Those of you who can't wait for the third season of Orange Is The New Black to come out next summer can now get your fix at the Vancouver Fringe Festival.
From the minds of Vancouver comedy duo Virginia Jack comes Orange Is The New Blank, an improvised prison show that's criminally funny. Like the TV show it is based on, Orange Is the New Blank follows a diverse cast of female inmates as they struggle to stay afloat in prison.
At an Aug. 29 dress rehearsal we saw the show creators – Leo-nominated actress Briana Rayner and 16-year improv vet Nicole Passmore – spending "time" with Diana Bang (hitting big screens soon with Seth Rogan and James Franco in The Interview) and Instant Theatre regular Julianne Hoyak.
Playing the clueless newbie and malevolent chef, respectively, their scene in the prison laundry room with an imaginary washing machine was a propless clinic in physical comedy.
We sat down with Rayner and Passmore prior to their Vancouver Fringe début to talk improv and the time they actually went to prison.
WE: How did you get the idea for the show?
Rayner: I was watching [Orange Is The New Black] and just loved the diverse set of characters. It's a diverse female population and it's just another great opportunity to explore a different set of stories.
WE: And also expand the group of people that you work with, I'd imagine. Were you casting on stereotypes to some degree?
Passmore: [laughs] Well.. yea…urgh…
Rayner: We are a part of a very talented pool of performers, and within that pool we also looked for diversity.
Passmore: First and foremost was, are they talented? Are they funny? Are they smart and engaging? All of those things. And the secondary thing that we were up front about was we wanted a diverse cast, in both ethnicity and sexuality. And it's hard to find in comedy, because the truth of it is it's a lot of…white people?
Rayner: We're two white brunettes…
Passmore: So we're like, "Okay, we'll be the two white brunettes in the show… We can't cast anymore of those!" [she laughs]
WE: Why Fringe?
Rayner: It's a great opportunity to expose our cast to audiences that might not normally get to see our work. The Fringe also has a festive feeling, and people are always willing to take a risk on something new.
WE: The audience or the players?
Rayner: Both. It's just part of what makes it so exciting is you get to see these neat little creations that people have come up with, and people are willing to watch them just to try something different.
WE: What is your typical audience?
Rayner: When it's not Fringe we produce our own shows – we have a duo called Virginia Jack. We also do a show called Sex is Funny.
Passmore: We do a lot of these at either Havana or Little Mountain Gallery. Crowds will end up being between 50-100 people, and a lot of them are members of some sort of comedy community who want to come out and see that. There's people beyond that, but we don't often get just a random passer-by, and I think that's the benefit of the Fringe. Someone will just take a look and say, "Okay, I'll go to that today."
WE: Picks of the Fringe?
Passmore: Peter n' Chris. That's ALWAYS an obvious choice because they're Fringe darlings, but I saw their recent show, Peter n' Chris and the Kinda OK Corral that they did at Sketchfest this year. SO good. It's the only sketch show I've ever seen get a standing ovation, which I think says a lot.
WE: You're doing quite a few nights. Does the show get better as you go?
Rayner: Well it's funny, because it's not like after improvising for 12 years that every show is better than the last. [laughs] But I do think that, especially with an ensemble cast, as we become more comfortable and familiar with the rhythm, they do get tighter. They're always good, but some nights are just more magical than others.
WE: What's the beauty of being in the audience for opening night?
Rayner: I think you get to see the kind of attack that only comes from people being nervous. It's the best driving force to know that you're feeling nervous and therefore you care. You get that opening night magic.
Passmore: Also our appreciation. Our love. And you get to say you were at the first one, and that can be the most risky one. Usually with improv that can give the most reward. When you really put yourself out there – and opening night can be one of those times – then the audience gets the reward of seeing a really powerful show.
WE: Is there anything you can tease our readers with… Is there a prison break?
Passmore: Oooh. Depends on the night.
Rayner: We will be heavily screwing with the prison guard.
Passmore: Mostly mentally, maybe physically. And we'll definitely have the kind of conflict that comes from different personalities being thrown together. We'll also have the flashbacks for characters, and that's one benefit as well to coming more than once – depending on the night we'll choose a different character to show their backstory, so you get the fun of seeing a different character each time.
WE: Is this your first Vancouver Fringe?
Passmore: Yes! We're new to the Fringe scene but we do a lot of [comedy and improv] festivals. We've done Philadelphia, Austin, Victoria, Vancouver, Portland with the group, and individually we've done all across North America. We're old hat comedians but we're new Fringe people. Come see our show!
WE: And you've said this was also inspired by the time you went to prison?
Rayner: That was an incredible experience. We were performing at a Christmas show at a women's correctional facility in Maple Ridge.
Passmore: They took away our bobby pins and searched our bags. We had to have criminal record checks. And we passed! [laughs] We got through.
Rayner: We did the show in their gymnasium.
Passmore: And they had given us a list of things not to talk about, which included scenes about vacation, holidays – even though we were doing a Christmas show – and divorce. But that's all they wanted to see scenes about. Every time we asked for suggestions they would yell out the exact things we weren't supposed to talk about.
WE: Maybe that's how they ended up there in the first place…
Rayner: And we never did get our bobby pins back.
Orange Is The New Blank runs at Havana Theatre (1212 Commercial) Sept. 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, and 13. Times vary; head to VancouverFringe.com for more info.
