Staff Photo Nick Brothers
At rehearsal, the 5 Months Pregnant guest star Kieran Cronin (far right) moves in to “swipe” the end of a scene where Laura Shatkus (left) is teasing Brittany Taylor (right) about a nickname she acquired in college. The group specializes in long-form improv, where the scenes can evolve into full-fledged stories, and everything is made up on the spot.
Every so often, a group of women from the University of Arkansas graduate theater program get together to put on a show without any planning of what they will say, do, or talk about. It starts with a personal story, and from then on out, the show has absolutely no rules. The only limits are the three women and one guest’s imaginations, and a set of chairs as props.
That’s it.
What happens by the end of the night is kind of hard to explain, but it’s hilarious — just one of those hilarious you-had-to-be-there kind of things, unfortunately.
This group, dubbed 5 Months Pregnant, currently consists of Laura Shatkus, Brittany Taylor, and Stephanie Faatz-Murry, and they’re the first female-based long-form improv comedy troupe in Fayetteville. At every show, the group has a special male guest star they are “pregnant” with that performs with them. The troupe is working on expanding their ensemble, and looking to have a group of about five or six improvisers.
The name of the group was inspired by a Craigslist missed connections ad, where users can post stories of an encounter to hopefully reach the person they met through the Internet. In the ad, a self-described trucker wrote out to a woman who was “5 months pregnant” whom he had taken from Daytona, Fla., to Eureka Springs, Ark. After incorporating the story into one of their performances, the name caught on.
“It was so specific and funny,” Faatz-Murry said. “It stuck with us.”
One of the first 5 Months Pregnant shows started with a story from Taylor about her brother who would capture wild animals when he was young. So — naturally — the first scene had the special male guest acting like a British squirrel who wanted more out of his relationship with the young girl, played by Shatkus, who wanted him to be her little squirrel doll, and ended up getting married to him. The scene later progressed to the squirrel having an affair because he was feeling tied down to the relationship.
It’s often hard to recall some of the scenes because of their quick-wit nature, said Damien Demarco, one of the group’s first male special guests and occasional volunteer sideline coach.
“It all happens so fast,” Demarco said. “Once you do something it goes off into the universe. It’s a lot of fun.”
The group is committed to the craft of improv acting. For them, it isn’t so much about getting as many laughs as possible as it is about finding the “game” (the joke set-up potential) of the scene or finding out how to best help their onstage partner, Taylor said.
“Improv is really magical to watch when it’s working well,” Shatkus said. “I think people like that, and it’s a different experience than watching a play.”
While Shatkus said the group isn’t about any feminist agenda, there is a lack of women in the improv scene in general.
In fact, the idea for 5 Months Pregnant came about from a question Faatz-Murry had while in an improv class at the UofA, where the group initially formed. She harmlessly asked why there weren’t many women in improv, and her professor, Kris Stoker, didn’t have an answer. Shatkus realized then that there was a niche for a female long-form improv group in Fayetteville.
Stoker is responsible for helping the group find their feet and worked as their director and instructor for a time until moving from Fayetteville to Kansas City, Mo.
“Kris is honestly one of the best teachers I’ve ever had in the history of all of my teachers, in Chicago and Fayetteville,” Shatkus said. “He just has a natural ability to make the class suit the needs of the students. He knows how to push everyone to their limits. He’s also hilariously funny.”
All of the members of 5 Months Pregnant are graduate students pursuing degrees in the theater program at the University of Arkansas. In addition to being in rehearsals until 10 p.m. or later, the improv group has to find time to practice late at night when everyone can make it.
“One thing that will make us successful is that we’re committed to rehearsal,” Taylor said. “It can be hard to find people committed to that. I think we’ll stick around for a little while if we keep it up.”
Be sure to check out the unpredictable antics of 5 Months Pregnant at their upcoming show at Common Grounds Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 10:30 p.m.
