Norwich Improv Member Jo Jo Russell. The group will be performing a two-act comedy improv show to benefit the Chenango Arts Council at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 13. (Submitted photo)

NORWICH — Norwich Improv will be performing "Dinner and a Show: Comedy Improv Night" at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 13 in the Colonia Theater Ballroom.

The show will include a dinner buffet catered by Nina's Pizzeria, a cash bar, and raffles. Tickets are $65 per person and are available at ChenangoArts.org. All proceeds will benefit the Chenango Arts Council.

Norwich Improv Member Gil Polk said attendees can expect a night of both comedy and deeper storytelling. The first act of the show will be comedy-focused in the spirit of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" with improvisers taking audience suggestions to lead their performance.

In the second act, performers will be using the Harold Method to create a storyline by taking one audience suggestion and building an entire world around it, with emotional arcs and a recurring common thread to tie it all together.

"My hope is we take something as simple as a suggestion of bread and we create the meaning of life out of it," said Polk. "It’s like what happens when a group of improvisers take one audience idea and build an entire world around it, with scenes, with characters, with emotional threads."

"In a small town like ours, we're trying to create something that’s sort of alive, like nobody’s ever seen before."

Polk said the Harold Method largely relies on the connection between performers – something they've been honing over the last several months, which he called the "group mind."

"I was in a scene with [another improviser], and he was my landlord and I was back on the rent, and do you believe that the number that he said he owed me was the same number I had in my mind and that I owned my landlord," he said. "We didn’t rehearse it, but it was $1,200. In my mind I thought, 'I owe $1,200,' and then he said, 'you owe $1,200!' It's those moments you can say are coincidences, but I like to think they’re the group mind in action. That beautiful moment where you just get those chills, and you don’t know how it happens."

Norwich Improv members will also be relying on the participation and energy of the audience members. Polk said the show will be a truly collaborative, creative process with everyone in attendance.

"It’s just brave, people taking the leap together and welcoming the audience in with us. We invite everyone into this creative process. The audience isn’t just passive; it’s their energy, their suggestions, their laughter, their responses. It all shapes what we’ll be doing through the night," Polk said.

However, Chenango Arts Council Administrative Assistant Mary Beth Miller said audience members don't have to worry if they're not interested in participating. The improvisers will be calling for audience suggestions, but no one will be pulled on stage and forced to perform.

"You can choose how participant you are. You don’t have to worry that you’re going to have the spotlight thrown on you if you’re not comfortable with that," she said. "It’s a lot of fun. Just bring your funny suggestions, and it’s going to be totally unique because they make it up right on the spot."

More information on Norwich Improv can be found on the Crow Improv Facebook page.


For more information on the Chenango Arts Council, visit ChenangoArts.org or the Chenango Arts Council Facebook page.