It’s theater, but not the kind you’d expect, as Jacksonville’s improvisational comedy team premiers its cable television show this month. “Let’s Make Up,” a troupe of area actors consisting of Hope Cherry, John Love, Erin Washington, Brandon Coniglio, Nate Saint and directed by Ken Bradbury will air on the Cass Comm cable TV network on Wednesday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m., then again on Saturday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m.
The group has taped five shows to be broadcast one per month with more tapings scheduled. Actress Hope Cherry said, “We did the show in front of a live audience and they were great. It gives us energy.” In the course of many hours of taping at the Playhouse on the Square in Jacksonville, the group only had to stop once when the Jacksonville Fire Department zipped across the square with sirens blowing. Erin Washington said, “I was in the middle of the scene and simply said, ‘I think we better try that again.’”
All five members of the improv troupe have been doing this type of theatre for years, both in the Lincoln Land Community College theatre program and as counselors at the Green Pastures Camp for the Performing Arts. “It’s like working without a net,” said John Love. “We get an idea from the audience and we go with it. It’s guerrilla theater.”
