Review
Jet City Improv has another winner that shows just how funny soldiers can be. Bunker 13 has plenty of laughs and perfectly captures
soldiers at rest, when they aren't keeping us safe in an unfreindly world.
When I first learned about Wing-It Production’s latest show, Bunker 13, I was skeptical that the improv brilliance present in Dirty Laundry would be repeated using a politically contentious war as the setting. I worried that the creative minds behind the production would use this setting in order to score ideological points against a certain past Presidential administration that engaged in a conflict unpopular among many in the theater community.
My worries were allayed as the Jet City Improv actors took the stage and began improvising on suggestions from the audience. The suggestions come in forms of letters written to the soldiers for whom Bunker 13 is home during downtime in the midst of the Vietnam War. No one knows what will happen during each show, not even the actors. This show is another case of classic long form improv by a group that has mastered the art.
U.S. Army veteran and 20 year improv actor, Mike Christensen created and directed Bunker 13. He created the show so “that people get a better idea of what the life of a soldier is like…what they go through, that way we can make more informed decisions when we send people to war. And that they understand the bond that is created between these soldiers, and the gallows humor that is abundant.”
Mike is not the only veteran that graces the stage in this production. Ryan Miller served as an Army MP for four years and was a Drill Sergeant in the Army Reserves. In the performance I was lucky enough to witness, Ryan was comedic gold as “Rhino,” a soldier who got his name for being big and … well, let’s just say that it has to do with what is on front of a Rhino’s head.
I should note that the show is not for small children, after all is about soldiers in the midst of war. Off-color humor, sexual references, profanity and other bits that would get a film an ‘R’ rating are simply coping mechanisms for these guys. Speaking as a veteran, I can say that Mike Christiansen has created a show that perfectly captures the kind of humor military men throw at each other.
The show captures life among men in the military so well that one would have a hard time believing that it is improvised. There is no script. All the jokes, all the lines are made up on the spot. This fact makes it possible to see the show several times and never see the same thing twice. Will “Rhino” appear at another performance? I have no idea, and, amazingly enough, neither does the cast.
If you want a chance to forget about the economy for a few hours, to put high unemployment aside for an evening run do not walk to Seattle’s University District and the Historic University Theater for Mike Christiansen’s and Wing It Productions presentation of Bunker 13. You just might come away with a new appreciation for the men, and women, who serve in America’s Armed Forces.
- Daniel Crandall / examiner.com
When I first learned about Wing-It Production’s latest show, Bunker 13, I was skeptical that the improv brilliance present in Dirty Laundry would be repeated using a politically contentious war as the setting. I worried that the creative minds behind the production would use this setting in order to score ideological points against a certain past Presidential administration that engaged in a conflict unpopular among many in the theater community.
My worries were allayed as the Jet City Improv actors took the stage and began improvising on suggestions from the audience. The suggestions come in forms of letters written to the soldiers for whom Bunker 13 is home during downtime in the midst of the Vietnam War. No one knows what will happen during each show, not even the actors. This show is another case of classic long form improv by a group that has mastered the art.
U.S. Army veteran and 20 year improv actor, Mike Christensen created and directed Bunker 13. He created the show so “that people get a better idea of what the life of a soldier is like…what they go through, that way we can make more informed decisions when we send people to war. And that they understand the bond that is created between these soldiers, and the gallows humor that is abundant.”
Mike is not the only veteran that graces the stage in this production. Ryan Miller served as an Army MP for four years and was a Drill Sergeant in the Army Reserves. In the performance I was lucky enough to witness, Ryan was comedic gold as “Rhino,” a soldier who got his name for being big and … well, let’s just say that it has to do with what is on front of a Rhino’s head.
I should note that the show is not for small children, after all is about soldiers in the midst of war. Off-color humor, sexual references, profanity and other bits that would get a film an ‘R’ rating are simply coping mechanisms for these guys. Speaking as a veteran, I can say that Mike Christiansen has created a show that perfectly captures the kind of humor military men throw at each other.
The show captures life among men in the military so well that one would have a hard time believing that it is improvised. There is no script. All the jokes, all the lines are made up on the spot. This fact makes it possible to see the show several times and never see the same thing twice. Will “Rhino” appear at another performance? I have no idea, and, amazingly enough, neither does the cast.
If you want a chance to forget about the economy for a few hours, to put high unemployment aside for an evening run do not walk to Seattle’s University District and the Historic University Theater for Mike Christiansen’s and Wing It Productions presentation of Bunker 13. You just might come away with a new appreciation for the men, and women, who serve in America’s Armed Forces.
- Daniel Crandall / examiner.com