- Action/Adventure Theatre
Here’s a fact I’m not proud of: I have watched so much reality TV. Back when my cable was paid for by institutional capital, Bravo would broadcast marathons of America’s Next Top Model, and I would promise myself I would just watch one episode. Spoiler alert: that never happened, and I knew it wasn’t going to. Reality TV is alluringly awful. The drama is not real, but it sucks you in anyway, and soon enough you’re on Team Ne Ne and don’t shower anymore.
Action/Adventure Theatre‘s new serialized comedy, Mars One, created and directed by Nick Fenster, is not like that. (Although, if we’re picking teams, TEAM TABITHA ALL THE WAY).
I can’t even really tell you what Mars One is like, because a) it’s partially improvised each evening, which means it will be different by the time you go see it!, and b) new episodes are coming this weekend! Trust me, those exclamation points are not gratuitous. Because the cast is remarkably charming and funny, and it’s kind of like watching the most unhinged, surreal episode of The Real World: Seattle possible, and because live theater is a whole lot better for your brain than watching starving young women screech “TYRA MAIL!” while you suddenly look up and realize it’s 3 in the morning*.
Last we checked in, things weren’t looking great for the first colonists on Mars. Their Team Leader is missing, delightfully flustered Mission Control (Jake Michels) is sending cryptic warnings about a sleeper cell, and the mysterious objects coming through the 3-D printer to Tabitha Thompson (Noelle Eaton), “a runner-up on Mars and a runner-up in life” just got really real: there’s now a gun in play. The adventure continues tomorrow night!
*NOT THAT THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO ME.