REVIEW: Impulse

If one thing has been made loud and clear lately, it’s that teens are a serious force to be reckoned with – whether it’s on the national stage with country-wide political organization and advocacy, or locally with last month’s Verselandia! at the Schnitz, where top high school poets slammed it out with powerful spoken word performances. Enter Oregon Children’s Theatre’s Young Professionals (YP) Company’s improv troupe: Impulse, starring advance theater students aged 14-18. If you haven’t seen them, you are missing out… but now’s your chance! (Through May 20th, at least.)

Impulse, starring energetic, whip-smart, and unabashedly hilarious teen players, has historically sold out each year’s runs – and as soon as they dive headfirst into the opening game of the night, it’s not hard to see why. It’s rare to see such un-self-conscious improv at the various comedy clubs in town, and the kid-friendly element (Impulse shows are billed as appropriate for ages 7 and up) completes the package: over an hour of nonstop entertainment that will elicit deep belly laughs from both you and your littles.

What makes the show equally impressive and enjoyable is the cast’s constant invitation for audience participation and suggestions, ensuring that no two performances are the same. The kiddos will jump out of their seats to get called on to share their ideas – or they’ll just yell them out unprompted, which is just as welcome! (You can yell, too.)

Each game lasts from just a few to around seven minutes, capturing all attention spans and keeping the pace lively and action-packed, just how you’d like an improv show to be. Standout gems are Blind Lines, for which the audience writes phrases and quotations (from pop culture, or simply from your wacky brain) on slips of paper that are then scattered about the stage for the actors to grab, read aloud and integrate into the scene; Objection!, a courtroom-style lineup in which each performer defends their opinion on “the best” of an audience-selected category (best cereal? NBA player? donut?); and Impulse original Documentary, in which players enact a mockingly serious documentary about a local Portland event (at the May 5th show, the subject was “The Naked Bike Ride”).

Longtime Impulse fans will enjoy a few familiar faces from previous years and other YP shows, as well as some fresh energy from first-year YPs. If you’re missing some past faves (or just a serious glutton for Impulse improv), check out the Impulse vs. Alumni Smackdown, a fundraiser for OCT featuring this year’s troupe against a troupe of Impulse Alumni from the past 10 years, on Friday, May 25th!

Cast:
Bryce Duncan
Isaac Ellingson
Devlin Farmer
Emma Fulner
Nate Gardner
Hank Sanders
Onar Smith
Emma Stewart
David VanDyke

Artistic and Production Team
Jay Flewelling, Director
Blake Wales, Assistant Director
Katie Smith, YP House Manager
Sylvia Grosvold, YP House Manager
Isaac Ellingson, YP Production Assistant
Dani Baldwin, OCT Education Director
Don Crossley, Technical Director/Lighting Designer

Dates & Times
Now thru May 20, 2018
Fridays-Saturdays at 7:00pm
Sundays at 2:00pm
(Thursday May 17 at 7:00pm)

Location
YP Studio Theater, 1939 NE Sandy Blvd., Portland

Age Recommendation
7 and up

Run Time
65 minutes with no intermission, no late seating

Ticket Prices
$10 advance, $12 at the door

Box Office: 503-228-9571 or www.octc.org

Impulse vs. Alumni Smackdown: A Fundraiser Comedy Show
Friday, May 25 at 9:30pm
Curious Comedy Theater
5225 NE Martin Luther King Blvd