Theater group turns its reducing eyes on Hollywood

Austin Tichenor has built a career out of making nothing out of something. As a member of the crazy Reduced Shakespeare Company, he helped squeeze all of Shakespeare's plays into a single frantic evening.

He also condensed the complete history of Western civilization into a two-act farce and took the Bible and boiled it down into a play so short it makes Cliff Notes look like epic tomes.

And in the process Tichenor and his reducing cohorts have become internationally famous. Or at least notorious.

They've toured their various shows for years, with extended runs in Washington, D.C., and London, where for 10 years they had three shows running in repertory.

Now, they have arrived in Chicago with two shows -- the condensed history "Completely Hollywood (Abridged)" and the infamous "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)."

"We decided to do a show about the movies because we discovered some people are intimidated by books," Tichenor said. "But everyone has a really strong opinion about the movies."

This is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because there is so much material out there. It's a curse because … there is so much material out there.

"It's the largest topic we have ever tackled," Tichenor said. "It's huge. And people can't even agree on what the top 10 movies are."

So in "Completely Hollywood (Abridged)," Tichenor and company were reduced to including references to every movie they could cram in.

"We talk about the history of Hollywood," Tichenor said, "from the silent era to the sound era, from 'Birth of a Nation' to 'Dreamgirls.'"

They also discuss what Tichenor called "the 12 steps to becoming successful in Hollywood."

"Every new movie is basically two older movies combined. Combine James Bond with 'Home Alone' and you get 'Spy Kids.' 'The Unforgiven' plus the 'Bird Cage' gets you 'Brokeback Mountain.'"

The folks at Reduced Shakespeare cover roughly 177 movies in 100 minutes -- everything from "10," "2001: A Space Odyssey," and "The 400 Blows" to "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Wrong Man."

"We move very quickly," Tichenor said. "Very, very quickly."

"Completely Hollywood (Abridged)" opens Sunday, and "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)," opens Tuesday, both at the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted Street, Chicago. Both shows run through Dec. 2. For tickets call (312) 988-9000.