Anime Unscripted at Anime Boston 2011

The event was held in Hall D from 8pm to 9pm. Pictured here are two projection screens, the stage in which the improvisation will take place and one of at least two cameramen. The second camera operator was on the right side of the room. Even though it was not a full house, the event was quite popular.

From left to right: Jekka Cormier, Patrick Delahanty, Brina Palencia, Sean Schemmel, J. Michael Tatum and Christopher Ayres. Cormier and Delahanty were the hostess and host or masters of ceremonies of the event, while Palencia, Schemmel, Tatum and Ayres were the voice actors invited to do improvisation. Pictured here is the first skit, Dating Game, where Palencia plays as the Bachelorette, while the male actors played as the potential date. My complaints for this skit were the signs held by the hosts and what is projected on the screen. Unfortunately, even with the projection screens, the glare from the stage lights made the writing barely visible. I had no idea who the male actors were portraying. In regards to what is projected, there were moments where I felt the camera operators should have focused on certain actors when they are making a funny face or speaking. This happens during other skits too. Regardless, the skit was quite humorous, especially Palencia's guesses to who Ayres is suppose to be. Check out the video of the skit below.

Following that skit was The Weird Newscasters, which involved all the actors. Picture here is Palencia and Schemmel playing as news anchors. Schemmel plays as a normal anchor for the local news, while Palencia is a Puritan co-anchor, who is convinced that someone in the newscast is a witch. Tatum was the sportscaster, who was reading the sports news as if he was auditioning for Dancing With the Stars. Aryes was doing the weather report as if he was fighting off zombies.

Next was a skit performed by Tatum and Palencia, who are playing as characters in a mall, but acting in scenes or as characters given by the hosts on cue. For example, pictured here is a Ghostbusters moment. The host stops them in the middle of the act and gives them another scene or character, such as the Three Stooges, Disney or an elementary school play, which was actually funny, because you saw Palencia crying like a baby.

This skit definitely reminds me of Whose Line Is It Anyway (love and miss that show). Ayres is portraying a character who is hosting a party. Palencia, Schemmel and Tatum are the guests of the party, however, their identity is a secret. Basically, Ayres has to guess who or what the invites are. Palenica's character was the one Ayres could not figure out, sort of. She was portraying a rapper who wants to have a rap battle. In the end, she ended up spoon feeding him the answer: you rap and then I'll rap back. He knew what she was doing but he stated out loud during the skit that he had no idea what the terminology was: he said “throw down.” By the way, she actually can rap. Lol.

Then came the Superhero skit. Similar to the previous skit, but not exactly. Tatum played as one superhero, however, when each actor came on stage, one by one, they were given a superhero name by the preceding actor. Tatum was already on stage playing as Wrap (the bread) Boy, a name given by an audience member. Then Palencia came in and Tatum named her Irritable Bowel Syndrome Girl. After she says a few lines, Ayres comes in and Palencia named him Awkward Man, which is not an easy part to play. While he performs as Awkward Man, Schemmel jumps in and Ayres dub him Captain Narcolepsy. The crisis was that all the underwear has disappeared, which was an idea given by an audience member. In the end, they solved the crisis by sacrificing Schemmel's character to the Underwear God.

After the conclusion of the Superhero skit, Ayres, Palencia and Tatum were professors in Professors Know It All, while Schemmel went to the audience with a microphone, to get questions from them that the professors will answer: one word per professor to form a sentence as a group. This type of skit was also performed on Whose Line Is It Anyway. Unfortunately, there were times where the actors were not heard: microphone was not working... However, I love Ayres poker face. :-)

“How did you get the slide of the dream I had last night?,” said the Professor of Archeology (Schemmel). Yes, that was his improv line for the slide shown in the picture above. Check out the video to see more of Sean Schemmel's character during the Power Point Roulette. Be warn, he talks extremely fast, and you might roll on the floor for this one. I know the other actors were.

Lastly, The Balcony with Palencia and Ayres as movie critics, while Schemmel and Tatum acted out the clip as described by the critics. Check out the clip below for the torture of Schemmel and Tatum. ;-)

© 2011 Linda Thai

Photography by Linda Thai

For more pictures, check out the Something Deeper: Anime, Manga and Comics Page on Facebook