GreenRoom brings unscripted improv to Hemmens

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Chicago is a city with many choices when it comes to improvisational comedy.

But when the cost of the tickets, the transportation, the parking, and the baby sitter are calculated, it sometimes seems better to stay home and watch TV.

However, there is a simple and inexpensive option to a wallet-zapping trip into the city: GreenRoom Productions. The comedy troupe will be performing at the Hemmens in Elgin on Feb. 4 and March 3, and at the Cosman Cultural Center in Huntley on Feb. 11.

Aside from the proximity and free parking, GreenRoom Productions offers a unique quality for improv; the show is family friendly.

“It’s somewhere in between G and PG,” said Dave Hunter of Elgin, who, along with Matthew Aldis of St. Charles, co-founded the troupe.

“It turned out to be something really popular,” said cast member Kerry Cox of Elgin. “Families want to go out and have a good time with their kids and not worry they’re going to expose them to something.”

Although staying in the boundaries of good, clean fun can be difficult at times, the company is dedicated to keeping the show appropriate for both adults and the younger set.

“I think it’s easier to throw a cuss word out there to get a laugh,” Cox said. “But, if you keep comedy honest that’s when it’s really funny.”

“A lot of people go the easy route, they use sexual humor, or dirty jokes and profanity,” Aldis said. “It’s harder to take a scenario that could be awkward and keep it clean. So there’s a big challenge to that.”

“We believe that some of the best comedy is achieved this way,” Cox said. “It was kind of a business decision of integrity.”

The core of the cast met at Judson College in 1999, the same year the college closed its drama department.

“They canceled the theater program my freshman year,” Hunter said. “So a group of us got together and did our own shows in the theater that’s there.”

The group sold out the 150-seat theater with its first show and, the following year, sold out two performances. By 2005, they were performing monthly shows at Judson.

During this time, The Milk Pail of Dundee came calling, inviting the group to perform at its venue as well. Soon the group was traveling and working at a variety of events.

After a while, it was decided GreenRoom Productions should have a home base and that turned out to be the Cosman Cultural Center in Huntley. The 288-seat, rarely used, but new building had the room the group needed for a growing audience.

In 2011, the Hemmens in Elgin expressed interest in hosting the group’s performances on a regular basis, going so far as to create a new space for the shows.

“They built a stage and some lighting for us and we do a kind of cabaret downstairs with about 200 seats and a full service bar,” Hunter said.

Hunter described the production as being similar to the television program “Whose Line is it Anyway?”, an improvisational sketch comedy show where scenarios are created through games and suggestions from the audience.

“We play games and the teams compete for the first 45 minutes of the show and then in the second 45 minutes we perform together,” Hunter said. “One of our classic games we often close the show with — we bring someone up onstage and we interview them about their life, then we perform their entire life in 10 minutes.”

With this type of expectation to be funny and original, one might wonder how the performers handle stage fright.

“I thrive off going onstage and having no idea what’s going to go on,” Aldis said. “Adrenaline kicks in. There is a little bit of fear, but with our group working together so well, it’s like when you hang out with your friends and you can anticipate conversation. It’s like playing together onstage.”

Despite the feeling of familiarity among the cast members, Aldis insists on keeping the material fresh.

“I’ve seen other improv groups and see them do the exact same scene (from one show to the next),” he said. “The one thing that I’m true to is trying to do something completely different. Even if I fail, at least I’ve learned something about myself. I never repeat anything because there’s no joy in that; that’s not really improv.”

“So much of life is just hilarious,” Cox said, “if you put the right spin on it.”

Tickets to the show at the Hemmens — 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 — are $12 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. Visit hemmens.org. For details on GreenRoom Productions, visit greenroomtheater.com or call (847) 931-4233