What is "Dribble Funk?"

Dribble Funk is a completely improvised (i.e. NOT scripted) solo performance format developed by Brad McEntire, originally in early 2005. The piece lasts anywhere from 20 to 50 minutes, and starts with either a short, informal Q and A with an audience member or a one-word suggestion. This chat or suggestion becomes the fodder for a spontaneous act of theatre. During the Dribble Funk, the solo performer portrays multiple characters in a cascading, interrelated network of improvised scenes, songs, monologues, abstractions and audience interactions that evolve into an unexpected multi-arc storyline. The structure of the format continues to evolve with each performance, but the Dribble Funk essentially surfaces in that crossroads between traditional theatre, long-form improvisation and storytelling.

a history of sorts...

I performed sketch comedy and long-form improvisation for a number of years. Booking these groups into festivals and venues around the country became, I noticed, a pain in the ass. Sketch involved coordinating rehearsals with everyone, supplying travel and lodging for multiple troop members, including transporting and storing props, setting up tech rehearsals, and a hundred other logistics that had nothing to do with the actual performance. Improv groups were the same (except for the props). People inevitably complained or became upset and the shows suffered.

I began searching for a very portable alternative that would also offer more challenge for me personally. What could I do with no props, and for that matter, nobody else on stage. I began doing traditional scripted solo theatre work around this time. I'd heard of Andy Eninger and his Sybil format in 2003 or 2004 (I later directed one of his plays). I never saw him perform solo, but I figured hey, if someone is doing it... About this same time, my friend Bearded Lamb also began doing solo improv. Then, a few years later I stumbled upon Jill Bernard and her wonderful format Drum Machine. I discovered the actual sub-arcana of solo improvisation is pretty scarce. After all, who'd be crazy enough to actually do this stuff? Improv is rough enough with a whole group of people. But to do it alone?!

Solo improv brought with it lots of technique/performance problems regular actors/improvisers never have to deal with. I figured the best thing to do was workshop it. I believe in process and experimentation and by running the beast in front of live audiences I could constantly tweak, rearrange, re-develope and whittle away at it. I had the opportunity to work on DRiBBLE FUNK in order to create a completely original solo-improvised format. This format includes multiple characters, multi-pronged story arcs, unique interactions with the audience, live music, and interactive artworks. The goal was to develop a fast-paced, utterly original hybrid theatrical event: a unique celebration that is an abstraction of ordinary long-form improvisation and traditional static (i.e. storyteller sits in chair) storytelling. This new hybrid would be a pure and true act of theatre!

For a time, in late 2005 and early 2006, I teamed up with a kick-ass guitarist, Mr. Jaymes Gregory (who's a performer in his own right). Mr. Gregory accompanied the performance with an improvised score as I unfolded a refracted, cascading improvisation. Mr. Gregory and I took this version of the Dribble Funk to various venues in the Dallas area. Then, Mr. Gregory bailed on a show and I realized in order for it to be truly solo improvisation I'd have to keep developing the format. The addition of live music, especially as an opener to the evening, however, proved fortunate.

In the summer of 2008 I finally had a chance to work with Andy Eninger at Chicago's The Second City and absorb some of the techniques of his format Sybil. Sybil shares some performance techniques with the Dribble Funk. There seems to be some necessary overlap, though enough differences to make them each distinct formats (Dribble Funk for example, uses a Narrator/Presenter character that is seperate from the other characters or the performer in the piece, while Sybil focuses exclusively on the characters themselves relaying the incidents of the scenes).

As of autumn 2008 development of Dribble Funk has slowed considerably as other projects fill my plate. I plan to come back to Dribble Funk in mid-2010.

~ B. McEntire (Jan. 2010)

For any wayward souls remotely interested, the show was initially workshopped at Dallas' now-defunct West End Comedy Theatre in February and March of 2005. I've left the original premise of this unique one-man show below. Initially, I was not sure if I could pull it off, so the show started out as a mix of sketch, monologues and improv:

DRiBBLE FUNK: The Show (the genesis) is made up of two sections. Section one is composed of a rotating menu of short written and conceptual pieces- rants, songs, audience interactions, monologues, sing-alongs, puppets, etc.- think of it like a sketch comedy troupe, except it's just one poor guy doing all the sketches. The second section of the show is improvisation. Stuff starts with a short chat, maybe a Q & A, or some other interaction with an audience member or members. McEntire uses this as a springboard into a completely improvised (i.e. NOT scripted) set with multiple characters, interweaving relationships, and inter-related storylines. Sometimes it comes off like a brick shit-house. Sometimes it comes off like that, but without the brick and house modifiers.

I call what I do "performance art" and other times I refer to the work as "solo performance." Labels rarely do justice to what they are describing and being categorized as a "performance artist" is rough, because, well, as soloist Kristina Wong puts it "performance artists are like the Kenny G.'s of the arts world." The show's kind of Andy Kaufman/early Steve Martin meets Kids in the Hall meets ImprovOlympic meets Winston Churchill*!