DIAL M FOR MURDEROUS LAUGHTER
Chicago is the city of improv, but excellent improv can still be hard to come by. Yet the magnificent company Hitch*Cocktails always delivers, and they do it while under the influence. Hitch*Cocktails has been a staple of the mainstage at The Annoyance Theatre & Bar for over a decade, and through August 30, they’re slaying with a special edition: Summer of Suspense. This fully improvised comedic thriller with a rotating cast includes drinking games (for both the performers and the audience) and side-splitting suspense, all while paying homage to Alfred Hitchcock.
Ensemble Members Marybeth Kram, Heather Mari and CJ Tuor
When you arrive for the show, order a drink at the bar and start thinking about your biggest fear—normally not a great thing to do while you’re drinking, but in this case, it may come in handy. (Hitch’s greatest fears were small children, policemen, high places, and that his next movie will not be as good as the last one.)
Ensemble Members Ryan Ben, Simon Tessmer, Justin Swinson,
Bri Fitzpatrick, Alli Stark and Alonso Ramirez
The fun begins with a prompt from the audience. On opening night, June 6, they asked for our fears to be specific and perhaps a bit unusual. Someone shouted out “diving into a pool,” and the subject of our thriller was born. The next 90-minutes became the tale of “SnorKILL” (“snorkel” with “murder”; get it?). Improvisers gave each other stiff drinks in every scene with the rule that, by the end of the scene, they had to finish the drink. As time went on, scenes got sloppier and the jokes got funnier, but they never lost the plot!
Ensemble Members Alonso Ramirez and Ryan Ben
Ensemble Members Bri Fitzpatrick and Justin Swinson
“We’ve spent over a decade exploring what happens when comedy, suspense, and a few too many drinks collide—and this summer, we’re taking it to the next level,” says Artistic Director Caleb George. The company’s decades of practice have paid off. With live musical accompaniment by Karen Sandvoss, the improvisers this week—Travis Steubing, Jason Stockdale, Alli Stark, Madelyn Murphy, Marybeth Kram, Molly Jones, and Caleb George—did indeed turn one suggestion into a coherent murder mystery that was not just stylish but consistently guffaw-inducing. (High Stakes Productions also offers Clued In at Second City, where the audiences chooses the detective.)
Ensemble Members Ryan Ben, Alli Stark, Alonso Ramirez, Simon Tessmer and Justin Swinson
Turns out that long-form narrative improv is NOT for The Birds! It takes strong improvisers to make that Frenzy happen. Will you get The Man Who Knew Too Much meets The Wrong Man? How about Mr. & Mrs. Smith killing Rebecca in the Family Plot with a Rope? The show will be different when you see it, because that’s how improv works, but I Confess—confident beyond a Shadow of a Doubt—that these Psycho improvisers will always keep you Spellbound with a devilishly entertaining show.
Ensemble Members Bri Fitzpatrick and Alli Stark
photos of previous shows by Steven Townshend
The June 6, 2025, cast
Hitch*Cocktails
Summer of Suspense
High Stakes Productions
The Annoyance Theatre & Bar, 851 W Belmont Ave in Chicago
Fri at 9:30 (100 minutes with intermission);
Sat at 8:30 (in July; 55 minutes, no intermission);
ends on August 30, 2025
Hitch*Cocktails continues Fri at 9:30 in an open run
for tickets ($20), call 773.697.9693 or visit The Annoyance
for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago
Ensemble Members Laura Marsh and Travis Stuebing (photo by Nathanael Filbert)
