PROVO — A group of improvisation actors may not have Shakespeare's genius, but they aren't lacking in humor.
The Thrillionaires, six men and two women, perform before a mostly college-age crowd every Monday night at the Velour Live Music Gallery on 135 N. University Ave. On this particular Monday the theme was Shakespeare — or at least his era. The Bard himself would've had a good belly laugh. Themes happen just once a month. On other Mondays the actors perform in their street clothes.
"We make stuff up," announced Brett Merritt in a friar's costume.
Created by local performance veterans Jacob Suazo, Hailey Smith and Merritt, The Thrillionaires are a blend of theater and improv.
The actors create plays and musicals with multiple scenes, subplots and characters in front of the audience. Yet the players say they are actors first, not comedians. The characters and stories come first; the laughs flow naturally.
"People in Utah Valley want smart and sophisticated entertainment that is also clean and appropriate for any age," Suazo said. "There is something exhilarating about seeing live improv. And this is a new kind of it — or at least a kind that Utah Valley doesn't already have. It's improv theater, not improv games."
The Thrillionaires brand of improv is the long form; most other local improv groups do the short form, a quick-paced, gamelike performance.
Suazo, Smith, Nelson and most fellow Thrillionaires have experience with the short form at ComedySportz.
"The Thrillionaires is just a chance to do something different," Nelson said. "We wanted to broaden our horizons a little and we thought audiences would enjoy something new."
The long form requires listening to the other actors and remembering names, plots and subplots as the play unfolds, Merritt said.
"We have such a passion for the format and such a rapport with each other that you'll always see that in the show," Smith said. "Even if the story we're making up goes a little awry."
Indeed, the Thrillionaires create two half-hour plays as they go along. The audience gets involved by contributing a title, props and style — tragedy or a comedy.
Even though the audience chose tragedy on that particular Monday, it was still a comedy. Fully decked out in Medieval costume, the players, though never introduced, launched into a story of love and avarice, or as one player said, "Lud." Playing off the mispronunciation, another player asked, "What is lud?"
"Love in the mud," came the reply.
As the first play unfolded two plots emerged. In one, the king's son must either find a wife or a career — or both — or die. In the other a newcomer to the village has been banished by his father and is being chased by a lover. The hilarity comes from the actors playing off each other.
"Christopher Clark and Mcclain Nelson play off each other well," said fan Laura Burns.
Other actors were Matt Mattson, Lisa Clark and Clark Schmutz.
"Their ability to make up on the spot is uncanny," noted Jace Anderson of Provo. "It's very intelligent — very funny."
In the end all actors drop "dead" in a heap on the stage. After all, it was a tragedy.
The second play was a fairy-tale musical, with the actors making up not only the plot and story line as they went along, but also the songs. Nelson stood out as a crow who did the bidding of an evil man, played by Schmutz, in his quest to take over the land. Three suitors came to call on the princess and her attendant, while the gardener, played by Suazo, was sincere in his love for the princess. As the story line, plots and subplots unfolded, true intents and surprises emerged, all to the delight to the audience.
Admission is $5 at the door.
E-mail: rodger@desnews.com