A fixture of the Upright Citizens Brigade’s New York and Los Angeles theaters for much of the past two decades, “Gravid Water” pairs an improviser not with another comic, but with an actor performing an excerpt from a play. As the improviser stumbles through the scene with no knowledge of the text, the thespian diligently sticks to the script.
For this week-long Kennedy Center stint, Ruddy has assembled an impressive roster of D.C. theater dignitaries to partner with four accomplished improvisers: “30 Rock” alumnus John Lutz, “Don’t Think Twice” star Tami Sagher, former “Tonight Show” head writer Becky Drysdale, and Jason Mantzoukas, the inimitable “Parks and Recreation,” “The Good Place” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” scene-stealer. (“Conan’s” Brian Stack will step in for Lutz at Saturday’s and Sunday’s performances.)
At its best, “Gravid Water” makes for an exhilarating illustration of improv’s malleability, as charismatic comics bounce off their stonewalling scene partners and revel in the absurdity. When it doesn’t, discomfort and aimlessness may send a scene askew. At Tuesday’s opening night — which was not just the Kennedy Center debut but also the first “Gravid Water” show since the pandemic, Ruddy said — it was clear some performers were still finding their sea legs. But so goes improv: Audiences might need to roll with the punches between witnessing a knockout or two.
Although all five scenes performed Tuesday had their moments, two truly unlocked “Gravid Water’s” potential. The first was an excerpt from Tennessee Williams’s “At Liberty,” in which Holly Twyford’s melodramatic turn as an overbearing Mississippi mother provided the perfect foil for Drysdale, who promptly spun the scene into a sex-positive treatise on gender fluidity, then repeatedly, riotously doubled down. As Twyford’s dialogue intersected with Drysdale’s ad-libs in deliciously unexpected ways, the appeal of the show’s conceit emerged.
The night’s other highlight was a performance from A.R. Gurney’s “Big Bill,” as Erika Rose charmingly inhabited an opera star wooing a tennis pro played by Mantzoukas. Imbuing his character with farcical machismo, Mantzoukas embraced the unknown with excitable affirmations — “Okay!” “Go on!” “Sure!” — and quick-witted quips. Most amusingly, he emphasized the inanity of the non-sequiturs that inevitably emerged as Rose resisted straying from the script.
This review can, of course, be taken with a grain of salt, considering the actors rotate from show to show and different plays are staged at every performance. (The works of Horton Foote, Terrence McNally, Amy Herzog and others are on the docket later in the run.) But no matter the circumstances, the brazenness of the endeavor endures. Like many an experiment, “Gravid Water” is all about trial, error and the wonders of achieving unlikely chemistry.
Gravid Water, created and directed by Stephen Ruddy. With Ben Blackman, Carla Briscoe, Eymard Cabling, Michael Kevin Darnall, Shannon Dorsey, Quynh-My Luu, Ashley D. Nguyen, Nancy Robinette, Susan Rome, Ryan Sellers, Dani Stoller, Emily Townley and Justin Weaks. About 1 hour 15 minutes. Through July 2 at the Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org.
