popular thinking

JOKERS WILD: SEA MISSION

In today's Boston Herald...
The Tribe dares you to sink to their level as they launch an improvised half-hour episodic show tonight called ‘‘Sea Mission: Aquanuts Prime.”
Set in 2050, with NASA now focused on underwater missions after discovering a new race called Aquaticans, a ragtag crew of nine aboard Sea Lab Alpha confronts a different villain each week. Improvised comedy ensues.
Producer Robert Woo and director Patrick French spun the idea off of a past Tribe project called ‘‘Space Mission.”
‘‘It’s like a new frontier, only it’s not new at all,” Woo said.
Woo, French and the cast built an elaborate back story for the show online (www.seamission.tribeboston.com). The crew includes a condescending doctor, a telepathic weapons expert, a superintelligent clam, a half-man/half-Aquatican and a temp. What, no Aquaman?
French: ‘‘Well, we have the talking clam.”
Each episode will be improvised, but without the traditional audience suggestions.
The ad-libbing comes in figuring out how the crew can defeat each week’s villain and save the world. The Tribe’s Andrew Rhodes is the debut villain, but future weeks will find members of ImprovBoston and Improv Asylum battling the Aquanuts.
French: ‘‘It sort of unites all three improv theaters in Boston.”
Woo: ‘‘I wrote a villain’s handbook that I’m giving to each villain. We’ve been practicing this for three months, but each villain will only have one rehearsal with us.”
One villian is a prankster. Another is a bungler.
French: ‘‘That’ll be mixed with over-the-top villains, like part-fish/something.”
Woo said the crew also will be threatened by other underwater creatures. Do you mean the fish are weapons?
Woo: ‘‘Well, the swordfish, obviously.”
French: ‘‘I think if you put your mind to it, you can use any fish as a weapon.”
The crew should triumph in the end, but they won’t have it easy.
French: ‘‘Of course, like ‘Star Trek,’ each week one cast member is going to die during the show.”
Woo: ‘‘He’s in a red shirt.”
They cite ‘‘Trek,” ‘‘SeaQuest DSV,” ‘‘The X-Files” and even ‘‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer” among influences, and had a viewing party of ‘‘The Abyss” the other day.
French: ‘‘They’re making the water safe for the world.”
Woo: ‘‘You know, the more we talk about this, the more ridiculous this sounds.”
Wait. So is this an educational mission?
French: ‘‘If kids want to get educated with completely erroneous information, then this is for them.”
Woo: ‘‘Exactly.”
‘‘Sea Mission: Aquanuts Prime,” 8 p.m. Fridays through March, at The Tribe Theater, 67 Stuart St., Boston. Tickets: $10-$15.

AROUND TOWN: Rudi Macaggi begins a month of acrobatic comedy at Jimmy Tingle’s; Dom Irrera is at the Comedy Connection; Kevin Knox guests at Steve Sweeney’s; Coxen and Johnson counterprogram Super Bowl Sunday at ImprovBoston; on Tuesday, Simon Lovell of off-Broadway’s ‘‘Strange and Unusual Hobbies” takes over the Mystery Lounge at the Comedy Studio.