Improver follows way of the Samurai

Any undergraduate who has ever contemplated pursuing a well-paying career has been subjected to countless examples of why networking is essential to his or her ultimate job-induced happiness. Evidently it's true-just look at Duke alum Bret Runestad.

No, Runestad is not a technology prodigy rich enough to rival the benefactors of the French Science Center, nor is he a venture capitalist celebrating his success by buying Madonna's old house in Beverly Hills. In fact, he is a preschool teacher in Durham. But thanks to the connections that he made through Duke University Improv, he is now able to realize his acting ambitions, as a member of the improv group Four String Samurai. The group performs their show, The Samurai Hour, every month at the Broad Street Cafe, with the next performance, for which DUI is opening, set for Nov. 10.

Runestad was a member of DUI when he was a student at Duke. In 2002, newly graduated and uncertain of what he wanted to do, Runestad went to join two older DUI graduates in New York. The three formed an improv group that performed regularly in the city. This chance collaboration gave Runestad enough experience to firmly entrench him in the world of improvisational acting. When Runestad returned to Durham three years ago in order to get his master's degree in theological studies from Duke's Divinity School, he started acting at the Dirty South Improv Comedy Theater in Carrboro, where he met the other members of Four String Samurai.

The group now consists of five performers, in addition to Runestad: Ryan Locante, Chris Conklin, Ben Birkin, Paul Overton and Eric Hirsh. The Samurai Hour is made up of two halves, with the first part being the opening act in which a local comedy group will perform. In the second half, Four String Samurai act out a 25-minute-long, continuous piece, exemplifying the style of improv that is aptly termed "long-form improv."

"What this group does is 'long-form improv,' just like it's one, 25-minute chunk. It's not like Who's Line is it Anyway, where there are games and contests," Hirsh said. "It's more a montage of scenes that are connected. It's almost more of a show like Curb Your Enthusiasm, where one scene goes into the next, and characters come back, and it's more organic in a way."

Long-form improv may be a completely novel experience for those who have only been exposed to the more gimmicky, game-based, short-form version, which is favored by T.V. shows and college improv groups as an effective way to capture and maintain an audience's attention. Yet what establishes Four String Samurai as more than just any old professional comedy group is that they incorporate improvised music into their acting. Hirsh plays the keyboards as the others act, resulting in a synthesis where music and theater play off of one another.

"[Hirsh is] not just there to add, he's there to play with us. We have to adapt to what he's giving us, and he has to adapt to what we give him, so he's improvising along with us," Locante said.

The Four String Samurai's consistent appearances in Durham are a more recent phenomenon, resulting from their decision to move away from Carrboro's DSI Comedy Theater.

"We were a part of the DSI theater for a little while in Carrboro, and I don't want to get too much into that, but it didn't really work out," Locante said. "We're independent now, and I like that better. We don't really have too many limitations. And so we went to Broad Street and we thought that maybe since they have a stage that maybe we could use a stage."

Four String Samurai have indeed found a use for Broad Street's stage with Samurai Hour. And what better way to further integrate themselves into the Durham theater scene than by featuring Durham-based DUI as a guest opener in their upcoming show?

Members of DUI, having performed frequently for hordes of freshmen and parents, have expressed excitement about the show, yet seem nonplussed at the idea of performing alongside professionals.

"I honestly think that we've performed for bigger crowds at Duke and so really as far as pressure goes, it's actually a lower key event," said Brandon Curl, a senior in DUI.

Runestad expressed his confidence in the group's abilities.

"DUI is great because it's Duke students, so, Duke student to Duke student-, it's all these really smart people, which you need, and it's a lot of fun because we're able to reference a lot of stuff," Runestad said. "It's a lot of quick-witted and clever people, and so it's a great training ground for just being kind of funny and making people laugh."

Runstad's use of Duke connections to enter into the acting community goes to show that even if I-banking doesn't work out, at least that Duke education's good for something.

Four String Samurai will be performing Samurai Hour at the Broad St. Cafe on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. Cover is $3 at the door.

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