On The Scene: Freestyle Love Supreme -- the improv group where the audience is part of the act
It is Broadway's
most unpredictable show, Freestyle Love Supreme, the improv group where the
audience is part of the act.
With improv, a
word, or a place, can inspire a performance, even right where you stand.
“It's so amazing, stop all that rapping, OK, why because we stuck in the traffic,” says Anthony Veneziale, co-founder of Freestyle Love Supreme.
In 2003, Lin Manuel Miranda and Veneziale
started the group.
"To think that we started in a basement,
and now that it's a show on Broadway, which is a dream no improvisor thought
that they could have,” says Veneziale. “This is not where Improv goes.”
Singer Aneesa Folds says she was doubting her
future in musical theatre when a teacher at Freestyle Live Supreme Academy
spotted her talent.
“We doing it today,” says Folds. “It's Freestyle
Love Supreme, we on Broadway."
She landed a life changing role.
“The thing about Freestyle Love Supreme that has
been so beautiful for me is that I'm playing myself, and through this journey,
I have learned that I'm enough,” says Folds. “Yeah, I'm still working on that
and learning that. "
Folds' teacher was beat boxer, now her castmate,
Chris Sullivan.
Each performance is different. The audience
calls out words and situations, which the cast turns into a performance on the
spot.
Freestyle Love
Supreme, which received a special Tony Award this fall, runs at the Booth
Theatre through Jan. 2.