Those looking for a side of suspense with their comedy should look no further than Hitch*Cocktails, which has run Friday nights at the Annoyance Theatre for 14 years and counting. Brought to you by High Stakes Productions, Hitch*Cocktails is one of the city’s most reliable long-form improv shows, twisting director Alfred Hitchcock’s finest classic tropes into 90 minutes of hilarious, nail-biting humor, all while the actors (and audience) take part in an extended drinking game.
This year, the troupe celebrates the second Summer of Suspense, featuring guest stars, exclusive Malört cocktails, and other ways to elevate the experience. We talked with three members of the creative team about braving shots of Malört, adapting to theater renovations, and why getting gasps is even better than getting laughs.
I’d love to start by asking each of you what your favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie is.
CJ TUOR: The boring answer is Psycho, but the second one would be Strangers on a Train. That would be the deeper cut.
ALLI STARK: My favorite Hitchcock film is the first one I ever saw, which was Rope. I love it because it is his stageplay film and I just feel really connected to it because we're on a stage. So it's the one I feel like I can emulate the most.
LUIS CASTELLO: I agree, Rope because it's gay. (Laughs) It's pretty gay.
How would you describe Hitch*Cocktails to someone who has no idea what it’s about?
TUOR: The logline is that it is a long-form genre narrative improv show. And we like to create suspense thrillers on stage in front of your eyes in the style of Alfred Hitchcock whilst drinking (laughs). So it is a completely immersive show because not only is the audience helping us create the show, but there are drinking games that are played back and forth. Alfred Hitchcock said that he liked to play the audience like a piano and that his narrative is to get the audience to lean in at certain parts, cheer at certain parts, etc. We are doing that live. We are playing the audience like the piano and we get to hear the music in real time.
STARK: I just want to add that, when I'm describing it, I love to describe how we're dressed to the nines. We're dressed in this classy old-age high-class look, high heels and suits and everything maybe our grandparents wore back then. But then we're drinking Malört. We're drinking beer. We're up there getting a little trashed. But somehow it's still in the end is this full film that we've created together.
CASTELLO: High Stakes Productions is uniquely Chicago, right? Like, tell me, other than Improvised Shakespeare and the Armando, what other improv shows have been around for 14 years, and retain the same level of quality and artistry? I think like that is something really cool. Through our Summer of Suspense series, we are trying to dive deeper into this genre narrative by challenging ourselves with guest stars. We want to make sure that we bring other people into the Hitchcock world.
And we want to highlight the Malört cocktails because Malört is uniquely Chicago. And we have a show where we only drink Malört, because we like to torture ourselves.
STARK: (Laughs) We do like it, we love Malört.
CASTELLO: We love Malört and we love the tingy taste that we feel when we're doing a scene, you know what I mean? I think ultimately, what we're trying to do is we're trying to do improv experiences that are uniquely Chicago and that are very, very genre-centric.
And I think to Alli’s point, you could easily do a high-concept show with everyone in t-shirts and jeans, but you go all out with the outfits.
CASTELLO: Obviously, artistically, we are trained to immerse people into the genre. We go to movie nights, we read Agatha Christie for Clued In, we have our monthly rehearsals. But what I do want to highlight about specifically Hitch*Cocktails and Alli's work is that Alli essentially is immersing you into the old-timey. We have projections, we have an old-timey phone, we have costumes. And Alli keeps that perfectly aligned to make sure that we can hit different tropes. Like, if we're doing a conspiracy theory, we have a bunch of costumes to do throwaway characters. We're going to have to come back as authority figures. We have the police and we have everything done.
STARK: Yeah, I think for that, for me, it sets us apart. I think improv is so Chicago and there is something so real and raw about seeing the improvisers in their jeans and t-shirts. But then we also are a theater city, right? We have a lot of great Broadway, we have a lot of great shows. So I think we're trying to elevate ourselves up to that kind of Broadway theatrical experience while bringing in the improv that is so uniquely Chicago. And again, just the immersive aspect. I think having a stage that has props and has people dressed to the nines, you can't help but get immersed into that.
The other thing I want to highlight is the bar. The bar has evolved a lot. That bar is all (Alli). And I think it's really cool because the alcohol plays a pivotal part of this. I mean, we're going to sound cocky, but that's what it is. We're so good that we have to drink to make it harder. That's why the bar is so important. And I think the production value that we have provided together, but specifically Alli has spearheaded it, and done it with blood, sweat, and tears.
STARK: (Laughs) Literally.
CASTELLO: Yeah, it elevates us in a way that really sets us apart from like normal improv.
STARK: And I also think that's paying our homage to the great director Alfred Hitchcock. It's not just about the acting, it is about the scenery and the shots and the lighting. So if we can have that on stage, it's bringing that cinematic experience as well.
TUOR: When you come to Hitch*Cocktails, maybe people don't know much about Hitchcock. My wife, when we first started dating, had never really seen a Hitchcock film. She's seen tons now, and one thing she took away from it is the outfits, to the point where when we got married, our cake design was based off Grace Kelly's dress in Rear Window. She was so taken by it.
Alli does a great job creating a style guide based on the films. And even the drinking game comes from the fact that when we were studying the films to start the show, we noticed that lots of exposition is done over drinks. It is not like a willy-nilly, this will be something funny. In these 50s movies, people are drinking constantly. And it is such a social thing. And that social thing we want to share with our audience.
So for Summer of Suspense, we'll be sharing cocktails with them. And it’s Chicago, so the drink we're sharing is Malört. And I just want to say, I have done this show so much and drank so much Malört that when we had people in my company come in from out of town, like, you've got to take a shot of Chicago Malört. And we did. And at that point, I realized, I actually enjoy the taste of Malört now, because it is associated with so many good memories for me, that it is nothing but positive. And we're mixing up some cocktails with Malört that are actually pretty tasty. You will be surprised by how they taste.
Yeah, I think when you get used to Malört, it’s not something I’d go to regularly, but I no longer mind the taste when I do a shot with someone.
STARK: I think it's a Chicago superpower that, once you get to that point where you like the taste or you don't have that cringe afterwards, I think it's almost our show-stopping moment. Sometimes the audience is like, “Oh no.” And we're like, “Oh, yeah, no big deal.” And they think we're doing the craziest thing ever. And we've earned our stripes with it.
What are you most looking forward to during the Summer of Suspense?
CASTELLO: I think what we're looking for is extending the artistic expression of Hitch*Cocktails. Every year we're trying to bring something different and we want to bring people into the 14 years of history that we have. Right. To do that, we're bringing iconic improvisers who we deeply admire—The Boys, Sand—because they're going to bring a perspective that is going to be really cool. And then we also want to bring in people who reach different audiences and who would also love this. We hand-picked Aurora Gozmic because her aesthetic is all about darkness. It's drag, but it's dark and it has like that point of view. It's not just Katy Perry. It’s very specific.
We were filming some promos with her a couple of weeks ago, and she's so excited because she's never done improv. She's been performing for over 15 years. She's an amazing drag performer, but she's never done improv. And she's pumped for it. And then Asher Perlman, he's just a friend of a lot of people here in the company. And having him in our ranks to do Hitch*Cocktails, it's also a fun way to just show more people what we're doing and also find new things, new games, new stuff that we can do with Hitch*Cocktails. So every year we can provide something different that is more and more ingrained with Chicago.
Are you going to be rehearsing with any of the special guests or are they just jumping in?
STARK: They're just jumping in. I'm so excited, I'm going to be in the show with Aurora. And I'm on an email thread currently with her, and she mentioned that she went and bought the fabric to make her outfit. And I was like, oh my gosh, just knowing that she is so excited, she’s going to make a special outfit that I know is somehow going to be incorporated or have a Hitchcock reference. I'm like, oh wait, are we going to nerd out together about this stuff? I'm so excited for that.
TUOR: With the guest stars, we want everything to be a natural extension of Hitchcock, of our brand, of everything. And one thing that you'll see consistently throughout Hitchcock films is a normal person thrown into extraordinary events. And by having guest stars, we can honestly replicate somebody who's a very talented performer (with) charisma. They have plenty to bring to the stage and we get to create the extraordinary events around them, so that is a very fun thing to do with guest stars. They become a Hitchcock protagonist where first they're introduced to a world they might be unfamiliar with, but then using their own talents and skills, they become the hero by the end of it. And it's just such an exciting journey to watch it happen through improv and narrative storytelling.
What is it that has helped Hitch*Cocktails resonate with audiences after all this time?
CASTELLO: When I discovered improv, Hitch*Cocktails was one of the shows that (I was) like, ‘Oh my God, how did they do that? I want to do that.’ I think the way that we play is, number one, we're going to deliver genre, but we're also going to deliver in a way that is inviting and accessible to (the audience) so they can be part of this. They can be part of our inside jokes. That's what makes Hitch*Cocktails really cool. It's like you're watching a Hitchcock movie, which, to CJ's point, a lot of people might not even know what a Hitchcock movie looks like, but they're so on board with the thriller. They're so on board with the inside jokes. They're so on board with the murder. I feel like people come back over and over again because they want to see what new combination of inside jokes is going to happen.
And also people are drinking, we are merry, we're celebrating. So it's kind of like joining a party that you're watching. That's what makes Hitch*Cocktails attractive to people. We're just taking our passion and making something unique and different for the Chicago audience.
TUOR: When we were originally conceiving the show, we got basically a golden ticket from Stephanie McCullough, who worked at Second City, to create a genre show. And we really did put our brains to it, like, what genre would be the best for improv? And we landed on suspense, because in a suspense film, the audience has more information than the characters do. Hitchcock often describes it as, the audience knows there's a bomb under the table, but the two people who are eating breakfast don't.
We noticed that one thing that kind of halts improv is that people don't want to make a decision because they're afraid they'll step on somebody else's toes. In suspense, you have to make tons of decisions. You have to lay out all the information right at the top, and then the rest of it is playing with all that information, teasing it out, creating tension with it, etc.
So we landed on that, and then we decided on Hitchcock, as he is often regarded as the master of suspense, but also the other great part is, Hitchcock goes from the 30s to the 70s, so it's tons of decades. We can do pre-World War II Europe, we can do 1960s psychedelics, there is actually a huge amount of different kinds of stories and tones we can do, which makes Alli's style guide very fun. Three decades of style that we could possibly play with. The reason it's consistently fun is that suspense is always exciting and kind of difficult to do through improv, but when you have a team that's really good at playing together, it's amazing when it's pulled off. And so each show is just a miraculous, real story created in that moment that will never be created again.
STARK: Genre improv feels really hot right now in the city. You'll see all these new different type of genre shows popping up, which I think for us, we're like, “Yes, people are getting it!” We've been doing genre for so long, and so I take a little pride and I toot our own horns a little bit that we've been doing this for quite some time, and I think we've really figured out how to do long-form narrative, where now we have people that are teaching workshops, and we're teaching these other teams. We love to be consulted, because I think long-form genre improv is something familiar that people want to see. People are intrigued by a genre that they are obsessed with or they want to learn more about. So I feel very proud that High Stakes Productions, and specifically Hitch*Cocktails, I feel like we're some of the earlier people doing that in the city.
When the team is evolving and bringing in new members, how do you determine if someone is the right fit?
CASTILLO: Our artistic director, Caleb George, (and) the artistic team have to go to different shows, and we have to scope people out first. We need to see how they play before we invite people into auditions. Right now, we're prioritizing diversity, and in addition to that, we prioritize people who are able to do grounded, emotional scene work, because that's the basis of it. If you see Hitch*Cocktails, yeah, it can be chaos, but even if it's extremely convoluted, there are still very grounded scenes. I think that's the basis of it. The stronger you are in your basic (skills), the more bells and whistles you can add to things.
TUOR: We rarely cast because, ‘Wow, this person seems to really know Hitchcock.’ We more likely are like, ‘This is a very talented performer who is very quick at picking up the game's scenes,’ because we, like a style guide, also have a Hitchcock narrative character guide: here's how you can recognize the tropes and games of a Hitchcock film. Here's what we're looking for in a scene to play in this genre. It is like any other improv show that has a structure, games, and just tips and tricks.
STARK: We are a group that's been together for a long time, or has had people stay for a long time. We're always inviting new voices and we've been growing, because we need every single person. We need a Luis, we need a CJ, we need all these different types of people to come and play and join and bring their talents, not just on the stage, but also offstage. We rely on each other a lot.
CASTELLO: This company is extremely generous in allowing you to do whatever you want artistically as long as you communicate. CJ was never like, “No, you're not doing this,” or “No, we have to wait for this.” If anything, he's like, “What do you want?” I think that's what I love about High Stakes. We motivate each other to really push each other artistically by being accountable and professional, but also leading with extreme kindness
I will always sing Alli's praises because she's the one doing the most work on production, and it looks fucking awesome, and that makes my job easier as a marketer to be like, “Hey, it's immersive.”
TUOR: (We look for) people who are very enthusiastic about wanting to do a lot of work (laughs). Nobody is here against their will. It's very often people who try very hard to get in the show, and then when you get cast, they're like, “I've never seen a Hitchcock film before. I watched three over the past two weeks.” They just jump in feet first, and that kind of enthusiasm is infectious and creates a beautiful energy.
Alli and Luis are two of the hardest workers, but there's lots of other ones. Bruce (Phillips) is also a huge marketer, and Peter (Corey), of course, and they're all working for a show that's been here 14 years, every day being like, ‘Ok, why don't we do this?’ And they're just throwing out more and more ideas and effort into each thing. For Summer of Suspense, you're going to see things that have never been in the show before, and a lot of that is going to be because of the hard work of Alli, but it is also going to be Caleb's ideas and other people's great connections for the guest stars, for the Malört cocktails, etc. Like I said, everybody is happy to be here.
STARK: I want to shout out the Annoyance a little bit too, because we've had such a partnership with them for such a long time that they trust us with our ideas. They trust us when we come in and say we want to make this bigger and better. We've been working closely with (tech director) Lukas (Hummeldorf) over at the Annoyance, and he's been helping me manufacture and build out some really cool, exciting new set pieces and things for us, and I think that's due to the fact that we've been with the Annoyance for so long and they trust us. We trust them. We've always treated that place as our home.
CASTELLO: We talk about a lot of the cast, but there's another unofficial cast member. His name is Christian (Pitsch). He does tech at the Annoyance
STARK: The stuff he started doing with lighting just elevated us that much more. I don't know if Christian knew much about the genre before, but now he's the one coming to ideas and saying, “Well, Hitch uses the color green to do this,” and now he's bringing in that.
What’s been the most memorable moment in a show for each of you?
TUOR: I have a go-to answer because, the first show, we're pitching it, like, will this work? We're doing rehearsals, but of course rehearsals are never in front of an audience. The first show we're going to do is an hour-and-a-half long-form improv in front of an audience that's never seen it before. Whilst we're drinking, will we lose control? We have all these questions.
We are doing a scene. The show is going well. We have hilarious bits about killing horses for glue throughout to the point where killing horses is now part of our warm-up game sometimes, but the moment right before intermission, I have been contracted by Caleb to kill somebody. I did it, but I'm feeling guilty about it, so I confess to my wife, Mel Evans, who was a regular cast member back then. I'm having a scene with her, telling her how dangerous Caleb is, etc, and then Caleb suddenly walks into the door and the entire audience gasps, and it is the first time in an improv show where everybody had been laughing the entire time that they suddenly became very scared, and the fact that we were able to elicit that emotion in our first show in a very authentic moment, it’s like, ok, this show is special.
CASTELLO: I haven't done Hitch*Cocktails as much as CJ and Alli, but as you already expressed, this show is very special to me because of the impact that it had on me. In April, I did my 41st birthday like a Hitchcock show, I invited my friends, and that to me was so special because it's kind of like the same vibe. It was literally a party, but the show was very solid too. It's like a lot of laughter and bits and whatever, but looking back at the clips from the night, I love moments in which I was a murderer, I was a psycho. So, whenever I made a move, yeah, people would laugh, but also gasp. There's no other company that I've been in in improv that we can elicit gasps like this. That feeling is sometimes more rewarding than laughter, I think.
STARK: As comedians, we love the laughs, but it is the gasps and the shocking moments that stick in our brains so much. I remember a few years ago at the Annoyance, they built a catwalk that went out into the theater. I love when different things are happening at the Annoyance—we're just like, ‘Yeah, great, keep the catwalk.’ We love that we can make it work and it gives us something new to play with. We've been there for so long and it's fun to keep us on our toes too. The drinking keeps us on our toes, but when there's new elements in the theater space, that keeps us on our toes.
I just remember being out on that catwalk, and it was the closing scene of a show. I think it was about toilets—we get toilets all the time—and I'm in a bathroom, I'm sitting on the toilet, and I can't remember what I said, but I said something along the lines, “Did any of this even happen?” and then the lights went out and the audience just (gasped). Because we all just realized in that moment, was this lady just crazy and none of this was real? Was this a show we could have written an essay about? Because that was insane. How did we get here? And then that's the magic. I know there were laughs throughout but I just remember the feeling of sitting on that catwalk and hearing gasps around me, and that's emotional.
TUOR: My proudest moment, one that I always think about—this goes into Alli's point of the Annoyance constantly changing the stage and we have to adapt—they had painted the back wall, and because of that, there's a door onstage that had been painted shut. And so everybody throughout the show was trying to get in and out of it. Nobody could open it and became a running gag for a long time. And I was backstage and somebody had been trying to get in and they couldn't, but in doing that I felt it give just a little bit. So the entire thing had been, nobody can get this door open and I was the bad guy, so I gave this like really intimidating speech and then I just reach back and I finally opened the door and was like, “I can do things other people can't,” and then just walked out. It was just such an honest moment where I finally got to be threatening.
What do you do when you're on stage and feeling like “Please, please don't make me drink anything more”?
TUOR: I want to speak for Bri Fitzpatrick who is our intimacy coordinator—we do Hitchcock romance, Hitchcock violence, so she's keeping us safe. And for us that also includes drinking. We have ways of communicating to each other that we do not want to drink anymore that the audience is unaware of.
I think another reason why Hitchcock is really good for this kind of drinking show is, we really don't want to portray ourselves as a binge-drinking show. We want to be 1950s cocktail culture. It's another reason that Malört’s kind of perfect because nobody really binge-drinks Malört. It's a drink for occasions. The disgustingness is when we mix weird stuff together into the alcohol. Not that we're making people drink
STARK: Obviously safety is first and we have our ways to keep it safe. But then there's a few times where it's like, yeah, maybe I can have this drink, but I don't want to have it, because that's disgusting what you've mixed together. There's a few tricks of the trade, and I think the most visible one that maybe the audience has caught on to is what we call baby-birding, where you drink it, but then you actually spit it at your fellow actor, in their mouth, in their face, things like that. That's a great way of (saying), ‘I really don't want to fully drink this drink so I'm gonna force you to drink it by spitting it at you.’
CASTELLO: And we also have check-ins at the top because sometimes you're not feeling a hundred percent. People are very good at boundaries. We practice that a lot and—shout out to Bri—Bri also works really hard in keeping the culture. Bri makes sure that we go out camping together and that we do retreats. We are friends because Bri makes sure that we all love each other.
TUOR: We also have the intermission check-in. People (think) during Intermission, ‘Are they planning the second act?’ No, we are all talking about how drunk we are and how much more alcohol we can take.
Hitch*Cocktails runs Friday nights at 9:30pm at the Annoyance Theatre, 851 W Belmont Ave. Tickets ($22) are on sale now.
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