Toward the end of my time in theater school, the head of our playwriting department challenged me to write something that I had always wanted to write but never knew how to.  I knew immediately that what I wanted to create was Rock ‘n Roll Theater.  I wanted to imbue theater with the energy I felt in the mosh pits at Isla Vista’s BIKO co-op or Bad Religion concerts.  So I tried writing shows about drugs, and that was boring.  So I tried putting punk songs into scenes, and that was pretty lame too.

I gave up on the idea for a while, figuring the answer would come to me when I least expected.  And after the formation of Narcissists Anonymous, I felt like I was finally on the right path.  Our first performance was a debauched short-form show in Seabert’s back yard, which was cut short after the cops told us to wrap it up.  The afterparty, 2 miles away, was also shut down by the police.  Very good signs.

After a few shows that went surprisingly well despite that fact that we all ended up drunker than our college-aged audiences, our future teammate, Kyna, booked a show for us at the bar where her band had played on-and-off.  When we got there, the bar manager asked me how many guitars we had and if we had enough room to set up our drums.  Another step in the right direction.

These moments rolled through my mind as Seabert and I drove down the 101 to represent the Narcissists at UC Santa Barbara’s IMPROVATHON.  UCSB is where I had first struggled with the idea of rock ‘n roll theater, and even if it wasn’t fully realized yet, I knew that Isla Vista would provide a pretty raucous time.

Our show was an hour long, and we were the last group to perform before the event’s host, Improvability, took the stage.  It is probably best to perform toward the beginning of a marathon festival, when the audience is more awake, but our show was cool nonetheless.  Our first 25 minutes we did some montage scenes with a couple of my friends from UCSB’s longform team Sketch ‘n Sniff, and then closed it with Seabert and I performing a 2-person version of the Narcissists longform EGO.  The show was great, with each of us playing multiple characters in a story about a jittery jazz lover named Daddy-O seeking the passion he needs to go from voyeur to artist.  Beside the chemistry we’ve developed over performing together for years before Narcissists Anonymous was born, what made the show work so well was my current improv theory obsession, having strong viewpoints.

We drained the rest of the beer in our red cups, and proceeded to go to the best improv afterparty I’ve ever experienced.  Without going into too much detail, there were old friends, new friends, drinks, pills, powders, and Seabert was about to make a pretty good connection until he couldn’t tell the girl what her name was.

I feel like improv has the power to harness that unpredictable rock ‘n roll energy because it by definition is unpredictable, and fully acknowledges the presence of the audience.  While I haven’t crowd surfed at a show yet, it’s just a matter of time.

Now come punk the theater when the Narcissists return to the 50 Mason Social House on July 19^th, this time hosting a night of kick ass improv and stand-up comedy.   (More details soon!)

Also, on July 9th we will be playing with Chick Flick and Moosehead at the Traveling Jewish Theater.  Details here: http://www.facebook.com/events/413665732012925/