Two-man comedy team taking show to New York City

LYNN – Lynn resident Jay Pension is hoping for his big break when he takes his two-man comedy performance “Left and Right” to New York City for the Midtown International Theater Festival.The Salem State graduate said he and his co-star, Nathaniel Punches of Danvers, first put the show together for Punches’ senior project at Gordon College in 2011.”Left and Right” is the story of a pair of conjoined twins – Pension plays Right, Punches plays Left – who are trying to find love on Valentine’s Day, explained Pension. Pension compares the show to “Mr. Bean” and Blue Man Group because audience members are brought on stage to play the parts, and there is no dialogue, which Pension said is “easier than you think.”The play goes through three different scenes in which audience members view the daily life of the twins, including how they get ready for their day. Audience members also play patients and secretaries during the “office” scene in which Left and Right showcase a typical day at their job as psychologists.”It’s all about how to treat an audience and make them comfortable on stage,” Pension said.Finally, Left and Right go on a date with a woman from the audience who “just might be the one,” said Pension.The idea came from a Siamese twin costume the pair wore for Halloween one year, a get-up with one arm each and four legs, making for quite a performance during the dance numbers in the show.The show has been a launching pad for both recent college grads. They have performed the show many times after graduating, including at least 10 times last October and at least 20 times “in spurts” throughout 2012, according to Punches.”It’s kind of rare to have something straight out of undergrad,” Pension said. “This has been a big opportunity for the both of us.”Pension said he and Punches applied to perform at the festival, which only has 20 performance spots, and were accepted to play on July 21, 22, 28 and 29.”It’s a chance for producers and artistic directors to come see what’s being created around the country,” he said.Being discovered is “absolutely the goal – from here we hope we’ll be picked up and have a chance to do a tour,” Pension said.Pension thinks their show has a good chance of being discovered because it’s a “very exciting, unique theater experience unlike what they’ll have there now” in New York.Pension said what he and Punches do during the show is almost like rehearsed improvisation.Although he says, “We have anticipated any type of reactions, so we pretty much know what’s coming.”Even so, Pension said there is always the occasional surprise.He gave one example of an incident that occurred when Left and Right cut out a heart from construction paper, and the female audience member crumpled it up and ate it.In this instance, Pension said Left and Right looked hurt and shocked that she would do such a thing with their gift.”We have some wonderful surprises, things we never anticipated happening – it keeps it fresh,” he said.According to Pension, over the last year and a half the show had constantly evolved and changed.”Initially there is a lot of fear when you are performing in a show like this, especially something that you have created and is so different from what people are doing. You think, ‘what if people don’t like this?'” he said. “The shows have gone through different phases as we made adjustments. It’s a work in progress right now. That’s the best way to make something wonderful – you keep working on it.”Though the Boston area has been the home for the performances since it was created a year and a half ago, Pension said it will be a “different challenge” to be in a new environment, and that the opportunity in New York is like nothing else they have had.Punches is hoping to eventually take the show on an international tour.”It’s the kind of show that works well overseas since we don’t speak in it,” Punches said.Audiences can view the exact show that will be played in New York before the pair leave tonight at 8 p.m.