Oh, were we ever so young. Patrick would go on to join Team Mercury as our food editor (we miss you, Patrick! also wtf); Action/Adventure would follow up the hugely popular Fall of the House with the space-game-show Captured by Aliens, which I reviewed as "a fine, funny show that makes good use of reality TV trappings" that was "even funnier than the ensemble's popular Fall of the House."
I quote so liberally from my past reviews not because I'm enthralled by my own prose (I totally am, though), but to establish some bona fides: These days the Mercury has become so embroiled in various conflicts-of-interest with Action/Adventure that I can't review their shows anymore, but I've been a fan of the company since long before I had any personal connections to it.
Their new show Fall of the Band, now in its second season, is based on a similar model to Fall of the House: It's an episodic show, one episode per weekend, where the plot points are scripted but the dialogue is largely improvised. It's about a Portland band called Ghost Dad; the last season featured an overzealous blogger, inter-band drama, plenty of budding romance, and running gag about a musical called Water Man that took on a life of its own and will now see a full staging in November.
Fall of the Band begins tomorrow night and continues for five weeks, with a new episode every weekend. (Each episode features a recap of the previous week[s], to help you catch up in case you miss one.) I've got a full season-pass to the show to give away; to win, email me with "Ghost Dad" in the subject line, and your name in the body of the email. I'll alert the winner by noon tomorrow.
If you'd like to buy tickets the old-fashioned way, they're $10 advance, $14 at the door, or $45 for a season pass (Action/Adventure's theater only seats about 50, and last season sold out like crazy, so buy in advance if you wanna guarantee a spot). For more info, go here.