In a city full of improv companies, the Free Associates have to be one of the hardest working. Not satisfied with Cast On A Hot Tin Roof, The Completely Improvised Play Not By Tennessee Williams, and Pick-A-Dick - The Completely Improvised Select-A-Detective Play, the group have added B.S.: The Completely Improvised Hospital Drama. The facility in question is Benevolent Saints Hospital, "One of Chicago's finest." Even the program hype is a stitch: "Located somewhere between here and Belmont and eternity, B.S. is the kind of magical place where some lives are saved and others are just ruined. Meet the current survivors..." The quick-witted cast (Carrie Chantler, Matt Tiegler, Kim Greene, Mary Fahey, Neil McNamara, Claire Kaplan, Randy Craig) improvise as advertised, on the spot from audience suggestions. They ask for silly ailments or silly reasons to go to the hospital, then work these suggestions in in sometimes really clever ways.
The funniest part spoofs TV hospital fare, with each actor taking a turn, literally, in the spotlight amidst frantic ER activity, facing the audience with a big smile and working his way to the forefront. That alone is worth the price of admission.
