Thumbnail photo: The cast of Lighthouse Repertory Theatre's 'Sketch Comedy Experiment' prepares for the production's opening night, which will be held at the Cultural Center on Friday. | Photo and video by Monique Camarena The jury’s still out on whether Lighthouse Repertory Theatre’s new production embodies the definition of insanity, but preparing for it was definitely loony, or so Elizabeth Coburn says. Coburn is one of the producers for LRT’s "Sketch Comedy Experiment" which makes its second appearance at the Crescent City Cultural Center starting Friday. It’s a departure from the organization’s usual repertoire, but Coburn is hoping to get the same results as the previous demonstration. “From most of the responses we got, the audience really enjoyed it,” she said, adding that she and longtime LRT thespian Howard R. Patterson wrote the sketches for the experiment’s debut in November. “Howard’s goal when he wanted to put a sketch comedy together was to replicate what was done on Saturday Night Live, but on stage in front of an audience. That’s definitely what we heard from the audience [members] that we spoke to. That’s what they felt like.” Still, Coburn said, compared to being in a more traditional play, rehearsals for Sketch Comedy Experiment are more complex. “I’m one of the producers, Kirsten [Randrup] is another producer, and as a director and an actor and a writer, my role in this is so much more in depth and heavier than any production I’ve been in before because of all those different roles,” she said. “It’s much more difficult, doing sketch comedy with multiple different sketches as opposed to running through a whole show as maybe one character or maybe two characters.” Each actor has more of a workload in this experiment as opposed to more traditional plays, Coburn said. “Jumping from one character to another character to another can be taxing,” she said. “We’ve got 10 different scenes we have to costume for and we have to block for and we have to design the stage and the set for. It’s very different from a regular show. It’s a good challenge.” Coburn began working on "Sketch Comedy Experiment" with Patterson about a year ago. Patterson approached her and said they should write some sketches and “see what happens.” They handed the sketches over to LRT Board members Andres Monreal and Kurt Kurtis who urged them to put it on stage This time around, in addition to work by Coburn and Patterson, the experiment features sketches written by Ruth Rhodes, creator of the This Is Crescent City musical. However, Coburn said, even though the sketches are written down, they’re not finished. “They always grow and always change through the process of putting them on stage and rehearsing them,” she said. “It’s kind of like a group project when actors come in and they have their input on how the scene develops and how it grows. Because generally when you have sketches or you have a play, you want to workshop and have the entire group of actors figure out where the tweaks and hangups are, and you work through that.” Another good challenge is the number of new actors who have only been in one, maybe two, LRT productions, Coburn said. "Sketch Comedy Experiment" is a taste of something outside the normal theatrical realm, she said. Meanwhile, "Sketch Comedy Experiment" may have drawn inspiration from "Saturday Night Live", but the LRT production won’t have the political bent the NBC variety show often takes, Coburn said. One sketch might push against the politically correct boundaries a bit, she said, but the comedy is, for the most part, PG-13. “It’s not too terribly on the edge there, but it’s definitely not like a little kid family-friendly show,” she said. Sketch Comedy Experiment will also feature stand-up comedians Robb Smith and Travis Carns. Performances will be held this weekend and next weekend at the Crescent City Cultural Center. Cocktail hour will start at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors and are available at the door or at Del Norte Office Supply.