Displaying items by tag: Otherworld Theatre

Otherworld Theatre blasts back into the cosmos with Season 4 of Starship Edsel: An Improvised Star Trek Parody, the latest chapter in its long-running improvised Star Trek satire. Now in its fourth outing, the misfit crew of the USS Edsel once again shows why the production remains a reliably funny fixture in Chicago’s sci-fi comedy landscape: sharp improvisers, affectionate genre parody, and the kind of starship energy you’d never find in the Federation’s official logs.

This season sends the Edsel crew tumbling through new temporal and interstellar absurdities, driven by the fast-paced, character-focused humor that has defined the show from the start. The ensemble dives into the joyful dysfunction of a starship seemingly held together by duct tape and questionable decisions, mixing Trek lore nods with gleeful irreverence and the lived-in chemistry that makes every malfunction and misunderstanding feel inevitable. That energy takes shape in an entirely new crisis: after stumbling through the early Star Trek timeline, the Edsel is abruptly flung centuries forward into the 32nd century, a future shaped by Star Trek: Discovery. Suddenly the galaxy looks unfamiliar, the rules have changed, and the crew finds themselves surrounded by Starfleet Academy cadets who seem barely old enough to pilot a shuttle, let alone judge the Edsel’s competence. I’m not sure whether the mission changes from performance to performance, but in this “episode” their assignment was deceptively simple – secure a peace‑extension treaty with the Blavakians (I hope I got that right) – and what should have been a straightforward diplomatic task stretched into an endlessly delayed ordeal, derailed by hilarious temporal hiccups, cultural misunderstandings, and the Edsel’s trademark ability to complicate even the calmest negotiations.

Directed by Second City alum Anthony LeBlanc, Chicago’s premier sci-fi theatre company brings its hit improvised Star Trek parody to Second City’s De Maat Theatre for its fourth season. Running from August 9 through September 13, the show lands every Sunday at 6 p.m., continuing Otherworld Theatre’s tradition of blending sharp improv, affectionate Trek satire, and the unpredictable charm of the galaxy’s most questionable starship.

The cultural whiplash is immediate: advanced tech they have never seen, protocols they do not understand, and a timeline that expects far more professionalism than the Edsel has ever demonstrated. With a brand-new captain stepping aboard, their six-week mission quickly spirals into new complications, leadership challenges, and the unscripted deep space mayhem that has carried the show through all four seasons.

One of the strongest comedic through lines comes from Wanjiku Kairu Oliver, who steps in as Captain Reitanna Troi and delivers a sharply tuned, consistently funny performance. She begins as an overly supportive, everyone-is-my-friend, besties-with-everyone captain desperate to be liked, then after a well-intentioned nudge from Admiral Jean Pierre Baptiste (played with dry precision and understated comic bite by Edward Neequaye) swings far too hard into stern, over-the-top authority, hilariously misreading his call for a middle ground he clearly thought was obvious.

Season 4’s comic energy is driven by a nimble ensemble that thrives on the Edsel’s brand of barely functional spacefaring misadventure. While the lineup can shift from week to week, in the performance I saw many of the standout laughs came from Matt Kawa as Lt. T’Pang Gah (what's better than a delightfully anachronistic Vulcan?); Carlos Rivera as Chief Counselor J’Errrs’Q, a Klingon with impeccable comedic timing; and Mike Mazzella’s Lt. Cmdr. James Buchanan. Together with the rest of the performers, the crew embraces bold physical comedy and sharp genre parody, making the Edsel’s catastrophes feel both inevitable and irresistible.

What makes the show genuinely entertaining is the cast’s ability to improvise on the spot with razor-precise timing. The performers take every unexpected turn, audience suggestion, and self-inflicted disaster and heighten it with quick pivots, smart character choices, and a shared instinct for building jokes together. The comedy never feels forced or manufactured; it grows organically from the crew’s chemistry and their collective willingness to commit fully to whatever absurdity the Edsel throws at them. The improvisation feels both effortless and impressively precise.

Starship Edsel makes clever use of multimedia to introduce and deepen its characters, with video briefings, ship diagnostics, and on-screen prompts that instantly ground the audience in its improvised sci-fi universe. The set, though minimal, somehow conjures the impression of a functioning starship interior – just enough structure to suggest the Edsel’s corridors and consoles while leaving the performers room to build the world through play. Before the episode begins, Admiral Jean Pierre Baptiste invites the audience to help repair the ship’s failing systems by answering a pair of questions; in this performance, the strangest gift ever received (a skunk) and the oddest motivational tactic from a boss (a magic trick) became key inputs. This talented ensemble wove both suggestions into the narrative with seamless, absurd precision, turning offhand audience answers into some of the night’s funniest running gags.

Created from a live-action role-playing framework written by Brandon Brylawski, the show uses that narrative backbone to fuel an ever-shifting roster of characters and cosmic complications. Each week’s cast builds on that structure with their own improvised twists, expanding the Edsel’s universe in ways that feel both unpredictable and perfectly in tune with the ship’s legacy. The result is a mission that always feels alive, flexible, and primed for fresh absurdity.

You do not need to be a die-hard Trekkie to enjoy Starship Edsel – far from it. While longtime fans will catch the deeper nods to Trek lore, the show’s comedy lands just as well for anyone walking in cold. I say that as someone who grew up religiously watching the original series (TOS) and The Next Generation, and who never fully made the jump to the sprawling lineup of later shows beyond the films. Even with my old-school Trek background, the Edsel’s improvised storytelling, character-driven humor, and affectionate parody make the experience completely accessible and endlessly entertaining.

If you are looking for a night of comedy that goes boldly where no starship should ever go, the Edsel is absolutely the disaster you want to beam aboard.

Run Dates: Opening – Sunday August 9 at 6 p.m., Closing – Sunday September 13 at 6 p.m.

Location: Second City’s De Maat Theatre, 1608 N Wells, Chicago, IL 60614

Running Time: 60-75 minutes with no intermission

Tickets: $25 general admission

Direct Ticket Link: https://www.secondcity.com/shows/chicago/starship-edsel-an-improvised-star-trek-satire-chi

Theatre Company Link: https://www.otherworldtheatre.org/starshipedsel

This summer, the Starship Edsel boldly goes where they maybe shouldn’t go as Otherworld Theatre, Chicago’s premier destination for Science Fiction and Fantasy performance, presents the premiere of Starship Edsel: Season 4. Running from August 9 through September 13 at Second City’s De Maat Theatre, this improvised Star Trek parody illuminates the ship you wouldn’t hear about in the greater Starfleet Universe.

The Director, Executive Producer, and showrunner is Anthony LeBlanc (Second City Mainstage alum, former Executive Producer/Artistic Director, and Jeff Award nominee), with Otherworld’s Director of Development Dylan Schaefer as Managing Producer and Wanjiku Kairu Oliver as Associate Producer. Starship Edsel is a Star Trek fan’s dream. Otherworld is widely known for hit genre‑bending shows including Improvised Romantasy, Moon, Prism, Power! and Twihard! A Twilight Musical Parody.

Coming off their recent stint in early TOS’s 23rd century, the Edsel crew is thrown into Starfleet Academy’s 32nd century. Will they be able to handle the cultural differences faced by the Starship Discovery? Will the entire crew have to attend Starfleet Academy with prepubescent teens to prove they can handle this new time period? What exactly can a Betazed do telepathically? All this—and a brand‑new captain—will be revealed in the latest six‑week mission of the Starship Edsel.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun while going to places we haven’t been to. Just like improvisation, we are playing in a part of Star Trek that hasn’t been defined yet. It’s great to play inside a limited container,” says LeBlanc.

Beyond its Chicago mainstage run, Starship Edsel has built a proven track record entertaining convention crowds across the Midwest, including C2E2, FanExpo Chicago, and Starbase Indy. Full cast includes Lilly Bolduc, Ian Deanes, Stephen Fauss, Eliana Decker‑Glick, Matt Kawa, Mike Mazzella, Edward Neequaye, Wanjiku Kairu Oliver, Croix Perkins, Carlos Rivera, Janice Rumschlag, Liam Ryan, Dylan Schaefer, Bernadette Santos Schwegel, and Keely Smith. Created from a LARP written by Brandon Brylawski. Special guests include Rich Alphonso, Alex Bellisle, James Dugan, Javid Igbal, Steve Nelson, Cassidy Russel, Andy Stagmeyer, CJ Tuor, and Craig Uhlir.

About the Show

Starship Edsel is an improvised farce set aboard Starfleet’s worst vessel, the USS Edsel. Plagued with mechanical problems and design flaws—and filled with Starfleet’s most problematic personnel—the Edsel was assigned to remain in parking orbit above a vacation planet, ordered to give VIP tours of an “authentic Federation Starship.” After an incursion by the Romulan Empire, the Edsel was thrust into the center of a galactic crisis.

The show follows the ship and her crew on their subsequent misadventures throughout the galaxy. Blending fast‑paced comedy with affectionate sci‑fi satire, each performance boldly explores strange new worlds, unexpected adventures, and the corners of the Federation no one wants to visit, with a special guest each night.

Performance Details & Tickets

Starship Edsel will be performed at Second City’s De Maat Theatre, located in Chicago’s Old Town district.

• Run Dates: Opening – Sunday, August 9 at 6 p.m.; Closing – Sunday, September 13 at 6 p.m. • Location: Second City’s De Maat Theatre, 1608 N. Wells, Chicago, IL 60614 • Tickets: $25 general admission • Direct Ticket Link: https://www.secondcity.com/shows/chicago/starship-edsel-an-improvised-star-trek-satire-chi

Media outlets, convention organizers, and programming directors interested in booking Starship Edsel or scheduling interviews with the cast and creative team can contact: Wanjiku Kairu Oliver at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About Otherworld Theatre Company

It was a dark and stormy night as I motored to The Conspirators “Chicago Cop Macbeth,” with a fog of dust giving the streets an eerie feel. As the lights came up at the Otherworld Theater, the storm continued, the three witches of MacBeth gathered tightly around a fiery oil drum as thunder and lightning filled the room along with their chanting of Shakespeare’s famous opening lines, Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.

But this was different than the usual scene of the Bard’s classic iambic pentameter, for these witches were dressed as Chicago police in yje blue shirts of the department’s lower ranks, the British Midland accents replaced by one of the city’s most beloved native dialects, Bridgeport English.

The show’s style coach Sid Feldman, adapter and director William Bullion and ‘Script Doctor” Aili Huber have tailored Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” to place it close to home. The tale of the Scottish lord who took the royal throne through murder and mayhem is now set as a struggle among district police commanders to capture the seat of the superintendent. Action moves from the Scottish highlands and heath, to the Police District 5, Rogers Park District, and Daniel Burnham Forest Preserves.

Lt. Cmdr. Lady Macbeth (Clara Byczkowski) urges Cmdr. Macbeth (Travis Barnhart) into action

Eschewing emotional naturalism in their performances, The Conspirators are known for their unique acting format, “The Style,” a type of Commedia dell’ Arte seasoned with bits of Kabuki, Bugs Bunny, grotesque make-up and stylized movement. Lines are delivered in bite-sized chunks. These are punctuated by a percussionist, in this performance Tom Jacek, who brought forth a more subtle commentary perfectly adapted to the dramatic mystery and power of “Chicago Cop Macbeth.”

Hearing Shakespeare this way makes it come alive, and be heard differently—perhaps like hearing the lines recited as rap. Though the emotional core of Shakespeare’s story recedes compared to more conventional approaches, the show is arresting in another way, for the language. To hear those lines, sometimes spoken into shoulder-mounted walkie-talkies, is jolting. The transformation by local touches brought lots of laughter:

Macbeth’s discomfort holding a crown he has murdered to win—Now does he feel his title hang loose about him, like a giant's robe upon a dwarfish thief—becomes “hangs loosely around him, like a Bear’s jersey.”

Quite striking is the line We will speak further, as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plot to kill King Duncan. Spoken in Chicago Bridgeport, it sounds like something whispered between two lawyers at the back of a Cook County courtroom—as it certainly still is.

Supt. Macbeth (Travis Barnhart) banishes the Ghost of Cmdr. Banquo (Collan Simmons, in center)   

Most surprising was the revelation of The Conspirators as capable, competent Shakespearean performers.For most Conspirators shows, written as original comedic pieces, the actors are not individualized, performing as many moving components in a series of hilarious scenes. Here, as the tightly adapted Shakespeare demands, we have Chicago Police versions of the Bard’s famous characters: Cmdr. Macbeth (Travis Barnhardt), Lt. Cmdr. Lady Macbeth (Clara Byczkowski), Supt. Duncan (Zach Foley), Lt. Cmdr. Malcolm (Demetri Magas), Cmdr. Banquo (Collan Simmons), Cmdr. MacDuff (Corin Wiggins) and many others.

Cmdr. MacDuff (Corin Wiggins) and a long line of Cmdr. Banquo’s descendants.

Of the standout performances, Travis Barnhardt must be commended as Cmdr. Macbeth, playing the role with occasionally lengthy stretches of Elizabethan English deftly converted to Chicago-ese. In some respects, Barnhardt’s Macbeth is the straight man to the sometimes comedic follies of the officers around him. Emily Ruth, Jacob Reno, and Eva Andrews as the Witches are superb: “Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.” Ruth also appears continuously as a desk sergeant and owns the stage in every one of their scenes. And Corin Wiggins as Cmdr. MacDuff is truly dynamic.

On a personal note, “Macbeth” carries a reputation for bad luck, and actors avoid naming it, calling it the Scottish play. The morning after seeing “Chicago Cop Macbeth,” I discovered a tree had fallen on my car parked near Damen and Rice. It will be in the shop three weeks. 

The Conspirators “Chicago Cop Macbeth” runs through June 8, 2025 at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark in Chicago.

*This review is also featured on https://www.theatreinchicago.com/! 

The Conspirators latest show is an absolute laugh fest, and may just be their funniest so far. Subversive in its social commentary, which hits you in your funny bone, The Conspirators have chosen Dante’s Divine Comedy for their latest show, “Divina Commedia: It’s Worse Than That.” They lead us through those circles of hell in which we find ourselves today, perhaps without realizing it.

We are introduced to a sleepless clergyman who has come to his sanctuary to work on tomorrow’s sermon. An upper middle class matron—described as a suburban Atlanta business heiress—wanders into the church in these wee hours seeking comfort over a dream plaguing her, and with this conceit, the humor ramps up.

First circle we meet is an unrelenting packaging line in an Amazon warehouse, with the cast moving those familiar boxes at a rapid pace. Our protagonist for the set needs to pee, but the line can’t stop. Soon perhaps everyone in the line is in the same predicament. No stopping to pee! The contortions and jumpiness of the denizens of this circle of hell suffer on endlessly with no relief. And we realize in our laughter they are stuck there, forever!

Another circle finds us at a community meeting chaired by a Karen, that meme of entitlement and complaint that is familiar to us all. After a modest proposal to spend a small sum on a group project, the discussion opens, and Karen the chair discovers all in attendance have an opinion, negative of course, and each happens to also be named Karen. The chair Karen is in her circle of hell, as each attendee carps and whines with no possibility to resolve these Karens' issues, they just want to complain, each in their own take on unresolvable “problems” with the proposal.

There are seven more osuch circles (one is "Ron Paul's Drag Race" with a remarkably funny appearance by Senator Mitch McConnell and Cher), all devised by the sharp pen of Sid Feldman and directed by Wm. Bullion, running at what seems to be a most congenial place for the Conspirators, the Otherworld Theatre at 3914 N. Clark St. in Chicago. Between each circle the heiress reflects acidly on the suffering with the clergyman, who serves the role of Father Virgil to guide her, a witty take on Dante’s original.

The production is in The Conspirator’s distinguished take on traditional Italian Commedia dell'Arte, which they dub “The Style,” with thick make-up drawn from Kabuki, “and with a dash of Bugs Bunny.” The exaggerated delivery, punctuated by drum rolls from an onstage percussionist, leads the audience to savor the lines—giving them added impact.

This time around the make-up has an added embellishment of very expressive lines, giving each character a distinctive mask that lends itself well to the roles. The Conspirators productions are deceivingly erudite, seriously referencing weighty underlying material, and bringing them to bear on contemporary life.

But the most important thing is how funny it is. You don’t need to know anything at all about the intellectual underpinnings of their shows, because the laughs are involuntary and completely overwhelming. Audiences will applaud dutifully at many shows. But you can’t fake laughter, the most honest of responses. “Divina Commedia: It’s Worse Than That” is an almost exhaustingly funny show. The Conspirators’ runs are typically very short. Absolutely don’t miss this one, through November 19 at Otherworld Theatre.

The title alone is the tip-off that “The 125th Anniversary Jubilee” from The Conspirators is out of the ordinary—an irreverent show that is both laugh-inducing and thought provoking.

“Jubilee” consists of a sampling of skits from The Conspirators past performances, as well as “imagined” skits from an impossibly distant past before the troupe was founded, including a 19th century riff on Sherlock Holmes revolving around the old saw, “Do you have Prince Albert in a Can.” Another piece, a supposed 1945 skit, ‘Harry Truman's Fitful Night’ finds Truman struggling to express to Americans the enormity of the nuclear holocaust at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We witness Truman irked that the Bhagavad Gita line, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” was already taken, used after a test detonation by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. So laughs are both highbrow and lowbrow.

These and other samplings, wrapped around a lengthier one-act French comedy of manners from 1898, make the evening a good introduction to the unique approach The Conspirators use. Known as “The Style,” it is based on a mix of classic Italian Commedia del Arte, Kabuki (actors are heavily made-up), and with a dash of Bugs Bunny. The exaggerated delivery, punctuated by drum rolls from an onstage percussionist, leads the audience to savor the lines—giving them added impact.

The core of the show, the one-act play by a French commentator, author and playwright Octave Mirbeau, is a send-up the social foibles of his time, a Moliere-esque comedy of manners, set at a town council debating what to do about an outbreak of typhoid fever at a local military base. The parallels to our ongoing battle with the Covid pandemic are unmistakable as we witness the council heed the advice of a medical professional who is a “plague denier” and then vote to do nothing, later turning 180 degrees when the disease inevitably strikes a favored member of one of their own bourgeoise.

For first-timers at a Conspirators show, the musical numbers that open the show may seem to come from left field, but very quickly the magnetic qualities of the unique format will draw you in. Written by Sid Feldman and directed by Wm. Bullion, the show draws also taps Monty Python and SNL material.  “The Conspirators’ 125th Anniversary Jubilee Featuring the Ineptidemic” left me laughing, and looking forward to the next 125 years.

The show runs through November 19 at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark St., Chicago. Visit https://www.conspirewithus.org