REVIEW: The Neutrino Project

The Neutrino Project
The Instant Movie
Presented by FuzzyCo

You can pull all the stops out
Till they call the cops out
Grind your behind till you're bend.
But you gotta get a gimmick
If you wanna get a hand.
You can sacrifice your sacharo
Working in the back row.
Bump in a dump till you're dead.
Kid you gotta have a gimmick
If you wanna get ahead. - Stephen Sondheim

Someone important - I think it was Coppola - said that with the advent of digital filming technology, the democratization of independent film was imminent. In 1999, the New York based Harold team Neutrino began a video/improvisation hybrid which came to be known as The Neutrino Video Projects. The simple explanation is that small teams of filmmaking improvisers, armed with actors, a cameraman (who also serves as cinematographer) and a tape runner go out in the world and improvise short scenarios on film. The runners bring the digital tapes back to a central location and the various threads of the scenes are projected as an improvised, instant movie.

In Chicago, the cats behind FuzzyCo decided that this was exactly the gimmick they, too, were looking for and assembled their own Chicago cast, got the blessing from the NYC group, and debuted the Chicago Neutrino project in the Fall of 2002. They've been doing variations and remounts of this ever since.

I've seen a lot of the variations in the ensuing years and watched them expand and contract the concept with mixed results. I went to check it out (the cast and crew are all friends and my recently separated wife is one of the actors in the show) in the spanking new ComedySportz Theater Wednesday night.

First, about me.

It was a strange experience - first, coming to see it at ComedySportz. I was a member of CSz for five years (1993-1998) and it's kind of neat to see how far things have come. Strange to see my much younger face in commemorative photos on the walls but exciting to see the super decked out digs. It's a freaking gorgeous little cabaret space and the best home for the titular short form improv game in town.

It was likewise a bit awkward seeing Jen - I still haven't worked out how we are supposed to greet each other appropriately and how to simply be around common friends - let alone seeing her perform. Finally, it was odd to be in the neighborhood where I spent so much time peddling theater at 3209 N. Halsted and realize that I have essentially avoided the area pretty consistently since leaving that venue in 2003.

So, yeah, I was in a bit of a vortex of conflicting emotional states but not necessarily a bad vortex - just weird.

Now, about the show.

The Neutrino Project has never been about great improvisation. The format is constricted by the necessity to construct short two- to three-minute scenes based on suggestions from the audience (Wednesday's title came from the audience and was Edward Panda), objects taken from the audience, and, of course, the environment in which all scenes must be played out. The forced nature of the "We're Filming!" lights a fire under the actor's asses that amps up the need to focus more on environment driven plots rather than substantive character or relationship work. In one thread, the elevator became more important than the people, and in another, the plethora of muppets in an apartment became more central than the strange "Would you be my friend" creepfest between the two actors.

That said, the gimmick of the thing being filmed as you are watching it is, quite frankly, too unique to dismiss. It's exciting and fun and no one does this type of thing better than FuzzyCo. The immediacy of seeing the actors in a fallafel shop, plotting to rob it, that you just walked past to get to the theater is jolting and funny. The idea that the other customers in the restaurant are just regular people out on a Wednesday night watching these scenarios unfold is kind of crazy. And when the cameramen do something actually cinematic - a shot of Lisa Fairman in the far background trying to motion to her cohorts who are in closeup or positioning the camera below Jen and Brian Goodman entering an apartment is cool.

On top of the gimmick, floating above it like a hyperactive cloud, is the ebullient cast and crew. These cats are obviously having a lot of fun and, man, that fact alone makes the evening more juicy.

The Neutrino Project is a genuine example of melding live performance with technology and the experience is completely unique and worth your time and (a very reasonable) $10.00. And you get a free Butterfinger.

Neutrino Project: The Instant Movie is playing Wednesdays, September 17 to November 19, 2008, 8 pm at the ComedySportz Theater, 929 W Belmont, Chicago. Tickets $10, 773-549-8080, or Ticketmaster.

Here's the trailer: