 Shookie Perrett and Sonya Jackson act out comical poses that a person might see in a high school yearbook. Both are members of ForPlay, a local improv group. |
ForPlay, a improvisational group formed by four Fresno actors, rehearses for two hours each week, but without a script. Instead they run through games like "Snap Shot," where a narrator stands in front of two actors, unaware of what scenes they're acting out while he talks.
The players are Eric Sandham, 44, former Clovis High School classmates Shookie Perrett and Sonya Jackson, both 37, and Nicki Tempesta, 34.
They picked the name ForPlay because it's a play on words: There are four of them -- but a band already had the "four" spelling -- they like to play and it's an attention-getting word.
Now they're looking for more actors to join them, and some paying gigs.
"This is what happens when you get a lot of actors together with nothing to do," Jackson said. "It's an excellent excuse for adults to play like children."
ForPlay got its start during the Rogue Performance Festival in February at the Sanctuary Stage Theater at Calaveras and N streets. The red-brick building was the former home of Temple Beth Israel.
"Eric and I started talking about it, about getting people interested in it," Tempesta said, while the two were taking part in the festival.
"We thought this is something Fresno really needs," Sandham said. "It surprised us that at the time there wasn't an active improv group in town." There are two other groups now, he said.
Most of ForPlay has experience in improvisational performing.
Tempesta was in Space for Rent, the improv group at Roosevelt High School's performing arts school, where she graduated in 1986. She also studied theater at California State University, Fresno.
The Sanctuary Stage Theater is the home of Theatre J'Nerique. Tempesta has been involved in the theater company for about a year, acting in, directing and stage managing plays.
"It's a different mode of expression," Tempesta said. "Improv makes you a better stage actor. You learn to trust yourself, you learn stage skills and form bonds with other actors."
"It's really good actor training," Sandham said. "It makes you more comfortable on stage." Sandham was involved in an improv group and did some stage work before moving to Fresno from Arizona.
"What's really nice is that you don't have to spend a lot of time learning lines," Sandham said of improvisational performing. "It's just fun."
Perrett agreed. "It's a hoot, a kick in the pants," she said. "It forces you to listen to the other actors on the stage with you, which is even important in stage plays. It keeps your mind sharp."
She began acting in junior high. After high school, Perrett performed in musicals in community theater in San Francisco. While living in Atlanta, she took acting classes. Back in Fresno, she managed the restaurant at Roger Rocka's Dinner Theater and appeared in "Steel Magnolias" and "Laura" at 2nd Space Theater.
Jackson was in theater in high school and at Fresno State, where she was a theater major. She moved to New York where she did costume design and makeup for theater productions, "and a teeny bit of acting."
"But I wanted to make money, so I didn't do much acting," Jackson joked. Locally she appeared in "The Day They Shot John Lennon" during the Rogue Performance Festival.
Sandham said the group has done one performance so far, but a debate sprang up over whether it "counted" as a performance. "It was for our friends," he said.
ForPlay rehearses from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays at the Sanctuary Stage Theater. "People are welcome to join us," Sandham said.
Details: 222-2083.
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