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SHOW HISTORY
show 03 Coming off the enormous success of our sold-out six-week run of our second show, our egos were at their most inflated. Hot to trot on our third show, we took the first time slot offered to us. This was a huge error. We were offered another Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday slot back at The Mainstreet Playhouse. Now, the space was, indeed, ideal for us. It was a good deal larger than The Backdoor Theatre and we had had our first successful run there. However, the weeknight time slots were far from great. This is where our egos came in. We figured that our audiences loved us so much, they would follow us to any night of the week. Oops. The show was a box office disappointment and a much needed popping of our parade-float-sized inflated heads. The disappointment was compounded by the fact that it still remains, six years later, one of our best shows ever. The critics loved it (It was our first "Willamette Week Pick"). The audiences that did show up loved it. We loved it. It was great. But it only ran those 3 short weeks on evenings not known for irreverent fringe theater. We did sell out the last two performances though. So, y'know, we have that going for us. -TALES FROM THE SHOW- 1. Loren Hoskins, then a producer, suffered the worst of the ego blows. It was his job to go out and tell our audience of 4 for one particular Tuesday show, that we had to cancel the performance because we didn't have enough paying audience members to afford the rent for that night. The moment was made even worse when the audience started laughing, because they thought it was part of the act. He had to make clear to them that it wasn't. He still holds it as one of the worst experiences in his comedic career. 2. This was the second show we did with the incomparable master of lights and sound, Paul Rector. We've dealt with a number of talented tech operators, but Paul was our first master. We referred to him as a tech comedian, because we knew that if we had some sort of snafu onstage during a sketch, Paul could keep up. And more than that, he had the ability to make sketches even funnier with brilliant timing and speed. It was also during this run that a long-standing tradition began. On the closing night of the show, the weather was hot. It was even hotter in the little tiny tech booth that housed not only the 6'5" Paul, but also all of the tech equipment. It was so unbearable for Paul that he stripped down completely. Nobody knew about his lack of wardrobe until the very funny moment when Loren crawled into the booth to do a voice-over and discovered Paul's naked ass and body. His nudity so cracked us up, that it has become tradition that Paul be naked in the booth on the closing evening of any 3rd Floor show he works on. We discovered later that "Naked Paul" also had no problem being naked in front of an audience. But that will come into play a couple years down the road. 3. One last funny moment from the run also involved Loren and Paul. Here's the set-up: Paul is in the booth. Ted Douglass and Ian Berry are right underneath the booth preparing for the next sketch. Loren crawls into the very cramped booth to do a voice over. What happened: Loren sat down on a fire extinguisher. The CO2 fog filled the tiny booth, blinding both Paul and Loren. Ted and Ian heard the noise and looked up, just in time to get a face full of chemicals through the floor boards of the booth. Although, it was sting-y, we laughed hard through our reddened hurting eyes. ------------------------ THE CREDITS »»PERFORMED AT The Mainstreet Playhouse Portland, Oregon »»PRODUCED BY Andy Buzan Brandon Campbell Loren Hoskins »»WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY The 3rd Floor »»STARRING Andy Buzan Brandon Campbell Bryan Coffee Ted Douglass Laura Farbrother Jana Lee Hamblin Andrew Harris Loren Hoskins Jason Keller Kris Lucht »»THE MAN WHO MOVES IN THE DARK Ian Berry Jason Coffey »»TECH OPERATOR "Naked" Paul Rector ------------------------ SKETCHES PERFORMED THE 1997 SPRING BREAK EXTRAVAGANZA SPECIAL (AUDIO) Written By: Ted Douglass Starring: Ted Douglass 3 LITTLE BEARS Written By: Jason Keller Starring: Brandon Campbell, Ted Douglass, Jana Lee Hamblin, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: ANDREW Written By: Andrew Harris Starring: Andrew Harris and Paul Rector 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: ANDY Written By: Andy Buzan Starring: Andy Buzan and Paul Rector 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: BRANDON Written By: Brandon Campbell Starring: Brandon Campbell and Paul Rector 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: BRYAN Written By: Bryan Coffee Starring: Bryan Coffee and Paul Rector 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: JANA Written By: Jana Lee Hamblin Starring: Jana Lee Hamblin and Paul Rector 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: JASON Written By: Jason Keller Starring: Jason Keller and Paul Rector 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: KRIS Written By: Kris Lucht Starring: Kris Lucht and Paul Rector 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: LAURA Written By: Laura Farbrother Starring: Laura Farbrother and Paul Rector 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: LOREN Written By: Loren Hoskins Starring: Loren Hoskins and Paul Rector 3RD FLOOR AUDITION: TED Written By: Ted Douglass Starring: Ted Douglass and Paul Rector 8TH GRADE DANCE Written By: Laura Farbrother Starring: Laura Farbrother and Andrew Harris BELLY BUTTON VORTEX Written By: Andrew Harris Starring: Andy Buzan and Andrew Harris CHESS Written By: Laura Farbrother Starring: Laura Farbrother and Loren Hoskins CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH SCOTT THOMASON Written By: Bryan Coffee and Loren Hoskins Starring: Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Laura Farbrother, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht COMEDY EXPERIMENTS Written By: Andrew Harris Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Laura Farbrother, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht DR. VON ZETZENKEP (I) Written By: Bryan Coffee and Laura Farbrother Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Jana Lee Hamblin, and Andrew Harris DUNKLEBUTTER & JIM MEET HAPPY TROUSERS Written By: Loren Hoskins Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Laura Farbrother, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht FAMILY TIME (AUDIO) Written By: Laura Farbrother Starring: Andy Buzan and Jason Keller THE I LOVE LUCY REUNION Written By: Ted Douglass Starring: Ted Douglass JEANNIE & VI Written By: Jana Lee Hamblin and Kris Lucht Starring: Jana Lee Hamblin and Kris Lucht KICKIN' IT WITH KATELYN TATE Written By: Jana Lee Hamblin Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Laura Farbrother, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht MAELDUN & BUCKLE Written By: Andrew Harris and Loren Hoskins Starring: Ted Douglass, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, and Loren Hoskins MAINSTREET II INTRO (AUDIO) Written By: Andrew Harris Starring: William Tate MORTAL KOMBAT Choreographed By: Loren Hoskins Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Laura Farbrother, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht NINJA THERAPY I Written By: Andrew Harris Starring: Andy Buzan and Andrew Harris NINJA THERAPY II Written By: Andrew Harris Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Ted Douglass, Laura Farbrother, and Andrew Harris ONE-CLAP SURVEY Written By: Loren Hoskins Starring: Loren Hoskins and Jason Keller SHAWK-HATERS' CLUB II Written By: Loren Hoskins Starring: Andy Buzan, Bryan Coffee, Loren Hoskins, and Jason Keller SHERYL Written By: Jason Keller Starring: Ted Douglass, Laura Farbrother, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht SINCLAIR Written By: Andrew Harris Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Laura Farbrother, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, and Jason Keller SPEAK & SPELL Written By: Loren Hoskins Starring: Brandon Campbell, Jana Lee Hamblin, and Loren Hoskins A VERY SPECIAL 90210 (AUDIO) Written By: Joe Douglass and Ted Douglass Starring: Andy Buzan, Ted Douglass, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht WACKY SCALPELS Written By: Bryan Coffee and Ted Douglass Starring: Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, and Kris Lucht WRESTLING FOR LUNCH Written By: Laura Farbrother Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Laura Farbrother, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht REVIEWS EXERPT FROM WILLAMETTE WEEK "WW PICK" THE 3RD FLOOR by BD More sublime than slapstick, The 3rd Floor's current show is intelligent, polished, and more than a little dark. The troupe performs a series of sketches that last anywhere from 20 seconds to 15 minutes, ad the humor doesn't come from standard wacky antics. One skit has two people sitting silently at a chessboard until one finally says, "I don't know how to play chess either." Another begins with the I Love Lucy theme song playing to a dark stage; when the lights come on, two skeletons dressed as Lucy and Desi are sitting alone on a couch. Between these super-dry moments come Spinal Tap-ish spurts of over-the-top parody (as when two Medievalists, throwing bones and casting spells, decide to become attorneys). This smooth and well-rehearsed show is definitely worth seeing, especially at this intimate venue. |
©2008 bluedoor productions, inc.