Josh Levinson Photo
The cast of Inferior Planet
This past Friday night I went out to play two roles. One was arts reporter for the New Haven Independent. The other role: Sinister KP.
Since June 2018 I have been involved in a production titled Inferior Planet written, directed, and produced by Ken Carlson and held at Koffee? on Audubon St the second Friday of each month. It’s a story not unlike my own, where fictional and real life worlds meet for a short time
Carlson and I met at the now-defunct Get To The Point series that was held monthly at Cafe Nine under the able hands and voice of writer Christopher Arnott for around three years. I was reading my poetry there, and Carlson was bringing short comedic scenes that he recruited attendees to participate in, some providing the voices, some providing the sound effects, but all in the name of camaraderie and laughter.
It was my first experience doing any improvisational work, as none of us would see the script until we were actually at the show. I ended up doing it regularly with him, joining in most often with Carlson himself, Arnott, artist/writer Craig Gilbert, writer Jenna Vollano, and many others. We were, in fact, the last act to ever perform at the final Get To The Point in the fall of 2015, but Carlson mentioned that he hoped to continue on and flesh out his work into longer plays or even a series.
“That’s where I got the idea to do Inferior Planet,” Carlson told me this past Friday night. “It’s mostly based on a show from the 1950s called X Minus One. It’s a spoofing of that.” Carlson also describes it as having elements of Monty Python, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Fireside Theater.
“I want to keep the laughs coming,” he said.
The series has its basis in science fiction but with a healthy dose of nonfictional names and places, and the premise has provincial ties: in the year 2613 mankind is returning to Earth after abandoning it 242 years ago to the wreckage of the Yale Time Recording Lab to make sense of the pieces of data tapes left and the history recorded on them.
This night would be episode four — “Your Fly is Down” — and its focus would be the Wright Brothers with mentions of The Bee Gees, Mariah Carey, and plenty of both regular characters (like the aforementioned Sinister KP) and new ones. Inferior Planet is presented like an old-time radio series, as Carlson also includes commercials with enough pop culture references to keep everyone amused. Everyone who participates plays more than one character. Carlson has kept the cast on the smaller side so each of us can get into our characters a bit more each time. Carlson can also write to the actors, fleshing the characters out knowing who is playing them.
“I want to keep the same characters and the same tone. I like learning what the characters are like and bringing out their strengths,” Carlson said.
Karen Ponzio Photos
Hero Magnus
On Friday Carlson added two more acts the show. Hero Magnus, a singer-songwriter from Washington, D.C. who is currently relocated to New Haven, started the show with three heartfelt original songs that captivated the intimate audience so much that they asked for an encore.
Comedian Josh Levinson, known for his locally focused blog Between Two Rocks, was the second act, joking with the audience immediately that “this is not going to be as beautiful as that was” as he came up to take his place after Hero Magnus. His 10-minute set covered everything from the state of the State of Connecticut to his parents to speed dating and was the perfect segue from the warm acoustic vibes of the music to Carlson’s semi-improvisational sci-fi theater.
Karen Ponzio Photos
Josh Levinson
The actors occasionally receive scripts ahead of time via email, but sometimes not until an hour or so before the show. Each of us receives a hard copy when we arrive. This might seem too last minute for some, but for me it lends excitement and freshness to it all. I have no acting or improvisation experience other than Inferior Planet — unlike Carlson himself, participant Tina Carlson (Ken’s wife), and Erich Greene, who is a member of the New Haven Theater Company. At first their experience intimidated me, but since Carlson kept asking me to do it I figured I was holding my own.
Over time, I have gotten to play all kinds of characters with not a lot of time to reflect upon their motivation or personalities. On this night, I played a young girl fighting over Eggo waffles and a boyfriend with her sister (played by Tina), as well as the devious and diva-like Sinister KP — which I have had a lot of fun with, since it is so not the role I play in any other part of my life. (Check out the video for the final act of the three-act episode, which includes both roles and some serious humor from all the players.)
Although it has its biting moments, Carlson is definitively in it for the laughs. “It’s part sci-fi and part comedy,” Carlson told me. “It’s a little absurd, and I don’t care.”
Very often comedy, science fiction and other semi-fictional accounts of life blur and spill over the lines between what’s real and what is made up. The lines of this reporter’s life got a bit blurry while working on this story, based partially in memories being salvaged from partially destroyed recordings. Even some of my recordings of this show were unable to be salvaged — but I was able to get enough to give you the best and most entertaining story I could. Is life truly stranger than fiction? Maybe. Maybe not. But both are worth paying attention to and learning from.
Inferior Planet continues the second Friday of each month at Koffee?, 104 Audubon St., beginning at 7 p.m. Visit the Facebook page for Inferior Planet or Koffee? for more details.
I had a super fun time performing and watching Inferior Planet for the time I had, it pretty interesting/amusing stuff. The fake Eggo commercials were especially amusing. Thanks again to them for having me. Love when people in the New Haven area are doing dope stuff.