Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences: Meet the Cast

VIDEO:  What is improv anyway? The cast and Director weigh in...

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What Happens When You Take the Script Away From Traditional Actors And Turn Them Loose? 

The cast of Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences take a rehearsal break and discuss their learning curves.

HELEN BOWEN, Senior at Research Triangle High School:

"One really big thing I'm learning is the power of silence. It's really interesting to me how silence can be used as a tool. A lot of what we're trying to do when I do improv at school is we're trying to fill up the space, like there can't be a gap. Whereas with Flying Machine, we can take the silence and use it to create tension in a scene. And I think that's really cool how you can not be saying anything but still be communicating so much. It really teaches you to use your whole body instead of just relying on the lines to get you through a scene."

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DUNCAN MCGREGOR, Senior at Research Triangle High School:

"I'm in an improv group here at school. Working with teens, there's a lot of crudeness, and that can be fun, but it's been fun to get a little more serious and explore really listening to other people, rather than trying to force the funny out of a scene. With this group, none of what we do is faked. When we're in a scene, we perceive a lot of what we're doing to be real. I think that's why it's so entertaining." ​

"It's like alchemy. You walk onstage with nothing and by the end of the scene you've created this story out of thin air in front of everyone. It's electrifying."
​-Thaddaeus Edwards, Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences

ELYSHA NICHOLS, Actor:

"I studied theater in college, and I've done a little bit of professional theater here and there, and a little bit of improv--but it wasn't this kind of improv, it was the more schticky kind of improv, where you're trying to get a laugh. I love this type of improv because it's about being real and really connecting with and being honest with your feelings, and really working off the other person. So for me, this is the absolute kind of theater I want to be doing, and I love it." 

THADDAEUS EDWARDS, Actor:

"I was always intimidated by improvisation because I'm used to a lot of rehearsal, having a script, having something to fall back on, but in a certain way, also to have a mask when I walk out onstage. And improvisation just sort of takes all that away. It's so bare. So it's intimidating, but is also really exciting. It reminds me of alchemy. You walk out onstage with nothing and by the end of the scene, you've created this story out of thin air in front of everyone. It's electrifying..."

"Improv is scary as heck. It's like building a plane while you're still in the air."
​-Page Purger, Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences

BRIAN YANDLE, Actor

​"You know you hear improv and you think "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" and the funny, funny stuff. This is very, very different. This group can turn on a dime and take you from comedy to drama. It's all based in truth. People laugh at things because they find the truth in them. And people react to drama because there's truth in it. There's a whole lot of both of those things with this group."

PAGE PURGER, Actor:
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"I’m much more comfortable in a scripted world, where I’ve stayed for the last 15 years. So I'm learning to ignore my desire to plan ahead, to have a Plan B through Z.  Having a plan in the scripted world is a good thing and it’s not something I ever considered could be an obstacle, but in this arena it’s not necessarily a good thing. You have to give up that safety net. And it's scary as hell--like building a plane in the air."

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We hope you'll join us for Curious Accidents & Unintended Consequences.

You've never seen it before. And you'll never see it again.

​Research Triangle High School

May 12th, 8pm
May 13th, 8pm
May 14th, 3pm
May 18th, 8pm
May 19th, 8pm
May 20th, 8pm

​Six nights only.​ $5 students, $10 adults.
RESERVATIONS: 919-376-0054

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