(This post represents the tail end of the Bastion's Chicago Improv Festival coverage. What a week!)

It's been ten years since the celebrated JTS Brown last performed, which is coincidentally the amount of time needed to produce a barrel of the group's namesake whiskey. The group headlined the CIF Mainstage last Saturday night, with Children of a Lesser God opening as a tasty aperitif.

The women of Children (pictured at right) took a suggestion of "Zimbabwe", and from there crafted a show that was sharp, silly, borderline incestuous, international, and most importantly, funny. Although the 330+ seat Lakeshore Theater is a far cry from the more intimate Del Close Theater at iO, the performers quickly took charge of their space. From a family who sat in on an adult party hotline to a pair of Canadian prop comics whose only gag seemed to involve using chairs as over-sized phones to a group of Peace Corps workers and their Zimbabwean counterparts, the performers brought life to one of the most dysfunctional collections of characters you'll find on an improv stage. The Bastion has already popped an enormous improv boner for these ladies in the past, and will continue to do so as the ladies perform every Sunday night at iO (3541 N. Clark).

JTS Brown has taken on somewhat of a legendary status among improv circles. (Believe it or not, they're under the radar of the public consciousness so much that there we can't find any stock photos of them or links to plug into this article.) The form is still taught in the iO curriculum and stories still circulate of how the group rehearsed three times a week for ten months before they ever even performed at iO. The group boasts an impressive roster of alumni and many of them gathered on Saturday for a night of truly exciting improv.

The suggestion for the show was "practice" and Peter Grosz (now a writer for "The Colbert Report") began the group's signature shape-shifting opening monologue. A bitter third-grade drama teacher was created as each team member took a turn embodying the character. He ranted that perhaps the best way to get to Carnegie Hall wasn't to "practice, practice, practice" but instead to network. He lectured to the young cast of "A Christmas Carol" about the politics of theatre and about the possibility of winding up working in dinner theatre. As the monologue progressed each player would take a place somewhere in the theatre and mirror the mannerisms of whoever was delivering the monologue. When the last player took to the stage the monologue crescendoed, and the entire group joined in, segueing into the first scene.

JTS Brown differed from most improv as there was no "back line" and instead the players waited in the wings. There were no traditional sweep edits, and instead scenes transformed-usually into new ones, but often times they organically lent themselves to earlier situations. Cast members weren't limited to playing characters, there was also a great deal of playing environment and other embellishments. A recurring joke sprung from a moment when two players had to demonstrate various acts of lovemaking on top of a third cast member playing a sofa. Players could also assume the role that another improvisor was playing, interrogate a character to gather information that could progress a scene, or "telescope", which would focus in on a particular object in the scene. Early in the show local favorite TJ Jagodowski telescoped in on a love letter that had been lost in the senseless (but hilarious) murder of a mailman. That letter would later play an integral part of the show as it inspired further action, including the comical failed suicide attempts of its intended recipient.

The group was incredibly playful and deft at picking up on patterns. Seemingly simple games such as John Lutz's "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12" singsong were heightened eventually leading to a sophisticated series of World War II themed play. History was hilariously turned upside-down multiple times, specifically in a spontaneous roaring twenties dance party that took place in the 1930s while a Misshapes-esque DJ worked the turntables. The opening monologue also had a great influence over the piece, as the audience not only got to see part of the production of "A Christmas Carol" (with a brilliant transition where the three ghosts that visited scrooge became the "Big Three" of World War II), but they also got to see what dinner theatre would be like as performed by that same cast of third graders. The show came full circle as Grosz came out to end with the drama teacher's monologue. JTS Brown was an amazing show from start to finish, thanks to the players who were terrific across the board. Let's hope they don't make us wait another ten years to see them again!