Skootch gets tech-savvy

Trolls, YouTube and Twitter bring Internet humor for your entertainment.

Skootch, an improv group featuring members of the Brody Theater, will perform a show this evening focusing on Internet culture and its nuances.

“The majority of us rose through the same series of classes together, and as we all bonded and grew together, forming a group was pretty inevitable,” said David Wester, one of the performers in the Skootch ensemble. “We’re a ragtag team of very differing sensibilities, strengths and passions, which means we cover a lot of ground in our shows.”

While the show on Thursday relies heavily on Internet content, it is also geared toward heavy audience involvement—as many of Skootch’s events are.

“We take an audience suggestion and spin an entire long-form improv show out of it. This suggestion can be as simple as a single word or be more thorough, like a small interview with some audience members,” Wester said. “The suggestion inspires a group of scenes made up entirely on the spot.

“The different scenes are connected either by a continuing story, following some characters through their journey, or often in more subtle ways, like thematic connections,” Wester said. “By the end, the sum of the whole is greater than the parts. It’s often funny, and since it’s all made up on the spot it can feel a bit like a high-wire act.”

The show on Thursday will not stray from the standard format of crowd involvement. However, the introduction of Internet media to the set will provide a new element that encourages the crowd to speak up and get in on the action even more.

“For our February show, we are going to feature an Internet- and search-engine-themed format,” Wester said. “We will take suggestions for an item to search for and will run through some of the potential results one might find on the Internet.

“A series of improvised scenes will follow, all of them inspired by these search results,” Wester said. “You may also see things like commenters, Internet trolls, YouTube videos, Twitter conversations and more pop up.”

With a low cost and close proximity to Portland State, students will find this event not just cost-effective, but also engaging, unique and a release from the monotony that is the tail end of the trimester.

“The show will be a wild ride. Our shows are fun, funny, and sometimes even touching or inspiring,” Wester said. “We’re all storytellers at heart, each and every one of us, and we have a passion for collaborating with one another before a live audience.

“It’s a lot of fun, it’s unique, and no matter what we do, it can never be repeated since it’s all created on the spot,” Wester said. “It’s theatrical chaos theory.”