Going BATS
Inventing a bunch of stories

SF Weekly
April 27, 2005

By Nirmala Nataraj

Despite being a stage buff in a city like San Francisco, I find it's relatively easy to exhaust my dramatic options: period pieces full of fake British accents, updated Sturm und Drang routines, and the bewildering but obligatory performance art program. In the world of S.F. theater, there's nothing new under the sun, which is why I'm eagerly awaiting some good old-fashioned make-believe with the BATS Improv Long-Form Festival. BATS is an experimental improvisation troupe full of wacky kids creating unscripted, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-knickers theater, and its Long-Form Festival is a once-a-year chance to see the group create narrative work on the spot.

Improv generally leans toward comedy, full of clever ripostes and biting repartee, but the Long-Form Festival strives to develop complete narratives spanning every possible genre. This year's lineup, for example, includes formats like "disco romance," "comic film noir," and "Brechtian coming-of-age musical." The fest also features plays in a format called "choose your own adventure," in which audience members get to direct the action and (hopefully) save a show from viewer ennui or a protagonist's ill-advised choice of tragic flaw. Shy viewers may want to take note that many performances are heavily dependent on audience participation. Case in point: The Life Game, which uses interviews with spectators to generate a complete piece, equipped with characters and madcap plot points.

Prepare your dramatic crib notes, if you will, and check out the opening night at 8 this Friday (the fest continues through May 29) at the Bayfront Theater, Fort Mason, Building B, Marina & Buchanan, S.F. Admission is $8-15; call 474-8935 or visit www.improv.org.