Their tagline- where boredom goes to die! This is quite a bold statement for Theater 99, right? But from my experience, this improv theater has fulfilled its promise. Cast members create original, comedic skits every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. Even the different names of groups are funny- Mary Kay has a Posse and the Banana Monologues, to name a few.
Theatre 99 traces its roots back to 1995, when the improv group “The Have Nots!”, performed for the first time during 
(but not part of) Charleston’s Piccolo Spoleto Festival. In 2000, they opened the first Theatre 99, named for the number of seats. In 2005, The Have Nots! opened the current Theatre 99, which now has 125 seats, at 280 Meeting Street.
Even more enticing is that Wednesday night shows are only $5. That’s cheaper than going to a movie, or going out to dinner, or in a few cases, even buying one drink at a bar. If drinks are your forte though, the theater does sell alcohol. If you really want to keep it classy, you can even buy a whole bottle of wine! The beauty of these shows is that the comedians perform based on the audience’s suggestions. So really, you never know what is going to come out of their mouths or where the content of the show will go. Whatever topic emerges is sure to be funny.
If you can’t make it to the $5 show on Wednesdays, they also have $10 shows on Friday nights and $10-$12.50 on Saturday nights. This may be a bit pricey for us graduate students, but if you are taking the weekend easy and are looking for something low key to do, this could be the thing for you. Even if you just go once, it’s worth checking out. But I’ll bet after seeing a few skits you’ll be roped in and want to go back!
Theatre 99 also provides improv classes and workshops to anyone who wants to learn more! Check out http://www.theatre99.com/index2.php for more info.
