BY VALERIE HARDY | PHOTOS BY MADELINE CRAIG
Looking for some local laughs but not a night owl? In Bed By Ten, a newcomer to the suburban live comedy scene, is the answer.
Founded and produced by comedians Bridget Frodyma of Downers Grove and Casey Alltop of LaGrange Park, In Bed By Ten, which opened in May, features monthly performances by Chicago-caliber improvisers, stand-up comedians, and other acts – right from the stage at the Tivoli Bowl.
“As long as it’s a comedy act, we’re open to it,” Frodyma said about the show’s variety format. “Next month could include musical comedy or a spoken word piece.”
Alltop and Frodyma became friends while doing shows at The Annoyance Theatre in 2011. At the time, both were city dwellers without children. Fast forward over a decade, and these funny friends are both suburban moms.
While they recognized that these life changes could complicate their comedy careers, they committed to continue performing. However, with day jobs (Alltop in sales enablement and Frodyma in communications) plus young children (Alltop’s ages 3 and 6 and Frodyma’s age 4), late nights doing shows in the city became increasingly prohibitive for the pair. Thus was born the idea for “a comedy show with a reasonable bedtime,” a concept which ultimately became In Bed By Ten’s tagline, based in the burbs.
“As long as it’s a comedy act,
we’re open to it.”
– Bridget Frodyma, In Bed By Ten Co-Producer
Alltop had contemplated starting a comedy show since she moved to the suburbs, periodically visiting spaces in LaGrange to possibly house such a show, but to no avail. Then, last year, the idea of an early evening live comedy show resurfaced during a discussion with Frodyma.
The two were confident in the concept and knew finding talented comedians to perform would be easy, but, Frodyma said, “the hard part was finding the space and money.”
The Tivoli Bowl checked both boxes. “The price was right, the space worked, and the management was welcoming” Alltop said. It is also conveniently located across from Downers Grove’s Main Street Metra station, so performers and patrons from the city can easily commute to shows, and it boasts a central location with plenty of parking for suburbanites.
The show also needed a catchy title. “We were shopping names when ‘In Bed By Ten’ came up,” Alltop explained, “and we laughed our butts off.” They knew they had found a fit.
The name humorously captured what Alltop and Frodyma were hoping to accomplish: offering a high-quality comedy show for acts and audiences who need to wake up early the next morning to function as parents and professionals, just as they do.
In Bed By Ten’s monthly performances, typically held on Wednesdays, start at 7 p.m. and run approximately 90 minutes. The shows usually feature four or five acts, with Frodyma or Alltop hosting and offering comedic interludes.
The July show, for example, hosted by Frodyma, opened with improv trio Pickleback followed by Meg Johns, a Downers Grove-based comedian and mother of two, who performed a character bit about the fictional Carlotta J. Sugarfield attending a school board meeting to propose revised titles to classic children’s picture books.
Next in the lineup was The Assemblers, an improv group composed of Alltop and four male improvisers. After a brief intermission, stand-up comedian Joanna Clark took the stage, and – as has been the case for all of the In Bed By Ten shows to date – The Coven served as the “house closer,” Alltop said.
The Coven, an all-female improv group, includes Alltop, Frodyma, Johns, and a few other friends from their early days performing at The Annoyance Theatre. Frodyma said, “There used to be a lot more of us, but half moved to Los Angeles.”
The Coven members’ friendships solidified when The Annoyance closed for a year to relocate. They started a brunch group to stay connected and have since taken multiple trips together.
The Coven attributes its successful improvisation onstage to the close relationships the members have forged offstage. “We’re comfortable performing, but first and foremost we’re comfortable with each other,” Frodyma said.
Alltop added that because the members know each other so well, they can “get on stage without warming up or rehearsing,” even if they have not recently performed together.
Their comfort with one another also contributes to the risks they are willing to take during performances. “We know each other too well for anything to be off the table,” Johns said.
Accordingly, their shows may contain “some crass language or content,” Frodyma said. Although In Bed By Ten ends before some children’s bedtimes, “most of the time it’s not child appropriate.”
The show “can get edgy, but that’s not our main goal,” Frodyma clarified. In Bed By Ten’s performers read the room to determine how dark or offensive to get. “If the audience laughs at the first blue thing we say, they’ve fed the well,” Alltop said. “If not, we might tighten things up a bit.”
The comedians garnered the skills to easily adapt through years of studying and performing improv. Additionally, both Alltop and Johns teach improv one night per week through The Annoyance, and they apply the best practices they teach to their own onstage work.
Their advice for those wishing to try improv: “observe different forms and experiences first,” recommended Alltop.
“Chicago is such a vibrant comedy scene with so many options, consider studying somewhere,” Johns added. “That said, everybody has a point of view that is interesting to share, even without formal training.”
In Bed By Ten’s next show is Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Tivoli Bowl ($10 cover charge). A larger format show is scheduled for Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at Downers Grove’s Moose Lodge. A $10 admission fee at the door will go toward supporting the charitable work of Downers Grove Women of the Moose (WOTM).
For more information, follow @inbed_byten on Instagram.
