Former paperboy gets laughs in 'Books'

By Chad Jones, STAFF WRITER
ANG Newspapers
February 26, 2004

LIKE a fine chef reducing a sauce, Austin Tichenor and his cohorts in the Reduced Shakespeare Company stir up and distill human civilization down to its most humorous essence.

That's a fancy way of saying that Tichenor will do just about anything to get a laugh.

He'll pillage the Bible, Shakespeare, American history or classic literature if it will delight an audience. So far, in the nearly 12 years he's been with the Reduced Shakespeare Company, audiences have been pretty delighted.

A former Oakland Tribune paperboy who grew up in Piedmont , Tichenor, 43, became part of the RSC (not to be confused with the Royal Shakespeare Company) in 1992 and soon learned the true meaning of the word abridged.

The RSC's first big hit was "The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)," a wily three-man show that performed the entire Shakespearean canon in about 90 minutes.

The show was such a hit both in this country and in England that others in the same vein soon followed.

"We thought, 'Hmmm, we're on to something here,'" Tichenor says. "Maybe we can be a two- or three-trick pony. Suddenly the 'reduced' part of our name became more important than the 'Shakespeare' part."

"Complete Works" settled into a long London run and was joined in rotating repertory by "The Complete History of America (abridged)" and "The Bible: The Complete Works of God (abridged)." All three shows are still running in London 's West End . And as the RSC likes to point out, that gives them more shows in London than Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Curiously, for a troupe that actually got its start at Northern California Renaissance Faires, the RSC has made precious few local appearances. While other actors have taken over the London shows, Tichenor, along with Reed Martin and Matthew Croke, are constantly on the road in this country.

But the RSC couldn't stay away forever. The tour of the latest RSC reduction, "All the Great Books (abridged)," opened this week for a short run at San Francisco 's Cowell Theatre.

Although a resident of Los Angeles -- where he lives with his wife, Dee Ryan, son Quincy, 7, and daughter Daisy, 4 -- Tichenor says he's thrilled to bring his now world-famous comedy back home.

"We've been so busy touring to every place else in the country we decided the time was right to come to the Bay Area," Tichenor says on his cell phone. "I was actually going to be very L.A. and keep driving while I talked, but I've decided to pull over."

A performer since his days at Wildwood Elementary School , where he honed his craft in puppet shows and in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," Tichenor was a drama and history double major at UC Berkeley with an eye on law school.

"I loved performing, but I never got the good, sexy leading parts," he says. "I got the long speeches and had a facility for memorization. Those are the parts I still get. When I get TV work, it's inevitably droning bureaucrats, lawyers giving closing arguments or doctors giving long explanations. I guess I'm the guy who can say things like 'exculpatory' and 'semen' without giggling."

Counseled out of the legal profession by his father -- "Bless him, he said I'd hate it" -- Tichenor embraced his inner thespian and got a master's degree in directing from Boston University .

College pal Martin called in 1992 with an offer: "Wanna play Hamlet in the West End ?"

Without even checking his calendar, Tichenor joined the cast of the RSC's "Shakespeare" show.

"We didn't know if it would last three days, three weeks or three years," he says. "Twelve years later, the show is still there."

In addition to performing, Tichenor helped write the "American History" and "Bible" shows before diving into "Great Books" two years ago.

In "Great Books," the RSC trio attempts to address 90 of the world's most revered literary works in 90 minutes. Of course there are Greeks on the list with "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey," but there are also nods to contemporary tastes with such titles as "The Catcher in the Rye," "Green Eggs and Ham" and the Harry Potter books.

Unlike the previous three abridgements, "Great Books" gives the actors characters to play.

The audience plays the role of students in a remedial high school English class. Tragically, the regular teacher has been trampled to death at a J.K. Rowling book signing, so the football coach (Reed), a student assistant (Croke) and a "grander than he needs to be" drama teacher (Tichenor) attempt to take over.

"People come up to us after shows and tell us how much they loved our improvisation," Tichenor says. "I'm glad they thought it was so fresh and new, but it's completely written, and there's very little improv."

Although the shows have slight variations in subjects and styles, the theme is always the same.

"It's simple: We are three arrogant idiots who think they can actually reduce an entire topic to a thin leaving," Tichenor explains. "They don't know they can't really do it, so there's a certain charm because we are sincere enough to attempt the impossible."