Hobo Camp
Conceived and Created by Jeff Michalski
Directed by Nate Herman
at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont (map)
thru Oct 13 | tickets: $25 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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Ambitious improvisational hybrid falls flat
J.M. Productions presents
Hobo Camp
Review by Keith Glab
Improvisation isn’t easy. Not only are you acting and writing on the fly, but you are doing so in an effort to engage the audience, tell a story, establish a character, and make your fellow performers look good. Some nights, there is magic in the air and everything works. Other nights, you struggle to connect with the audience and your fellow actors, causing everything to fall flat. The evening I attended Hobo Camp, the audience was sparsely-filled, which can severely handicap the most skilled of improvisers.
After an opening song led by Nate Herman, there’s a roll call introducing six rather well-dressed, groomed, and stylish hobos. They each have silly names, but the characters are ultimately pretty interchangeable. The most notable relationship is between Holden the Dream-Twister (Brian Duffy), who mimes his dialogue that is then interpreted by Professor Whitegrout the Blurry (Greg Callozzo). The pair doesn’t really commit to a specific bit, however, such as Holden clearly miming a certain action and Whitegrout interpreting something completely different or Holden miming ambiguously and Whitegrout confidently nailing the exact thing Holden was trying to communicate. Eventually, the bit is dropped entirely, and the two characters behave just like the others.
The prompt from the audience is an obsolete piece of technology, which the actor hobos use for their long-form improv that is then broken up by the occasional poem, song, or loosely-scripted scene. Throughout the performance, the cast lacks commitment, clarity, energy, and decisiveness. There is a lot of wandering, stammering, and vagueness. Jeff Michalski is supposedly their leader as Hob-O-Zero, but, he does not take much initiative and the cast doesn’t always follow where another leads, anyway.
The most effective scene was one in which a sportswriter (Randy Craig) had his muse (Kevin L. Burrows), conscience (Jeff Michalski), and id (Greg Callozzo) whispering to him. The four actors played well off each other, using repetition and subtly changing each others’ words to fit their own character’s intentions. Callozzo even had enough confidence in his portrayal so as not to announce “I am your id” the way that Burrows and Michalski did for their roles. If the cast could maintain this kind of tight interplay throughout their performance, they would have a solid show.
The actors involved have impressive improvisational résumés, so perhaps the group just needs more time together to develop better chemistry. Or maybe with fewer cooks in the kitchen, a pared-down cast would take more initiative and make bolder choices. But in its current form, Hobo Camp does not stand up to the quality of other improv shows available in Chicago.
Rating: ★½
Hobo Camp continues through October 13th at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont (map), with performances Thursdays at 8pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 10pm. Tickets are $25, and are available by phone (773.327.5252) or online through PrintTixUSA.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at Stage773.com. (Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission)
Photos by Robert Erving Potter III
artists
cast
Jeff Michalski (Hob-O-Zero), Randy Craig (B.O. Fellowman III), Kevin L. Burrows (Steampunk PapaWu), Brian Duffy (Holden the Dream-Twister), Greg Callozzo (Prof. Whitegrout the Blurry), Bret Dougherty (Spike), Greg Holliman (The Hat)
behind the scenes
Ralph Roberts (producer/board operator); Nate Herman (director/original music); Kevin Burrows (original music); Nate Michalski (original music); Robert Erving Potter III (photos)
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