Stuff to Do: Mission Theater's "Raw Nerve" at iO

Stuff to Do: Mission Theater's "Raw Nerve" at iO

Tonight marks the final iteration of the Mission Theater's show, Raw Nerve, featuring folk singer-storyteller Jamie Swise, improviser Rebecca Krasney, and a rotating slew of Chicago's up-and-coming improv comedy scene. Halfstack staffer Rob Samuelson took in last week's show as a preview for you folks looking for some Tuesday night entertainment inside the iO Theater building. For tickets, call 312-929-2401 or visit ioimprov.com.



Jamie Swise looks like Powers Boothe. He has a foul mouth, a lifetime of experiences on the outskirts of the entertainment industry, and a couple gorgeous guitars. He ascends the Mission Theater's stage wearing a black t-shirt and jeans to tell the audience of his intentions.

“I'm gonna sing some songs and tell some lies,” he says.

And so he does. He has stories about singing at Carl Sandburg's funeral, stealing boxes of cereal from the set of The Blues Brothers, and one about how his not knowing The Beatles' “Blackbird” led a man – a weirdo prone to eating shot glasses – to be stabbed. He sings songs that would be at home on the soundtrack to a Ken Burns documentary and plays a 12-string guitar with some of the richest tones I've heard in some time.

Are these stories true? Beats me. Swise could have spent decades goofing off with a notebook, writing lies about his hoped-for dalliances with fame. Or maybe he really was an extra while Jake and Elwood Blues drove their converted cop car through a mall. Maybe he did hear a seven-year-old girl yell obscenities at Carrie Fisher for suggesting she not play in a dirty alley. I don't really care, nor does it matter, because when a performer and raconteur of Swise's ilk is on stage, it's about creating a mood, an internal logic to the stories. Despite some rough-around-the-edges word usage, Swise's mood is jovial. He likes the life he's lived (or made up) and he's glad to share it with us, plus a few folk songs he's picked up along the way.

After Swise finished his piece, Raw Nerve curator Rebecca Krasney took the stage to introduce us to some local sketch and improvisational artists whose material on the night wobbles a little. This is not bad, as it hit on the theme the show's title promises. It's about creation in a live setting. Not everything will be refined, nor will everything be a hit. But it's worth trying, and the performers generally leaned toward the strong side of things.

The best of the bunch was Steph Cook, whose monotone readings of her “spec scripts” for a Friends Netflix revival sounded like the ravings of a sociopath with only the most surface level knowledge of the long-finished series. Her stage directions and dialogue sounded like she had typed them into Google Translate several times to be as hilariously rudimentary as possible. Twists like incest and character deaths from STIs, and her perpetual pronunciation of Matthew Perry's character's name – “Chand-a-ler” – had everyone giggling. Her absurdist skewing of pop culture staples deserves a bigger stage.

Other groups, which included pair of guys boxing each other for real between improvised jokes, were more hit and miss. Krasney herself finished the night with some interpretative dancing and a dig through her wallet to use her stored IDs and membership cards to generate storytelling. From the rehearsed, lived in nature of Swise's act to Krasney's avant-garde DIY, “Raw Nerve” ran the gamut of how to craft and tell stories for a live audience. I'm curious to see where they go tonight.

TJ and Dave's Sketch Revue is a TRAP You'll Want to Get Stuck In

TJ and Dave's Sketch Revue is a TRAP You'll Want to Get Stuck In

Improv legends TJ Jagodowski and David Pasquesi have opened The Mission Theater inside the new IO Building. Amidst a calendar of revolving acts of performing excellence, one of their mainstays will be the sketch revue, “TRAP”, directed by Jagodowski and Pasquesi.

As the closing song says, “Life is a trap…sometimes you get the teeth, sometimes the cheese.” The 100 minute revue focuses on those hard to escape moments we know too well, either from experience or horror stories from friends: going to lunch with a friend who thinks this is a first date to someone you care about being insensitive when a dog passes. These moments happen. You have a choice to view them as funny. The only way out and to never have them again is death. Scenes that could’ve been all too familiar were rejuvenated by small details. One of the first Second City touring shows I saw had a sketch where they talked down a jumper. The opening sketch featured someone blowing himself up. The cast talked to him, but didn’t talk him down. If anything we got a better picture to why he was blowing himself up. He was briefly saved by comedy, relating to a standup comic who took over the bullhorn, only to be steam rolled by the next character.

The second act utilized some great call backs. A fun romp in a hedge maze turns into a nightmare, bringing in a nice surreal element. What started as an upper class lady playing a game with her man servant morphs into the waitress we met earlier eluding her stalker. Two characters who failed to make situations right in the first act get the opportunity in the second. The high energy veteran comedy cast (Mike Brunlieb, Peter Collins, Paul Grondy, Mike Jimerson, Laurel Krabacher, Irene Marquette, and Tanner Tananbaum) worked well together and wasn’t cast in “roles”; there wasn’t the one straight man, the one wild and crazy guy, or the one loud woman. They each played different status characters, each got to be eccentric one scene only to be heart felt the next. It was fun seeing the ebb and flow and who they’d play next.

David Pasquesi and TJ Jagodowski I had a “TRAP” moment; I was the creepy audience member that happens to good improvisers. In the first act, they came out to improvise. I was asked what was something I could not resist? Several things went through my mind: chocolate covered chilies, bourbon, even bull riding. My gut reaction was “red heads”, but as red headed actor was in front of me I felt I couldn’t say that, so I said “men.” They played the scene very well for such a lousy suggestion. "TRAP" runs Thursdays through Sundays at 8 pm. Visit www.missiontheaterchicago.com for tickets and more information.