GetOut Magazine

Jester’Z troupe keeps audiences laughing
By MICHELLE BURGESS
Get Out
Dec. 12, 2002

If Jef and Shurlin Rawls ever decide to affix a plaque to one of the walls of the tiny lobby of Theater 168 in Scottsdale, they would do well to inscribe upon it a message paraphrased from the Statue of Liberty:

Give me your bored, your frustrated, your depressed masses yearning to laugh again, it could read. Give me your overworked, over-stressed, worn-out souls, yearning to shed the weeks worries in a smoke-free, family-friendly environment.

The promised land for anyone who has had one of those weeks is the 130-seat Theater 168, home of the JesterZ Improv Comedy Troupe. The 29 men and women who make up the 21-month-old company, an offshoot of the 90s OxymoronZ company, dont get paid to stand in front of an audience and play out an unrehearsed, unscripted but hopefully humorous scene they actually volunteer to do so. And judging by the number of sold-out shows JesterZ has been having lately, they are awfully good at it.

They are so good, says Tracy Curran of Tempe. She and a group of eight friends came to a recent Saturday night performance of the JesterZ. It was Currans second time seeing the group.

Its more fun to come somewhere where you can interact with people like this, she says, comparing the JesterZ show with other weekend nightlife options such as a club or bar. It is spontaneous and different and more fun than just about anything else out there.

The show is broken down into 14 or so scenes, or games, in which the particular players who are performing on a given night usually about eight are given a situation or role to play. The director Jef Rawls on the night Curran and her friends attended solicits guidelines from the audience, such as an emotion or a mans name, that will play a part in the scene. Everything except the basic outline of the scene is completely spontaneous.

An example is Superhero, a scene that requires three performers. The person designated to be the superhero leaves the room, and the director asks the audience to select the superheros name, weakness and power. Then the superhero returns and, by the actions and clues given by the other two performers, tries to guess his name, power and weakness.

Really, its a lot less complicated and a lot more fun than it sounds.

What we give people is simply an outlet to have fun and to see something you cant see anywhere else, Jef Rawls says. Go to any other comedy joint and youre looking at foul language and heavy sexual references. Here, the whole family will feel welcome.

Dont think, though, that the JesterZ are glorified clowns, a kiddie act for adults to soldier through. The reality is far different. It combines the skill of Saturday Night Live with the unscripted quality of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and manages to be at least as good as both.

Other than the Rawlses, the members of the troupe have day jobs an engineer, a physical therapist, a graphic designer, a pair of students and a couple of guys in the computer field, for example that pay the bills. It is on their own time that they make room for a once-weekly three-hour practice and the two-hour shows.

They are here for the joy of making an audience smile, Rawls says. Weve got a lot who see this as a springboard to the next stage, like Los Angeles or Chicago, but some are just here to make people laugh.

Those in both groups mostly got their start in the JesterZ improv classes. In the beginning level, which costs $200 for eight weeks, students focus on the fundamentals of improvisation, including teamwork, listening skills and thinking on their feet.

The second level, advanced, is about applying those skills. Graduates of these classes move to the performance level and are featured in the troupes Thursday shows. Of those, one or two are asked to join the JesterZ.

Taking the classes, however, doesnt guarantee anyones success, Rawls says. Some folks just arent cut out for improv, and it falls on his shoulders to tell them.

You have to work together and have that camaraderie, he says. Not only is it about getting along with the other performers, it is about the level of skill that you have to do this sort of thing. Some people just dont make it.

Those who do, he says, get an indescribable feeling when they hit the stage.

Having the power to make a room full of people laugh is just an incredible thing, he says.

JesterZ Improv Comedy Troupe

Where: Theater 168, 7117 E. McDowell Road, Scottsdale
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. There is also a Thursday show that is shorter and includes students from the JesterZ Performance Class Troupe. A Christmas night show is also scheduled.
How much: $10 for adults, $8 for children younger than 12 and seniors older than 65
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