WIT Skewers Multi-Level Marketing Scams With NOT A PYRAMID SCHEME

From May 19 to June 15, Washington Improv Theater (WIT) will present Not a Pyramid Scheme, an improvised show that satirizes the world of multi-level marketing (think essential oils and overpriced makeup) and get-rich-quick schemes. The original show pokes fun at capitalist excess and culty groupthink while honoring the realities of people who join MLMs looking to make a living. All shows will take place in Stage 4 at Studio Theater, where WIT is currently in residence.

In this "once in a lifetime opportunity," co-directors Clare Mulligan and Kaelan Sullivan Fleury set out to find the next Anna Delvey and Elizabeth Holmes in a show full of toxic positivity and disturbingly ambitious #GirlBoss vibes. Each show begins with an audience member describing a recent item they purchased. The 13-member cast will then use that item to create a business model that may sound to some like a scam but is definitely, totally legit. The cast will improvise a founder's origin story and every performance will culminate in a conference, replete with motivational speakers and entrepreneurial success stories that keep everyone committed to the grift, er... amazing opportunity.

"We live in the ultimate age of scamming," says co-director Clare Mulligan from behind giant sunglasses while sipping a loaded Herbalife tea. "It's so easy to pretend to be someone you're not, especially when you're selling a dream like making big money just by posting cute aesthetic graphics on social media. Our show is about the lies we tell ourselves and others when we try to claw our way up to a better life."