Full Frontal Comedy group puts on final show

If you hear the faint sounds of “Taps” being played on a kazoo somewhere in the distance, there is good reason.

Full Frontal Comedy, the popular improvisational comedy group that has been entertaining Kansas City area audiences for 11 years, presents its final show this month.

This is the sort of news that will elicit reactions like, “Say it ain’t so” from local theatergoers.

The company, founded by Tina Morrison in 1998, garnered a reputation for its edgy, irreverent sense of humor and cheeky style.

The troupe performed a variety of shows, including improvisational games, long and short-form improv, scripted sketches and original musicals.

For those unfamiliar with the form, most improvisational comedy is largely spontaneous with the performers extemporaneously coming up with dialogue and plot elements for a scene based on rough skeletal ideas. The players get input from audience members who dictate the subject matter.

The best improv actors, like the folks involved with Full Frontal, are also gifted writers, directors and comedians.

Over the years, more than 60 local performers have been a part of the company. Stalwart members include Morrison and husband Joel, Stasha and Bill Case, Shelly Stewart, Dave and Christina Schafer Martin, Joyce Halford, Kyle Mowry, and Ryan Seymour.

The company came about through a happy accident. Morrison was set to direct a production of the comedy “The Marriage of Bette and Boo” for the Northland Actors Ensemble in the fall of 1998. Due to a series of problems, the show was never staged.

Since the NAE still had dates to fill on their performance calendar, Morrison, who had seven years of improv experience with groups such as Laughing Stock and Caught in the Act, talked some of the cast members into trying the improv format to fill the open spots on the theater’s schedule.

The rest is history.

Despite the troupe’s sassy name, the cast members perform fully clothed. But the moniker has caused a bit of confusion at times.

In November 1999, the Shawnee Journal Herald ran a story by City Councilwoman Tracy Thomas titled “Put ‘That Type’ of Art on Their Own Dollar.”

She mistakenly thought the group performed in the nude at a local community theater and didn’t want Full Frontal using any facilities that were subsidized by taxes.

Although the company occasionally mounted shows that were appropriate for all ages, the fare was usually “adult-oriented,” containing subject matter and expletives that would be more at home on HBO than a broadcast network.

The company’s final appearance will be “The Eleventh Annual ‘Best Of’ Show.” Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 8-9 at the Quality Hill Playhouse, 303 W. 10th St., Kansas City, Mo. Ticket information is available at (816) 421-1700.

More information about Full Frontal Comedy can be found at www.fullfrontal
comedy.org.

THEATER NOTES

The Theatre for Young America will bring back “The Toughest Kid in the World” for two performances Jan. 19-20 at the H&R Block City Stage at Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road, Kansas City, Mo.

This original work by TYA Artistic Director Gene Mackey is a “play within a play” about a youngster dealing with problems of anger and violence.

The show incorporates music by the late Molly Jessup.

“The Toughest Kid in the World” is suitable for fourth grade and up and meets Missouri, Kansas and national educational standards.

The show has been endorsed by the “Stop the Violence Campaign” and the Kansas Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse.

Ticket information is available at (816) 460-2083 or www.unionstation.org.

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