The Atlas Improv Co. debuted to a sold-out crowd on Saturday night, as the cast performed a show that featured varied styles of improvisational comedy.

The improvisational troupe that formerly performed at Comedysportz Madison for nearly 20 years has resigned and formed Atlas, a group that will focus on branching out creatively after years of abiding by the short-form improv style of Comedysportz and its rules of time constraints and scene restrictions.

The theatre craft of improvisational comedy involves a cast of actors on stage who invent the elements of a scene on the spot through audience’s suggestions and games that allow for story creation. The actor’s only structure of a potential scene relies on the rules of the game being played, while the rest of the scene is made through spontaneous dialogue that creates a situation, hopefully ending up making the audience laugh. Improv requires quick thinking and a knack for knowing how to simultaneously create a scene and satisfy the crowd. A well-known form of improv is the style utilized in the TV show “Whose Line is it Anyway?”

Atlas makes their mark by combining two different methods of improv. By incorporating short-form techniques like what is seen in “Whose Line is it Anyway?” or the quick-hitting games used in Comedysportz and merging the performance with more traditional long-form styles of improv that require more time and character development, Atlas attempts to mix two styles that rarely come together on an improv stage. With the combination of styles in hand, the cast moves through a scene with few rules concerning limits on time or development of character relationships. It is with this concept that Atlas is allowed to develop and discover a new creative form of theatre that Comedysportz’s many rules did not allow for.

“Comedysportz is a cool format, and we did it for a very long time, but there [are so many more] things to do with improv,” said cast member Bryan Judknis. “A lot of improv troupes use strictly short-form or long-form. We wanted to put our own twist on it and just make scenes with no restrictions on time or rules.”

While Atlas still uses many of the elements they used at Comedysportz, the cast cites the options granted by a form that has no time limits and fewer rules as their biggest factor for change.

“We like to use improv to tell stories,” added Judknis. “Sometimes those stories take two minutes and sometimes they take two hours, and we feel there should be no reason to end a scene just because of time limit or a rule says so, and now we have that freedom.”

Director and cast member Mary Parmentier also talked about the newfound independence incorporated in Atlas’ new style.

“We have unlimited opportunity now,” Parmentier said. “We have a lot more versatility without so much restriction, and with fewer rules comes the opportunity for more experimentation and innovation.”

In front of a crowd of about 50 people, the show ran for approximately two hours and consisted of two acts and an intermission. After a half-hour delay due to the sellout crowd and technical difficulties that eventually resulted in not having a sound system for the night, the show kicked off.

The first act consisted of eight games, ranging from raw improv games where the cast had to make up the rules of a scene, to traditional Comedysportz games like naive replay and growing shrinking (which was played twice in succession, something you would never see at Comedysportz), to longer forms of improv, including a monologue based on an audience suggestion. Each scene had no time limit; however all eight games had to be completed in 45 minutes from the start of the first game.

The second act consisted of one scene improved over a half-hour that was acted in traditional long-form style minus some structure rules. This scene was the highlight of Atlas’ performance, as the cast ended up creating a story that conveyed the theme of Christmas being a time for ruining people’s lives rather than giving. While errors were made during the dialogue that left the audience confused at times, the sum of the scene was greater than its parts, as Atlas worked for a half-hour straight creating a story and weaving relationships together through improvisation.

All the cast members from the debut show are from Comedysportz, as are all the other actors involved with Atlas that did not perform Saturday night. While Comedysportz definitely had a successful run in Madison, it was apparent through the cast’s comments and performance on stage that they were ready to move on.

“Comedysportz Madison was kind of the black sheep of improve,” said cast member Neil Pohn, a junior at UW.
The onstage cast ranged from skilled players with years of improv experience, including training at famous Chicago improv theatres Second City, Annoyance Theatre and Improv Olympic, to younger UW students who perform improv as a relief from studies.

Judknis calls Atlas’ style of improv “freeform” and looks to bring something new to every show.

“We will offer a lot of variety,” Judknis said. “I doubt you will ever see the same style show twice.”

Atlas is taking a step forward in quality of entertainment from Comedysportz and will look to build upon their form through performance variety and imagination.

At $6 a ticket, Atlas offers cheap comedy every Saturday night at 8 p.m. at the Electric Earth Caf?, located at 546 W. Washington Ave. When planning to attend, come at least a half-hour early to secure a seat, as last week’s show was sold out and Atlas is currently not accepting reservations.