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Call the babysitter so you can schedule an adults-only night out on May 7 for Ridgefield Theater Barn's "Whose Barn is it Anyway?" This hilarious evening of improv features the Theater's resident company, The Role in the Hay Players. Interactive, intelligent and turn on a dime clever, the company includes Matt Austin, Laura Banks, Jody Bayer, Cheryl Boyd, Rick Hodder, Wayne Leiss, Daniel Nisbeth, Melissa Power, and Mary Shuldman, with Rick Hodder as coach and director.
By day a computer programmer and consultant, Hodder might have inherited a performing gene. Or, because his mother made singing and music part of the family routine, whether in the car, at school or even at shopping centers, it might have just grown on him. Either way, it seems to have had benefits. "I think it wasnt until I was in high school that I found these tools had uses in the real world (as opposed to algebra). I discovered that music and theater have an amazing ability to bring people together," he says.
With his early performing as a base, three years ago Hodder took the leap to stand up comedy. I love to make people laugh. I think its one of the highest callings," he says. After studying with two established groups, New York City's Gotham City Improv and Upright Citizens Brigade, he was ready for comedy's cutting edge. Later, a meeting with Theater Barn's president Wayne Leiss became a meeting of minds about creating an improv group. Hodder agreed to tackle the troupe's teaching and directing in addition to performing with the newly established Role in the Hay Players. Now with its own following, this group can make just about anything laugh-worthy. See their performance on May 7 for proof. Tickets are $22. For more information, visit the Theater's website.
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