A funny thing happened on the way to The Forum. Actually, a funny thing happened at The Forum.
Recently, Sam Abbott III, Brandon Abbott and Bronson Abbott, a trio of brothers, performed their weekly dress rehearsal for the improvisation group they formed in October.
Together, the group identifies under the moniker ''Nameless,'' and performs a show akin to Drew Carey's ''Whose Line is it Anyway?''
Article Photos
From left, Sam Abbott III, Bronson Abbott and Brandon Abbott work on an improv scene recently. The group, ‘‘Nameless,’’ will hold its next public rehearsal tonight at 8 p.m. at The Forum, 201 N. Main St. in Jamestown. Admission is $1.
P-J photo by Remington Whitcomb
Spearhead by director and producer Conor McGibboney, the group aims to continue weekly dress rehearsals at The Forum, located at 201 N. Main St. in Jamestown, until late May, when they plan to open their show formally to the public.
''I wanted to do a weekly comedy show in Jamestown, not just because of Lucille Ball being here, but because I like the idea of having more shows downtown, and getting more entertainment and arts projects going,'' said McGibboney.
McGibboney added, ''Once we open in May, we hope to keep this going indefinitely, ideally until the end of time.'' Brandon was quick to joke, ''You know, in December.''
The ''games'' which Nameless plays allow the audience to participate by suggesting themes and other references. Some of these games include ''world's worst,'' where the group attempts to act out the world's worst employee in an occupation named by the audience; ''slips,'' where the audience writes down sentences on a piece of paper, which the group pulls out of their pockets at random and attempt to incorporate into the conversation they're having; and ''sound effects,'' where a group member off-stage creates sound effects and the actors on-stage need to react and incorporate those sounds into the scene they've created.
''I think the (game) that I haven't seen any other improv group do is 'history out-takes,' where we redo a scene from history in a silly way after we've re-enacted the way the original scene took place,'' said Bronson.
The group insists that just because they are all brothers, doesn't necessarily mean it's easier to play off each other; however, moments of group synchronicity have occurred.
''I'll try to stump them ... there's a warm-up game we play where everyone has to make a different hand symbol every few seconds until each member makes the same one,'' said McGibboney. ''The very first time we played, all three of them made the same symbol the very first time.''
''We hope to cheer people up, and give people something to watch besides football, because obviously that has been pretty depressing this season,'' said Bronson.
''I feel people get too stressed out at times, and laughter is the best cure for that,'' said Sam. ''I really hope people have a good time watching the show, that maybe they'll think about it a few days later and still laugh.''
''We have a lot of bars, and a thriving music and arts scene in the area, but we could use more comedy,'' said Brandon. ''I think that's something we can offer to the community.''
McGibboney emphasized that the group is looking forward to a good opening season in May.
After a rehearsal tonight at 8 p.m., Nameless will continue to hold rehearsals on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. in The Forum at 201 N. Main St., kitty-corner from Fenton Grill. Admission is $1, and the general public is welcome to attend.