Hunting for Heroes: Audience joins in improv for heartfelt hilarity

“Curtain!” yelled an actor from the stage, prompting a deafening and incoherent clamor of numbered requests from the audience.

Another actor said, “I heard 20, 20!”

Play No. 20, titled “Grand Finale,” came only 15 minutes into the 50-minute show which premiered last Friday at Dirty South Improv Comedy Theater.

“That’s what happens when you get the audience involved,” said Ryan Millager, one of the actors. “It’s random and unpredictable.”

Millager, David Greenslade, Tom Keller and John Reitz make up the theater group We Need A Hero. Their show, “A Stochasticity Revue,” comprises 20 short plays in the order requested by the audience.

Tonight and Friday, DSI will hold two more of the group’s performances, which promise to be distinctly different from the first.

“The show is not set in stone. We kind of see it as a living, breathing thing,” Millager said, adding that some plays could be replaced this week. “We’re trying to constantly improve upon the show and give each audience a unique experience.”

Tickets can be purchased in advance for $6 or at the door for $4 plus the roll of a die.

The Neo-Futurists, a theater group in Chicago and New York, served as inspiration for the show.

“The structure is theirs,” Reitz said. “But all the plays are ours.”

Like the Neo-Futurists, We Need A Hero incorporates the audience into the show, having them pick the order in which the plays will be performed and actively participate in the performance as well.

“A lot of our plays are designed to be about everybody in the room, not just about the performers on stage,” Millager said.

The show is excitingly random, keeping the audience entertained and engrossed.

“You never knew what would happen next,” said Rebecca Rosenfeld, a recent high school graduate from Chapel Hill, after the show.

In the first play Friday, audience members were asked to use their cell phones in a game of “Marco Phono.” In another, the entire audience was invited on stage.

The abrupt transitions from one play to the next added an element of chaos that made the plays all the more funny and also impressed the audience.

“I thought it was amazing how they could be so spontaneous and stay in character,” said Susan Carter, of Washington, D.C., who was visiting family.

The hilarity was intermittently suppressed by heartfelt confessions, but only for a moment, then the laughter continued.

“Our goal was to make you laugh but also to make you feel good,” Reitz said of the production’s more serious plays.

“We tried to keep it consistent throughout, whether you’re laughing or not.”

By the end, their white T-shirts were covered in an assortment of food and drink. They had sung and danced, recited poetry and read letters, performed with a variety of guests and in various states of undress — and even crowned royalty — all in less than an hour.

“And we still need a hero,” the four performers said in conclusion.

Contact the Arts Editor at arts.dth@gmail.com.