We Stole This
By:  Michael Valdes


  Between the screaming crowd, the non-stop action and the occasional adult beverage, you might forget you have come to the theater to watch a play.  "You get almost a sports-like quality to it because we are running around so much and it's a test against the clock," says Sam Weiner.
  Weiner is a member of a group of actors calling themselves "The Aesthetic of Waste." The show they put on is called "We Stole This" partly because they did.  The idea comes from an Italian movement called Futurism.  "They did this kind of cabaret movement where they would bring together their manifestos, their artwork and just have this very kind of chaotic sort of show where they would showcase to a sometimes unwilling audience," says actor Seth Larson.
  But this concept is their own. Thirty different original scenes... All fit into one hour.  Where the audience directs the action and there is no time to waste.  "They run the order of the show," Abigail Entsminger explains.  "But they have no idea what is in store for them. They could pick a number and it could be something they are completely unprepared for."  Judson Rose adds, "We do have some things that we keep for weeks and weeks.  So people who come back, they know that "Push Ups 'til We Can't" is what it sounds like."  The entire hour can be exhausting, says Larson.  "Sometimes you just sit there and you can't really talk to the audience because you are broken."
  When it is all said and done, it is the audience again who decides how hard the actors will work for next week with a roll of the dice.  The number dictates how many new scenes will be created for the next show in just six days.  "Some weeks we will get like five or six, which is fine.  One week we got eleven, which was rough.  But it's fun because if you get a whole bunch you get to really revamp the show," says Weiner.
  It is a break-neck pace of creating, writing, rehearsing, and then performing every week.  Even this young group wonders how many fresh ideas they can steal.  But the hope is they are laying a foundation for other creative actors to come in and spend an hour getting yelled at.
  "We Stole This" is performed every Friday night at 10:30 at The Overtime Theater.
We Stole This