More Madness

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Comedy team returns

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

dastolfo@vindy.com

COLUMBIANA

Main Street Madness comedy team returns this weekend for its second original show.

The sketch-humor specialists premiered last fall with a family-friendly night of humor. The group has created an all-new show that will include musical performances. It opens Friday and runs for two weekends.

Jim Couchenour is heading up the upcoming zaniness. The Vindicator caught up with him to get an idea of what new madness is in store.

Q. What can the audience expect with the new Madness show?

A. We will have a variety of things happening throughout the night. Of course, we have the live comedy sketches that are five to 10 minutes in length.

In between them, we have video “commercials” that parody some familiar commercials you’ve seen on TV. After intermission, we have local Niayana Recordings artists lined up to perform a music set.

Taree is performing the first weekend, and Allison Thomas is performing the second. Near the end of the show, we’ll showcase a short comedy film, and throughout the show, an emcee will keep the audience engaged and involved.

The show ends up with two people (acting as 80 year olds) doing a “Stayin’ Alive” dance segment.

Q. This is the second Main Street Madness. What is new this time?

A. We’re showing a couple short-length videos, one of which explains why the mime couldn’t be with us this time (he got busted for talking). We have all-new skits except for one, which we brought back, because we’re doing a sequel to it. It’s also exciting to have the two Niayana artists with us this time.

Q. Who is in the show?

A. All of the actors are from the local area and range in age from 12 to 50-something. Most of them were part of our fall 2009 show, and a few are new. We’ve developed a cast of about 15 people that have committed their time to make this all work. Some of them have been involved in theater, and some haven’t. But this has been a great opportunity for us all to get to know one another and develop friendships. It’s a great atmosphere — rehearsals are very fun.

Mark Plegge will be the emcee, and Lynette Couchenour manages the stage and props. We even created a part for Don Arthurs, the theater owner. He will make a cameo appearance with his wife in one of the skits. We’re also featuring Andrew Brockway, who is 12 years old and goes to South Range Middle School. Andrew is a terrific actor and plays a young William Shakespeare in a skit called “Little Billy Shakespeare.”

Q. The first Main Street Madness was very funny and definitely off-the-wall. Who writes it? And is there are a lot of ad-libbing going on onstage?

A. Carla Sukosd wrote most of the material for this show and has done most of the directing. She is very gifted at this. I also wrote some of the material and created the graphics, and videotaping/editing.

We do have a great time as we’re performing. We usually stick to the script but occasionally change it up when it comes to how we interpret the parts.

All of the videos were filmed locally, usually at one of our houses.

We definitely had a great time doing these — we have a lot of outtake material. Our ultimate goal is simple — to help the audience feel honored after coming to the show. And it’s great that we can do that and have such a good time ourselves.