Little Boy productions begins its 10th year with "S.P.I.T."

CEBU, Philippines - We bet university students who came in droves at the Cebu International Convention Center did not mind spending their Sunday attending a theater show, for it was a different kind of theater they witnessed that afternoon spontaneous, interactive and hilarious!

Brought to Cebu by Little Boy Productions as one of their 10th anniversary offerings, the country’s premiere improv theater company S.P.I.T. (Silly People’s Improv Theater) performed in three consecutive shows to a packed venue where they had the crowd in stitches with their intelligent and immersive kind of comedy.

“We wanted to do something different and make it more interactive with the audience instead of the usual play wherein the people just watch. This one requires a lot of audience participation. I found that exciting and interesting, and so I thought of bringing that different experience to Cebuano theatergoers,” Hendri Go of Little Boy Productions told The FREEMAN. 

The Cebuano theater producer worked with one of SPIT’s members Missy Maramara during their staging of “High School Musical” in Manila and they’ve been in touch ever since. Missy broached the idea to him if he would consider bringing their group to Cebu.  

Hendri said he was quite hesitant at first, since improv theater was something new to the Cebuano audience. What he did, he brought SPIT to Silliman University in Dumaguete August of last year and made it a test market. They did so well, and got so much positive feedback that he was convinced SPIT would also be received well in Cebu. And judging by the audience reaction at the CICC, we won’t be surprised if there’s a strong clamor for more SPIT acts on our side of the country.  

So what exactly is improv theater and what does SPIT do?

In improv theater, there is no script, no set design, no fancy costumes. It relies on improvisation and audience interaction, with the content generated from the spectators themselves. From these solicited suggestions, they proceed to concoct funny situations out of nothing. While the success of a play lies on how well-rehearsed an actor is, spontaneity is the main rule in improv.

Actor-host Gabe Mercado of the “Ok Ka Ba Tiyan” Yakult commercial fame was such a fan of the impromptu comedy show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” that he went to the US and underwent an improv workshop with Paul Sills. Sills is one of the founders of the improv movement in the US.

Gabe narrated, “When I got home in 2002, I just recruited some friends who were mostly from the Actor’s Workshop Foundation and Tanghalang Ateneo de Manila. Others auditioned for the group.”

Presently, he has a pool of 17 active members of varying backgrounds: theater actors, travel agent, DJ, events host, professor, TV scriptwriter, and a motley of other characters with slashed designations.

“Although a few in the first batch has since moved on, it’s a little bit easy getting people. A lot are interested since it’s fun. What we do is really, really fun. So there’s no shortage of people who want to do it,” said Gabe, who presently takes on the role as SPIT artistic director.

Joining Gabe in the Cebu stop were the talented Dingdong Rosales, Missy Maramara, Chal Lontoc, Aryn Cristobal, Akong Bongcaras, Eri Neeman and Ariel Diccion. Also present was their award-winning music and sound effects composer and arranger Teresa Barrozo.

Their first act called “Neighborhood” worked this way: audience pitched all sorts of nouns (names, places, occupations, dreams, objects), and the SPIT gang made use of them randomly, sang some songs about them or inserted them in their SPITserye.

In “What Are You Doing?”, they made up phrases based on a given set of letters. The comic factor came in with the outrageous and out-of-this-world phrases they came up with while trying to beat a time limit. 

There was an impromptu role-play also wherein they asked a member of the audience to join them. It was made funny and complicated since each character was assigned a fixed number of words that he/she was allowed to utter. The three-headed all-knowing Oracle also took the most absurd questions from the audience, and given the most absurd answers in return. 

Some were also asked to write down random phrases (song lyrics, corny movie lines, or pickup lines) on pieces of paper. The papers were collected and handed to the cast, who then randomly picked and inserted a line into their skit. 

But the hands-down crowd favorite was the beauty contest which became “Miss North Bus Terminal” as suggested by the students. Male SPIT members brilliantly acted out as candidates, taking questions from the audience who acted as judges. You’d just be in awe at these performers’ wit and creativity.

Stage actor Dingdong said that it’s a no-no in SPIT to plan their lines ahead. “We don’t plan the jokes. You’re not supposed to plan. The games we get from the internet, and then we just tweak it to make it relevant to Filipino culture. It’s really designed to be funny no matter who is performing. If you just follow the rules and be spontaneous, then you’re bound to be funny.”  

It seems like a really fun thing to do, but what does it entail to be an effective improv theater performer?

Gabe said that in contrast to the “laglagan” practice of TV comedy shows or stand-up acts, in improv, you have to accept whatever a co-actor gives and add on to it. Going in with a plan means you will fail.

Which is why he thinks comedians with a ready arsenal of jokes rarely make it into SPIT. “If you’re the type of person who wants to be always the star of the show and you always want to deliver the punchlines, hindi pwede yan sa improv. This is more teamwork than anything else. You’ve got to know when to give and when to take. The best talent in improv is setting somebody up for the big punchline. You have to go with the situation and not pre-plan. In a nutshell, if you think you’re a comedian, you probably won’t do well in improv.”

Gabe added that a group here in Cebu which includes Alex Uypangco and Cattski Espina are tryng out improv theater, but theirs is not designed to be funny. “Aside from what we do which is funny, there are other theater forms that are unscripted but are designed to do other things.” (FREEMAN)