Curiocity: 'Employee Of The Year' At New Dinner Theater

When Michael Scott introduced the concept of the Dundies to "Office" fans around the world, it forever changed the way anyone in a business setting thought about their annual office awards. There were moments of total awkward entertainment, followed by speeches of sheer terror but for the outsider, it was comedy gold.

It's no wonder then, that so many are capitalizing on this seemingly simple but utterly hilarious yearly ritual. And in the Twin Cities, they're bringing the concept to dinner ... theater, that is. The Producing House's latest show "Employee of the Year" has been described as "The Office" meets "Tony N' Tina's Wedding" -- an interactive show boasting lots of laughs and of course, the typical office politics we've all come to know and love.

Shanan Custer, a veteran of Minneapolis' Brand New Workshop, helps lead the cast of characters as the non-Michael Scott -- a boss with little knowledge of her employees and even smaller desire to get buddy-buddy with them at this type of event. Custer took some time out of her busy schedule for a quick conference call on the big show.

So what can we expect from "Employee of the Year?" What's the show about?

Basically, it's an interactive show, which means the audience is a part of the action, meaning they are guests at this employee of the year office party. So they're there, they're having the dinner with everybody, some of them will win awards, so it's like being inside an office party, or end of the year party or in this case, an employee of the year party. It's along the lines of something like "Tony N' Tina's Wedding" where you were guests at a wedding, this time, you're at an office shindig. And it's funny. It's not a super-serious office party, it's a funny office party.

What exactly is the business that's throwing this office party?

That's a really fun part of the secret of the party. The company is called OSHIOS, which is completely made up and I think -- now, this is something that I wasn't in on the ground floor on -- but I think the OSHIOS and the way we're spelling it is sort of a word that means nothing, so that's kind of the inside joke. OSHIOS itself is sort of made up but the word is also this sort of eh, it doesn't mean anything, there's nothing in the air kind of thing. So it's a take on, OK, come into the office but we don't know what we do.  And that's one of the running bits. The characters have these major moments where they're like, "C'mon, tell me what I do!" And the language that we tend to use in the office environment can be so full of jargon and so heavy with inside language that sometimes it's so hard to pinpoint, OK but do we sell something? So that's kind of one of the ideas that we just really ran away with and it seems to be working really well.

And your character is more or less the boss of this place?

Yeah, I am the CEO of OSHIOS and my name is Irene Clara Ingebretson-Olson and I play the sort of awkward boss, you know, obviously very successful, she runs the company but might not necessarily know anybody's name. She has a really good assistant, who is overworked, overqualified, overeducated for her job but she does her job very well. She follows me around and makes sure I know, OK, this is a really good time to say hi. What makes the character really fun is that she's a fish out of water at an event like this. It's a work-related event but it's meant to be fun and those are concepts -- fun and work-related -- that just aren't in her world at all. I have little conversation cards and I'm just trying really hard. Trying to fit in with the team, because that's what you do, but she's never really done that before. It's been fun, definitely.

Have you ever performed in a dinner theater setting before?

You know, I haven't. I've always said, I've been a trained improviser, I've worked for years in sketch comedy so it would seem like sort of a natural progression, if not, something that I would've done before sketch comedy. But I was always a little afraid of interactive theater, probably because I never have done it. How does that work? You just talk to the audience? Aren't they supposed to sit over there and you stand up here and do your thing and then they leave? ... But I've really come to like it, it's really an interesting way to connect with an audience. And it's so wonderful when you have skilled performers and I think this cast is just incredible. Because I just feel safe and involved and it's completely fun. It's not quite as intense as I thought it was. I think it's a pretty great way to perform and be near your audience. Yeah, I really like it. Never say never, right?

You had one preview night of "Employee of the Year" already, how did that go?

It was great. It was a full house, lots of people. There's also the technical aspect of it where we're finding out, is this funny? Does this joke work? Will this costume feel OK? And in the meantime, we're talking to the audience. For me, I did some of the writing on this, but certainly not as much as Eric Webster, who was the creator with Producing House on this, but I think there was a part of me that thought, "OK, we'll see if this lands or that lands," and what I discovered, in the first 10 minutes, they got it. I think a lot of people have been to work-related, "fun" events even if they didn't work for that company. ... It's always sort of a weird world, are we at work? No, we're not at work. But I'm going to see these people Monday morning. They had a great time and so did we. I've had quite a lot of preview nights as an actor but I haven't had one quite that pleasant in a while.

"Employee of the Year" opens Thursday at the new Bunker Hill's Golf Club Theater in Coon Rapids. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased at the show's website. Get two-for-one tickets this weekend (June 10-11) by clicking on "Get Tickets" on the website and entering the code: BOGO.