Somewhere along the line, improvisational theater (a.k.a., improv) became the redheaded stepchild of legitimate theater. Blame glossy, dunderheaded “game-prov” TV shows such as Who’s Line is it Anyway? and Thank God You’re Here. Blame that troupe of jazz hands-happy high school kids that performs at every community event. Whatever it is, public perception has likened this make-it-up-as-you-go theater genre to that of cheap gimmicks consisting of prop comedy and fart noises provided by audience members. But this is simply not always the case.
   
Improv can be legitimate art, as nuanced and involved as a traditional theatrical production. Our very own Comedy Sportz is a great example of when and how "game-prov" can be brilliant. For further proof, see Splendid Things, an exciting new collaborative comprised of local improv veterans Eric Knobel, Hannah Kuhlmann and Michael Ritchie. “We have a very theatrical style,” says Ritchie of the newly formed troupe, which begins a ten-week long residency at the Bryant Lake Bowl this month. “I consider [improv] a form of art with just as much possibility as film or what people are going to see at the Guthrie.”
   
When elaborating on their style, the group throws out descriptors such as “brooding” and “historical docu-drama.” “A lot of times we’ll end up in the 18th- or 19th-century,” says Kuhlmann, to which Ritchie adds, “Perhaps as prospectors discussing a recent brush with the devil.” And that was just off the top of their heads. Overall, a Splendid Things show is a mix of highbrow and lowbrow, a long-form theatrical production replete with dramatic payoff, and infused with the kind of humor you just can’t write.
   
The troupe hopes that their Bryant Lake Bowl stand will generate the audience required to continue indefinitely, something that hasn’t worked in the Twin Cities for some time. Knobel blames this on a lack of press coverage of the improv scene: “Without reviews of what different groups are trying, and who’s succeeding, the general public has no benchmark,” says Knobel. “Picking a random improv show to attend is like wandering into an amateur magician show at random, and I wouldn’t recommend doing that.”
   
Thanks in part to the recent success of the Neutrino Video Project Twin Cities (Kuhlmann and Knobel’s live improvised film event at Bryant Lake Bowl), as well as the foundation built by local improv godfather Butch Roy (founder of the well-loved Improv a Go-Go open mic at Brave New Workshop), Splendid Things believe the time is right for a long-running improv show. Can they pull it off? Knobel thinks so: “We’re kind of being the audacious jerks that are saying, ‘We deserve our own night, and we’re going to pick some of our favorite groups to perform with, and we promise you it’s going to be a good show.’” +

GETCONNECTED
Splendid Things, with special guests The Mustache
Rangers, Five Man Job, Ferrari McSpeedy, HUGE theater and Gay/Straight Alliance
Mondays, 3/16–5/18
8 p.m. (7 p.m. doors)
Bryant Lake Bowl
810 W. Lake St., Mpls.
612.825.8949