Critical Hit Show Spooktacular

Posted on October 25, 2025
Categories: General — Tags: #theatre

I’m terrible at going to shows. Last year I wanted to see Theatre Under the Stars’ production of Cats!, and barely managed to get a seat at one of the last performances. I’d even asked a friend if he was interested early in the summer, then completely flaked on organizing anything. I’m so sorry.

The one exception is the Critical Hit Show. It’s a improv roleplaying show, held every other month at the Rio Theatre. One of the performers is the dungeon master; the rest are players; and audience members sometimes get to be monsters or NPCs. This week was their Hallowe’en show—the cast dressed up in costume, and everything was a little spooky.

My personal highlight was getting the crowd to chant “Sledge!” when two sledgehammer devils were fighting the party. It’s rooting against the heroes, but … they had sledgehammers.

Great show. 😀

Pics:

A man in an extra-large suit jacket on stage.

Eric Fell, dressed as the guy from the Talking Heads, warms up the audience.

Six performers on stage. The screen behind them shows a spooky train car and a full moon.

This is from later in the show, but it’s a good picture of the party. From right to left, we have Brask Hellbeard, dressed in an assembly of suggestions from ChatGPT (including extra fingers); Benoit the Anointed, dressed as “me from twenty years ago”; the wizard Spitz Lube’n, totally not one of the guys who stole from the Louvre; Ingrid Giantsdottir as a cheerleader from the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video; Belle Strummer as a mushroom; and Freya as Cool Death.

Three performers on the left; the DM at a table on the right. The screen in between shows a fantasy tavern. There's a guy in fancy dress with a burger for a head looking at the audience.

Back to the start of the show. Beloved Mayor Baron von McCheese1 gives the heroes a quest: They must go to the Museum Of Items and Significant Things2, steal an artifact, and return it to Tarkindale.

Three of the performers kneel on the left, listening to a woman on the right.

Ingrid regales the party with her memories of MOIST.

There's a guy in a creepy mask holding a chain with a severed hand at the end. To the right is a woman dressed like a mushroom.

Monsters attack!

Two performers (including the one dressed as a mushroom) walking in front of the audience.

Ingrid—cursed to be carried around in a box by a skeleton—and Belle search for costumed attendees they can bribe with treats.

A man plays ukulele. A woman dressed like death is dancing with her scythe.

Battle! Brask and Freya rock out to “What’s Going On?“.

The stage is full of people. In the back are folk in creepy clown costumes. On the screen are three paintings of creepy clowns.

The party is attacked by creepy clowns. Will they survive? Yes, of course.

  1. I probably got this wrong.↩
  2. This too, but the acronym is correct.↩
Tags: #theatre