An Open Letter to Prospective Contestants at Showcase Showdown, in re: Bidding

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Dear Fringegoer:

What’s the next item up for bid? Narrative.

So you’re headed to Showcase Showdown, SpeakeasyDC’s storytelling/The Price Is Right mashup?  Awesome; you’re gonna have a good time.

And you say you’re an extroverted sort, and so will be putting your name in the running to be called down as a contestant, and possibly earn the chance to win glamorous prizes? Glad to hear it!  Knock yourself out. Mazel tov.

Little advice?

The mechanics of Showcase Showdown are straight-up TPIR: Once your name is called, you’ll take a seat in Contestants’ Row (read: three downstage chairs) and bid for a chance to play a game.  But you won’t be bidding on a lounge suite, a canister vacuum, or a 18-inch television encased in a faux-walnut console the size of the Altar of Baal. Instead, you’ll be listening to a SpeakeasyDC storyteller, who’ll stop midway through and ask you to guess a number relevant to the story he or she is telling. You’ll bid (guess), the story will continue and the number in question will be revealed — and the contestant who came closest to the actual number without going over will win.

Basic, right? A process most of us soaked up via pop-culture-osmosis over years of ditching school to laze on the couch snarfing Pop-Tarts, right?

If we are to judge by the performances of Showcase Showdown contestants to date: Wrong.

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Reviewed by Josh Fixler (aka 20Something)
July 12, 2010

It was clear that the sizable and chatty crowd in the Burke Theatre was ready to have a blast.  The Fringe goers who were looking for a subdued evening of theatre had gone other places.  This was going to silly fun.  And Speakeasy DC did not disappoint with The Showcase Showdown.

The folks from Speakeasy, DC’s life storytelling company, are putting on a show that’s a bit different for them (from what I can tell).  The company that brought us Fringe classics The Sin Show (‘09) and Chocolate Jesus (‘08) are back, and this time they’ve turned their storytelling prowess into a game show, with real audience participation. They’ve spoofed the heck out of “The Price is Right” and put all sorts of games in between their stories.

For those of you who don’t know Speakeasy, they train people in the art of storytelling and do regular shows where people get up and tell true stories on a particular theme (for NPR listeners, it’s a lot like The Moth.)  We saw Chocolate Jesus two years ago and really enjoyed it.  This new production takes all the fun of their regular shows and spruces it up with little variations on TPIR pricing games like “cliff hangers” for the audience to enjoy in between acts.

As always, the Speakeasy crew spins some wonderful yarns. 
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By Glen Weldon
July 10, 2010

We’ve chided the SpeakeasyDC folks in this space before – gently, and never less-than-admiringly – about their ringer status.  For years now, they’ve been the trust-fund babies of Fringe, what with their built-in local fanbase, deep(ish) pockets, their mutant ability to sell out shows without working up a sweat and, yes, their reviews, which dependably land on the Fringe-Metacritic scale somewhere between “fawning” and “fellating.”

They’ve got laurels, is my point, and the impulse to rest on them must have been powerful strong. After all, the Speakeasy formula would seem to encourage repetition; certainly last year’s Sin Show – seven storytellers taking on the Seven Deadlies – wasn’t appreciably different than their previous Fringe outings, or indeed their weekly shows, unless “a bit longer” counts as different.

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From The Washington Post Going Out Gurus Blog

Fringe Festival: What we’ll be seeing
by Stephanie Merry
July 6, 2010

Speakeasy DC needs no help with publicity given that its Fringe shows routinely sell out. Yet, because last year’s “The Sin Show” was my favorite performance of the festival, I must give credit where it’s due. This year’s entry adds a dose of spectator participation, including the chance for audience members to decide whether the story they just heard is true or false.

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The Storyteller: Sheldon Scott