The battle begins every Saturday night at 7:30 with Florida Studio Theatre’s improv series Out of Bounds. Laugh, eat, drink and generally get rowdy in the Bownes Lab Theatre as two teams of improv performers compete for the audience’s affection and the all-important bragging rights of the victors. Using general scenarios, with details solicited from the gathered crowd, each team strives to showcase their quick wit, humor and versatility, constructing characters and stories on the spot in an attempt to win the night.

Under the guidance of managing director Rebecca Hopkins, chief organizer of FST’s improvisational programming and the Sarasota Improv Festival, predictability is for the birds, and at Out of Bounds the unexpected is all you can expect. The night begins by randomly assigning the performers to opposing teams, giving none the opportunity to prepare or even know with whom they will be acting. And although the scenes (“games” as they’re known behind the curtain) will be familiar, the devil is in the details – details they never know until they’re already on stage.

“I love this game, because I don’t want to know what we’re playing,” said actor Steve Turrisi, who has been performing improv with the program for 10 years. “It’s different every time and you get to vent your comedic thoughts for the whole week in one night.”

But it’s not just fun for the actors. At the Bownes Lab the line between audience and performer blurs. The audience takes as active a role in the performance as they want, within reasonable expectations. Not only is the crowd’s input necessary to the show, but the exceptionally brave may even find themselves onstage, swapping barbs and jokes with the pros. You don’t have to go up, but if you want to you can probably find a place to squeeze in.

“This is a big audience favorite because there is so much audience interaction,” said Hopkins. “We’re asking them something before each and every scene. It’s not just one suggestion that we run with all night. They immediately see the payoff of their idea in the scene.”

If you don’t want to perform, you can still participate. Like the performers, the audience is divided into groups, but these groups determine the scores each team receives for each scene. It’s judging, but it’s all in good fun.

But even with bragging rights on the line, it’s all in good fun, a time to go out with friends, down a few drinks, laugh your head off and watch humans be goofy humans on stage. At it’s heart, that’s what improv is – performing for the fun of it – and at FST that’s what you get.

"You cannot come to this show and be unengaged," said Hopkins. "You can come with no fear that we're going to drag you up on the stage, but you can't not participate because it's such an interactive environment."