Sketch comedy is taking center stage this month at Lansing’s Riverwalk Theatre with “Lanstronauts, We Have A Problem.”
The ensemble show, reminiscent of sketch comedy mainstays like "Saturday Night Live," is directed by actor and comedian Rico Bruce Wade, who has been working throughout Michigan for decades, most notably spending ten years with Second City Detroit. He’s long resisted calls to put together a sketch comedy performance in Lansing, but he said now felt like the right time.
It is a moment when we definitely need comedy, and we need comedy at this moment to reflect the moment that we are living through.Rico Bruce Wade
“It is a moment when we definitely need comedy, and we need comedy at this moment to reflect the moment that we are living through,” he said.
It’s been a tight turnaround, Wade started auditions in January, and many members of the ensemble were new to performing comedy on stage. They started improvising and coming up with ideas in February, then spent March revisiting the jokes and sketches they created together.
“I've tried to impress upon them how difficult it was going to be,” Wade said. “It was going to be fun, but it was going to be difficult. Well, what was important is that they listen to one another and rely on one another to build the sketches.”
By late April, the group was working on refining about 20 sketches.
“It's live theater. It's very fast. It's very funny. You will see a myriad of characters,” Wade said.
In one sketch, a choir director is dealing with his unruly singers who all have a great idea about how to revamp the annual Christmas concert. One member pitches a rock opera mashing up Hamlet and Frosty the Snowman. WKAR’s Scott Pohl — who is a part of the ensemble — does a James Brown impression. Gay Oliver’s character tries to wow with a off-key version of “Silent Night.”
Oliver says she’s done some theater work over the years but nothing like this.
“I thought this was a good opportunity to live out my "Saturday Night Live" dream but right here locally,” she said.
Oliver said working with Wade and the other players has allowed her to tap into a creative space that she really hasn’t engaged with since college.
“I'm kind of looking into going into my second act, ready to retire soon, so I think just doing it will be really, really a dream for me,” she said.
I thought this was a good opportunity to live out my "Saturday Night Live" dream but right here locally.Gay Oliver
Joyce Kramer Cox auditioned along with her husband, John Cox. As a couple, they were prepared for only one of them to snag a spot in the ensemble.
“We talked about that, and we thought, well, you know, whoever gets it,” Kramer Cox said.
Luckily, they both got in, and they have a sketch together called “Senior Prom” where their children are encouraging them to go to a dance at the senior center
“It's kind of the classic, you know, all of a sudden the parents have become the teenagers, like, ‘I'm not going,’ ‘Oh, you can't make me,’ ‘Oh, I look off.’” Kramer Cox said.
“‘I don't like it. I'm gonna leave,’” Cox chimed in.
Cast member Aaron Wittbrodt is also an executive board member for Riverwalk. He says bringing comedy to the venue along with other special one-time events is a priority.
One of the things that has been very rewarding is watching the players find the kernel of the truth and find the comedy of the scenes and then expand on it.Rico Bruce Wade
“We are really trying to create opportunities that are alternative to just the main stage shows and the Black Box shows because it's such a huge time commitment to be in a full show that not everyone could make it work,” he said.
All of the ensemble members say to expect plenty of local humor with references to the Detroit Lions, Preuss Pets and the Frandor Shopping Center.
The name of their performance even references the cheeky name some Lansing residents call themselves: Lanstronauts.
Director Rico Bruce Wade says above all, he’s proud of the group for embracing the challenge of doing something completely new for them
“One of the things that has been very rewarding is watching the players find the kernel of the truth and find the comedy of the scenes and then expand on it,” Wade said.
While there aren’t any plans for sketch comedy at the theater after this performance, Wade says he’s encouraging his players to continue to grow their comedic chops.
The ensemble of “Lanstronauts, We Have a Problem” performs at the Riverwalk Theatre May 15-18 at 8 p.m.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
