Just say ‘yes’

Young Chang

When it comes to improvising, there’s something informally called the

“yes rule.” If one person says something spontaneous like, “my mother is

coming over right now, and the place is a mess,” the other half of that

dialogue should never be “no she’s not!’

“You should never say no,” said Mitch Teemley, a visiting director for

the current run of “Scapino” at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa.

Improvising “requires you to play off each other as performers. There’s a

lot of very quick, creative comedy.”

All of this comes to play in “Scapino,” written by Jim Dale and Frank

Dunlop and adapted from Moliere’s “The Adventures of Scapin.” The work is

done in the commedia dell’arte style -- an art form based on stock scenes

and characters.

The title role is a servant who helps two men struggling with a

problem -- they’re in love with women their fathers disapprove of. The

script calls for everything from oversized gunny sacks to beating someone

with a slap stick.

Cast members of the show say they enjoy the privilege and freedom of

adding their own touches to a scene. Sunny and Heaven Peabody, two

principal characters in “Scapino” who are real-life siblings and students

at Vanguard, agree that improvising allows them to interact with a crowd

that changes nightly.

“It allows me to kinda play with the audience and it’s fresh and fun

every night. It’s different every night,” Sunny Peabody said.

Susan Berkompas, chair of the Vanguard theater department, said the

style of “Scapino” creates a lot of physical action.

“This is really set-and-costume oriented because of all the

physicality that this kind of show demands,” she said.

Teemley said the play, set in an Italian oceanfront cafe, satirizes

all things Italian. A little canal runs through the middle of the set

accompanied by red striped poles typically associated with Venetian

canals (though it is set in Naples). The restaurant is run by a head

waitress who yells all the time at everyone to get everything done.

“It’s all making fun of the stereotypical Italian element,” Teemley

said.

The audience gets to make fun too. Actors sometimes jump out into the

crowd and ask their viewers to repeat what they say. The audience, at

times, also serves as part of the scenery.

“It’s sort of fun and campy, all good-humored,” Sunny Peabody said.

“Scapino” is Vanguard’s first commedia dell’arte project. Berkompas

said she was looking for a different type of show that would provide the

actors a chance to be creative almost by default, allowing them to spur

one another on.

For Heaven Peabody, who plays a vibrant gypsy, “Scapino” has done just

that.

“It’s one of those over-the-top kind of characters you can kinda have

fun with,” she said. ‘I’ve had fun just exploring that real exuberant,

fun-loving gypsy woman.”

FYI

WHAT: “Scapino”

WHEN: 8 p.m. today, 2 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. April 20.

WHERE: Vanguard University’s Lyceum Theater, 55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa

COST: $10, discounts available

CALL: (714) 668-6145