The popular comedic campus troupe, Theater for Charity, stormed room 2060 in Valley Life Sciences Building last Saturday night as they performed their latest one-act showcase, “Pitch Please!”, to a packed house.
Boasting completely original student-crafted content, the showcase consisted of six separate one-acts, all linked by the theme of music. The result was a very funny assemblage of short scenarios, such as a bleeding liberal artistic family who stage a “musical intervention” for their youngest daughter who has rebelliously decided to pursue the sciences.
Among the onstage ensemble were a few standout performances, including freshman Jake Fineman, who played a frenzied and flamboyant Johann Sebastian Bach who finds himself suddenly teleported to a modern day Coachella Music Festival in the crowd favorite “Bach to the Future.” Another memorable performance sprung from junior Mariel Redlin who portrayed the mythic Greek artist Orpheus in “The Divine Musical” with just the right amount of understated valley-girl.
The openness of the showcase’s theme allowed for some creatively diverse material. In one sketch, four friends tried to return home after a party in an elaborate parody of The Wizard of Oz. In another, a man sought therapeutic guidance after discovering hat he has an uncontrollable adverse reaction whenever a Beatles song comes on. Some of the sketches also delved into darker territory. In “Sproul After Hours,” a husband-wife polka band kidnap the record exec who once denied them, concocting ways to humorously torture her. “The Continuing Wacky Misadventures of Amy and Jen” explores an undoubtable worse-case scenario when two girls get much more than they bargained for while trying to pirate music.
For the most part, actors played off of their castmates as if playing off of old friends. The show was just as fun for those onstage as well as off. At times, the clever dialogue combined with the raucous character acting to feel like something out of an episode of Saturday Night Live during the good years. And the best part is that all proceeds went to The Music Connection charity program, which is aimed at providing free music education in the Berkeley area. The “Pitch Please!” presentation of wickedly comical students was a pitch pleasure.
Contact Ryan Koehn at [email protected].