Bear with them!
A superhero team of humans-turned-bears will save the world in “Bear Squad,” a television show that only exists as a bunch of bunch of drawings and a script, to be read aloud by a group of comedians at Friends & Lovers in Crown Heights on Nov. 3. The show satirizes ’90s era superhero cartoons, adding the grizzly twist that the heroes tear deserving criminals apart with their bear hands, said its creator.
“It’s like a light-hearted goofy superhero show where bears start mauling criminals,” said Cobble Hill comedian Jeremy Kaplowitz, who also created the “Lizard People of New York” Facebook page. “It’s very violent, sort of like a combo of the newer Batman combined with the fun silly Batman movies, trying to combine those two facets of superheroes.”
The roughly 90-minute show features three bears and their leader, living in a make-believe Great White North where superheroes transform into large furry mammals hungry for criminal nogoodniks, said Kaplowitz.
“The script is about a team of superheroes who have the ability to turn into bears and maul criminals,” he said. “It takes place in a whimsical version of Canada that doesn’t really exist. It’s a whole bunch of animals, it’s like a silly sort of cross between talking animals and superheroes.”
The cast fur the reading will feature a dozen comedians, including veterans from Upright Citizens Brigade, Funny or Die, and MTV. While they read on the stage of the Crown Heights venue, Kaplowitz will project about 50 of his creative illustrations behind them, in order to take people on a visual journey as the team bears the burden of fighting villains, he said.
Kaplowitz based his script on a song, also called “Bear Squad,” that he and his friends wrote in college. He turned the lyrics into a satirical and gory superhero comedy, he said.
“It was a very simple thing I sort of extrapolated into characters,” said Kaplowitz. “It’s very silly, dark, and satirical. I think it’s going to be really fun.”
“Bear Squad” at Friends and Lovers (641 Classon Ave. between Pacific and Dean streets in Crown Heights, www.fnlbk.com). Nov. 3 at 8 pm. Free.
