an onion which starts with one performer on stage, then you have scene after scene, adding one more player per scene until everyone is on stage, then go in reverse until you are back down to one player finishing the monologue they started at the beginning of the show. At IRTE, I’ll veer away from the Harold, but I will try to create a few building blocks for the show. In rehearsals, I’ll have the performers play within these building blocks, then modify them, sometimes throwing them out altogether and starting fresh. The performers come in with ideas for characters, and in rehearsals relationships develop and change.

Deasy: Each show is very structurally different. The theme and the genre are chosen in advance (the nugget of the show – in this case, a wealthy and powerful family), but the shape of the piece is developed through rehearsal and experimentation with the cast, as guided by Robert as director.

Baumgardner: The challenge is developing and creating a show with only four rehearsals, and no tech rehearsal to speak of. We have a great sound and lighting tech in Anne Carlton who can do so much on the fly and in just a few minutes we have in the theatre to set up the show.

Deasy: Anne also comes from an improvisational acting background, which makes her very valuable as a technical director. She really understands our shows and performance style and, since she, too, is improvising with light and sound, she becomes an additional live performer.

Review Fix: What makes this different or special?

Baumgardner:  Since we’ve been talking about the world of improv specifically, I’ll start with that. The Harold is mostly taught to be a thematic show, meaning there isn’t really a narrative or story. BIG RICH & POWERFUL is striving to have a narrative or several narratives intertwining.

Deasy: Our shows really are comedic plays with a beginning, middle and end and strong characters who have strong relationships with one another. We just have no idea what the plot or dialogue is going to be.

Baumgardner: Also, IRTE has been claiming a middle ground between the current improv scene, and traditional theatre. A play has costumes and props, and characters created by a union of the actor with the playwright’s words, whereas, if you go see improv, chances are you’ll see a group of performers who are wearing their everyday casual clothes, with no thought of what that night’s show will be. A play is a scripted work to which the actors adhere, whereas, if you go see improv, there is no script except for the agreed upon form (like the Harold). IRTE’s show BIG RICH & POWERFUL, like improv, is unscripted except for our agreed upon form, but like a play, we create the world with costumes and props, and there will be characters created solely by the performers, with some guidance from the director.

Deasy: Our aesthetic is very raw, theatrical, silly, and irreverent. We make a lot of use out of found objects. Red streamers can become blood; a plastic blue tablecloth can become a luxurious swimming pool, wigs can become an army of rats.

Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself through this process?

Baumgardner: I started out as an actor, although my theatre degree was in acting and directing, I’ve acted and performed in far more projects than I’ve directed. Directing is such a strange beast. Everyone has a different take on it, and directing a play is very different from directing improvisation. I remember seeing an interview with Sean Penn, and he likened acting to being a sharpened nail, but the director was the hammer pounding on the nail. He liked being the hammer for a change. I’m discovering I’m no hammer. Rather than forcing people to do things, I prefer guiding them to it or coaxing them to try new ways. I also have learned to leave the jokes and humor to my cast. I help them build the world to live in, but they handle the living in it, and they discover the funniest stuff all on their own.

Deasy: I learned not to wait for someone else to offer me fun roles in fun plays. I can just go and make them up for myself. I also like to play and have a very broad sense of humor. I’ve also learned to let go (somewhat) and trust my fellow performers. Plus, improv and theatre do not have to conform to others’ perceptions. It’s constantly evolving.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be a part of something like this?

Deasy: Terrifying and so much fun. I never know what the audience is going to make of it all, so I just dive right in. So far, reactions have been pretty positive. It’s also great, and I’ve been so lucky, to be able to play with all the supportive, smart and funny people who’ve agreed to do IRTE shows.

Baumgardner: Every day is exciting and challenging. It’s also great to get together with such friendly creative types for a few hours of brainstorming and playing and exploring. It can feel overwhelming developing an improvised IRTE piece because there are so many possibilities to begin with and there are only four rehearsals to straighten everything out. But, the joy really is having a show that could fly off to anywhere. Enjoy the ride. We’re all going to end up somewhere.

Review Fix: What do you think your audiences will enjoy the most?

Baumgardner: Every show has so much energy and craziness to it. Every performer is hilarious. I can’t tell you the audience is going to love this or that moment because even though I’m the creator and director, I can’t tell what the cast will come up with in the moment. That’s something very special about improvisation. You may have an entire scene one night that isn’t there the next. It will be magically replaced by a completely different scene with different characters, emotions, and laughs.

Deasy: I think the audience will mostly enjoy the blood streamers. That and being able to bring drinks from the bar into the theatre. Just kidding. I think they mostly enjoy the larger than life characters and the mayhem. And that we may or may not end up right in their laps.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Deasy: Our next show is DIG, which will center around a major archaeological discovery. Fellow company member Curt Dixon came up with that one and is set to direct. It sounds like it might be a bit creepy and scary. (I hope so, I love a good comic horror). We have no idea how that show is going to look just yet. Curt will begin to develop that with the cast as we start performances of Big, Rich and Powerful. After that, we have two more shows – Happy Birthday, Stupid Kid! (an improvised and interactive Birthday Party – my idea – and Last Resort which will be set at a retirement center). Our season ends in June and then hopefully, we’ll be able to further develop our shows at theatre festivals. The possibilities are open.