Are you a fan of Saturday Night Live, Broad City, or In Living Color? Do you love Jerry Seinfeld, Carrie Brownstein, Fred Armisen or Tina Fey? If so, expect to be entertained by Nitrous Oxide, an evening of sketch comedy being performed at Newton North High School’s Little Theatre on February 9, 10 and 11 at 7:30 PM. You can see it live at the theatre or livestreamed at home.
According to Adam Brown, who heads up Theatre Ink, the school’s theater program, Nitrous Oxide has been a tradition since 2009, offering students a multifaceted artistic opportunity. Students audition by writing sketches and performing a comedic monologue. Once the troupe is cast, its members work together intensively over the course of ten weeks, brainstorming, writing, rehearsing, and rewriting collaboratively. This year, the 13-member group developed over six dozen sketches, only the best of which have been selected for the final show. The subject matter of the sketches “runs the gamut and draws on many reference points,” says Brown, producing “comedy that a broad range of audiences will find funny.”
Nitrous Oxide is co-directed by senior Zoe Kritzer and junior Nate Reilly. “Nate and I are a strong team, always shooting ideas off each other,” says Kritzer, who sees their collaboration as fueled by a shared “obsession with comedy.” Since small details can make the difference between a joke that lands and one that doesn’t, the directors rehearsed and tweaked sketches many times. They also learned how widely spectators’ responses can vary, by inviting different people to serve as test audiences for rehearsals. That unpredictability can be tough, says Kritzer. Laughter is an ”in-the-moment metric of success,” and its absence can feel like “rejection in your face.” On the other hand, it can also be an impetus to hone your craft. Doing comedy, she concludes, “is about forgetting how bad you are at comedy, until you finally get good.”
The Nitrous Oxide team has worked hard to reach that point. Newton audiences can look forward to seeing the results, either in person or via livestream. Tickets can be obtained here.
