Photo provided by Dad’s Garage

Atlanta Loop has partnered with Dad’s Garage to provide recaps of their latest show: SCANDAL. This improvised soap opera takes place in a fancy hotel with a seedy male strip club in the bottom. Every week the improvisers at Dad’s Garage will make up the drama, the laughs, and the SCANDAL on stage at their theatre; and we’ll be publishing the recaps. Imagine Soap Opera Digest meets Atlanta Loop, and you get the idea. Subscribers to Atlanta Loop/Decaturish will have access to a limited number of free tickets each week. To purchase tickets for the next show, click here.

Act One

Our story begins at the front desk of the Quadruple Tree Hotel, where Derek and Shedebra are chatting. Derek has finally come back into his own body after weeks of being possessed, but is missing an arm and wants a doctor. While he begs for help, two jaunty Industrial-era orphans named Sam and Gertie ask for shelter and regale everyone with a song – while Shedebra calls the cops.

While Shedebra is getting rid of the kids, Bergeron and Misty are day drinking in the Danglerzzz bar. Bergeron has been much more casual and pleasant since becoming the proprietor of the club, and Misty is happy to make some suggestions to improve the place: hiring her to headline as a singer, bringing in younger dancers, adding a social media presence, and – the kicker – our aspiring starlet wants to go on a date with Bergeron. He accepts!

Upstairs in the hotel hallway a newly feminine Jiarrhea bumps into Vavianna, who mourns his transition into womanhood. What is his best customer to do? Vavianna threatens to kill Jiarrhea if he doesn’t come up with a suitable replacement for her lust, so he suggests she pay a visit to Stripbot and Pavel.

Speaking of Pavel, even valet blood and orphan smell can’t keep an infatuated ambassador away from Shedebra, who is scouring the lobby. Pavel has come to tell her that he’s being called back to Moscow in the morning and that their love could never be. Shedebra has never returned Pavel’s affection and isn’t exactly devastated. As Pavel is about to kiss her hand goodbye, Jiarrhea and Vavianna enter to invite Shedebra to a slumber party. Pavel is smitten all over again, and kisses Vavianna’s hand, which appears to make Shedebra jealous.

On the Danglerzzz floor, Stripbot is finishing up a set while Derek, still bleeding, is lying on the floor. They notice a little too late that Sam and Gertie have been watching. Stripbot scrambles to regain some modesty as Derek’s life begins to flash before him. Stripbot is moved and decides to perform experimental surgery on him: he will stop all the bleeding by attaching his only humanoid anatomy to replace his severed arm. Kind of like Edward Scissorhands, but different.

Over in the locker room, Bergeron wants to discuss how to keep Jiarrhea in business at the club now that she no longer has the oldest junk in the room. His plan is to offer Jiarrhea $1,000/week in exchange for getting Derek – officially the sexiest side show in Atlanta – up on the pole.

Back at the bar, Vavianna and Misty are chatting about their upcoming dates with Pavel and Bergeron. The conversation turns to their children: Vavianna hasn’t seen any of her estranged children in years, an odd coincidence given the recent appearance of the two orphans. If the orphans find her, the rest of her kids might come through. Vavianna hatches a plan to murder Sam and Gertie.

Act Two

Our story continues as Pavel and Vavianna successfully seduce each other in the bar while Jiarrhea tries out a new routine on the stage downstairs. Halfway through she shoves Derek on and urges him to strip in his newly formed body. Jiarrhea bribed Derek by offering to send him back home to Poland in exchange for a sexy routine. Since he failed the task, he remains in Atlanta.

Sometime after closing Misty is cleaning up the place with help from the orphans, who continue to be a bit of a handful. Nevertheless, they wind up enjoying a fun singalong together. Afterwards, Bergeron listens to Stripbot pine for the only part of him that was ever human – which is now on Derek’s body. In a surprising confession, Bergeron admits that he is a virgin.

Meanwhile, Vavianna meets Shedebra at the front desk and apologizes for stealing Pavel away. Just as Shedebra insists that she doesn’t care, Pavel enters. Vavianna pointedly asks Pavel if she is a pawn meant to make Shedebra jealous. Pavel admits to always loving Shedebra, but settled for Vavianna after getting shut down. The women let him know that he doesn’t stand a chance pitting them against each other.

Nearby at the local Applebee’s, Bergeron waits for Misty to join him on their date. She never comes.

Up in the Presidential Suite, Vavianna, Shedebra, Jiarrhea, and Misty are having a slumber party. Vavianna proposes that Misty voices her singing in her next film, which could make her a star. Then she ups the ante by revealing that she has invited the orphans up to the party to kill them. Once the orphans arrive and discover she is their mother, Vavianna has a change of heart and decides to give them Misty’s part in her movie. In a rage, Misty strangles Vavianna to death.