Local thespians and funny guys Charlie Cromer, Adam Zaremsky and Elliot Cromer will take to the Foundry Theater stage, Thursday–Saturday, July 18–20, to perform a characteristically over-the-top sketch comedy show, titled “Bigger and Better.” (Photo by Lauren "Chuck" Shows)
‘Bigger and Better’ sketch comedy at the Foundry Theater
- Published: July 18, 2024
The boys are back — this time in a new space, and with even more boys.
“Bigger and Better” — the third sketch comedy show produced by local duo Elliot Cromer and Adam Zaremsky, and the second accompanied by band The Boogie Bros — will elicit laughs from audiences Thursday–Saturday, July 18–20.
Where past shows have been held at the YS Arts Council building, “Bigger and Better” will occupy the main stage at the Foundry Theater. Brendan Moore joins previous Boogie Bros Isaac Haller, Eric Rudolf and Nathaniel Reed to provide in-house music for “Bigger and Better,” and local resident and actor Charlie Cromer will add his theatrical chops to the act.
Speaking with the News this week, Charlie Cromer said his joining Zaremsky and brother Elliot Cromer for the third iteration of their sketch comedy show began as a matter of proximity: When he and his wife, Lauren, moved back to the village in 2020, their apartment shared a wall with Elliot Cromer’s. As the latter Cromer and Zaremsky were gearing up to perform as part of the “Bards and Brews” event at the YS Brewery in 2021, they didn’t have to look far to fill the requisite third role in their sketch, “Dog Day Afternoon.”
“Since I was just right there, they asked me to join,” Charlie Cromer said.
Elliot Cromer said his brother is a “great natural resource” for the style and rhythm he and Zaremsky have developed over the years, particularly as the duo are already comfortable with him.
“And he’s got a Master of Fine Arts, so it’s nice to get some accreditation on the team,” he added with a grin.
Zaremsky and Elliot Cromer — who have performed together since their time as young thespians with the YS Kids Playhouse — debuted their first local sketch show, “Wistful Meanderings of the Petty,” in 2019, and their second, “E&A’s Big Dumb Show,” in 2022. The two said they enjoyed the intimacy of performing those shows in the YS Arts Council’s Multi-Arts Event Space, which seats 66. With most of those shows netting standing-room-only crowds, however, they set their sights on a venue with a larger capacity for this year.
“We wanted to see how big of a production we can make with 216 seats at the Foundry,” Elliot Cromer said.
And that idea of expansion applied not only to the physical space in which they would perform, but also to the size of their cast.
“Because we were having bigger ideas, as I started writing, I realized the concepts and ideas we were exploring in the sketches felt like they needed another person,” Zaremsky said.
Elliot Cromer added that he and Zaremsky have written a few sketch scripts that required a third actor when working on past shows, but weren’t able to use them — until now.
“We’ve been sitting on these scripts, so it’s exciting, because we’re finally doing a few things we’ve wanted to do for years,” he said.
For his part, Charlie Cromer said that though sketch comedy has not traditionally been his bread and butter as an actor — his stage credits encompass Shakespeare to Stoppard, Dickens to outdoor drama — the improvisational foundation that ballasts sketch comedy is part of his training.
“I didn’t go a day of class for three years in grad school without spending a couple of hours doing some kind of improv exercise,” he said. “Whether it’s completely movement-based or responding with sound … it’s really, really fun.”
Fun has been at the heart of the shows Zaremsky and Elliot Cromer have produced thus far in the village, and they said they anticipate bringing the same kind of high-energy, surreal sketches to audiences this year. Part of the fun for them as performers is observing the ways the scripts they write evolve as they’re rehearsed.
“The script is the skeleton,” Elliot Cromer said. “In rehearsal, so much happens that isn’t written down, and that’s really where the show comes alive — especially with the energy the band is bringing. They’re inspiring us.”
As they did in a past News interview for their 2022 show, Zaremsky and the Cromers regaled this reporter with a fanciful tale of how The Boogie Bros became part of their act.
“Me and Adam used to be pilots for the Guatemalan Air Force,” Elliot Cromer said.
“‘The Jungle Giants’ was the name, I believe,” Zaremsky added.
“And there was one mission in Paraguay, where a group of musicians was trapped under a crate of bananas,” Elliot Cromer continued. “We had the right size plane to free them. They stopped dealing those bananas and have been with us ever since.”
Charlie Cromer held up his phone, which displayed a map of South America, and deadpanned: “I just want you to see how far Guatemala is from Paraguay.”
As they have also done in the past, the actors kept mum about the subject matter of the sketches they’ll perform in their hour-long show, with Elliot Cromer opining that the best part of a sketch show is that “you don’t know what’s going to be happening five minutes from where you are now.”
The trio did note, however, that the show is rated PG-13 — “There’s no F-bombs, but there might be a couple s—t-bombs,” Elliot Cromer said — and described the performance as “bawdy.”
The three also took time to shout out some of the local performers who taught and mentored them as they grew up on the stage, including Louise Smith, John Fleming, Marcia Nowik, Ara Beal and Tucki Bailey.
“We would not be where we are now without them,” Charlie Cromer said.
At the same time, Zaremsky said the trio are hoping to give back to the community that supported them as they were up-and-coming by donating a portion of the funds from ticket sales to “support the Foundry Theater and its revitalization to keep it as a great space for local artists — such as ourselves — or artists from other places.”
“And three of the seven cast members have kids,” Elliot Cromer added. “So supporting our show is potentially supporting the next generation of great artists.”
“No, no no,” Charlie Cromer cut in. “It’s making sure that the next generation can afford to get engineering degrees.”
“Bigger and Better” will be performed Thursday–Saturday, July 18–20, at 8 p.m. at the Foundry Theater at Antioch College. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for seniors and students, and may be purchased online at http://www.bit.ly/FoundryTix.
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