Bart Elfrink: Man of many faces

Any fan of local theater will at least know Bart Elfrink's face, if not his name. Over the past few years there's hardly been a River City Players show, good or bad, that he hasn't had some hand in.

Simply put, he's a theater junkie -- and he likes to make movies, too.

But Bart's passion is much narrower than theater -- he's a comedy man, one who loves a good belly laugh. This August he and the Players will poke some good-natured fun at old Bill Shakespeare in "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" (a play you'll only know if you too are a theater junkie). Right now he sits down for a few minutes with OFF.

OFF: Let's just start off with the condensed press-version bio.

Bart: I grew up in Cape. Went to a little Catholic grade school in Cape, St. Vincent de Paul, went to Cape Central high school, went to SEMO for about five years. Switched majors twice, dropped out for 3 and a half, decided to go back.

OFF: So what age are you?

Bart: 28

OFF: So would you be considered a non-traditional student now?

I think technically I am.

OFF: What are you studying?

Bart: For two years I did biology, then I switched to theater and got within like, six hours from graduating and just dropped out, got a job, got married, then figured out I didn't want to work there.

So I decided to go back and now I'm doing video production.

OFF: You seem like one of the most involved people in the River City Players? How do you manage to do that?

Bart: Well we don't have cable at the house. It's just something to do. Instead of sitting at home watching TV, get out and do theater. I'd rather be a performer than a spectator.

OFF: How did you get interested in theater? Is it just one of those things that started in school?

Bart: I did "Arsenic and Old Lace" senior year of high school, and that was one of the things that I regretted about high school, was not getting into theater earlier.

I actually had the lead in the 8th grade play up at St. Vincent's -- I played Joseph in the Christmas play.

When I went to SEMO, even though I was doing the biology classes I was in the theater department, and I just decided to go straight to theater.

OFF: You have been involved with the improv comedy team. Is comedy your favorite thing to do?

Bart: Yeah, comedy is where it's at for me. Any time that you can make an ass of yourself and not look stupid -- I mean you're going to look stupid anyway -- but it can be mildly acceptable.

If I did everything that I thought of they'd probably lock me up. But you can let some of that stuff out on stage without looking like a fool. You look like a fool anyway, but ...

OFF: Speaking of the improv comedy team, how's that going?

Bart: We just started out, we've had three shows. It's gotten better every single show. We're still tweaking it, we're getting different cast members in, we're trying to find the perfect balance, the people that can work together well.

And we're also trying to change up the format a little bit ... cause right now it's a "Whose Line is it Anyway?" rip off. What we want to do is be more like a "Saturday Night Live" rip off.

We're starting to write our own skits and we're going to perform some of the skits, and just change it up. And we're going to throw a little improv comedy in there, as well.

OFF: How does it change your life when you have kids? You're a 20-something guy and you get married and have kids, I'm sure it really changes things drastically, right?

Bart: It's actually been a change for the better, because I'm a stay-at-home dad now, which means I have all day long to write.

OFF: It seems like that's something more and more guys are doing, being stay-at-home dads. Did you plan it that way?

Bart: Since I'm in school it works out a lot better. If I worked 40 hours a week I wouldn't have the time to do any of the things I'm doing.

When I worked at SBC I didn't do anything. I made time to do a couple of shows, but it was so hard. Something had to give, and it was work.

OFF: So what's up next?

Bart: Right now we're about to start rehearsing for "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)."

OFF: Shakespeare?

Bart: The thing about this show is, it's so condensed there's really not much Shakespeare, it's more talking about Shakespeare. Not necessarily making fun of Shakespeare, but making light of the whole Shakespearean language and that kind of stuff.

It's basically if Monty Python did Shakespeare. It's extremely funny.

OFF: More of the comedy.

Bart: Yeah, the movie I'm making is a comedy, too. It's a superhero spoof.

OFF: It seems like making a movie would be a lot of work. How do you stay creative?

Bart: I think it helps because I'm going to be directing the movie and starring in the movie, so whenever I get tired of acting I'll just shoot a scene that I'm not in and focus on something else.

That's the whole thing about me. Every job I've ever had, usually after about three-and-a-half years I get tired of it and I get something else. So that's a big reason I wanted to work in theater or movies or anything entertainment-wise.

Two months or three months go down the road and then you're done with it and you're on to the next thing.