A dimly lit bar with tables set for two could be the setting where a 25-year-old man seeking a woman with a good sense of humor meets his Internet companion in person. At the Town Hall Pub, 3340 N. Halsted St., this is the setting where his “man seeking woman” personal ad is read out loud—not in hopes of getting him a date, but to entertain a crowd.

The Bruised Orange Theater Company takes a break from its storefront theater once a week to present “I Saw You,” a loose-form comedy show with the script based solely on personal ads from Craigslist, the Chicago Reader and other local classifieds. A rotating cast reenacts real “Missed Connections,” “Casual Encounters” and the typical “man seeking woman/woman seeking man” ads.

The idea came to Bruised Orange Theater Company co-founder Mark Spence when he and the theater’s other founder, Clint Cheffer, were carting props for a fundraiser back and forth. To pass the time in the car, they read Chicago Reader personal ads out loud to each other.

“For a while we just kept laughing and laughing and laughing and then we thought, ‘You know, there is something here,’” Spence said.

After talking with actors and working through the concept with experienced improv performers, the show was born.

“The more we worked with it the more we decided we just want to keep it completely simple,” Spence said. “It should be all about the words written on the page. The actors are really funny, and they definitely do their part. But when it comes down to it, what’s going to bring people in is everybody knows these ads.”

The audience’s familiarity is polled right away. Before each performance starts a cast member asks the audience members to raise their hands if they’ve read or written personal ads.

Rich Cole, a regular attendee, said he believes the number of hands raised does not always reflect the number of people who write ads; usually not everyone admits it. He lives across from the pub and first came to the show on accident, looking for a place to get a drink with his neighbor, he said. Something caught their attention despite attempting to ignore the performance. From then on, Cole was hooked.

“The first time we saw it my neighbor leans over to me and says, ‘I hope they don’t read one of [my ads],’” Cole said. “That’s part of it. It almost puts you on edge.”

It’s the sense of real life and discomfort that Spence credits for audience interest. No matter how strange or bizarre some of these people seem, the writers are real Chicago residents. Beneath the humor, Spence sees an over arching theme: Everyone is lonely.

“When you deal with this stuff you can either read it and really kind of internalize it, or you can laugh at it,” Spence said. “That can either really depress you, or you can laugh it off and just keep going.”

The actors’ interpretations often make the ads seem more humorous than depressing. An hour before the show, the three actors performing that night are given their material for the evening and are only able to preview their own.

Part of the performance is the actor’s reacting off the cuff when, for example, the ad of a young female student seeking an older graphic design professor is read in a sheepish, innocent voice with knowing glances toward the actor who just read the ad of a “cool and hip” older man seeking a younger female companion. For an ad soliciting a father-son team, the actor playing the father wraps his arm around another actor, presenting his “son” like a product on an informercial.

According to Kevin Alves, a frequent performer in the show, it’s just as much about making each other laugh as it is entertaining the audience.

“I walk out with my face hurting from laughing every night,” Alves said. “That’s the part I like, even while I’m performing the show I feel like I’m watching it because I don’t know what these guys are about to say.”

To Alves and the rest of the cast, real life will always be the funniest material to draw from, and with internet dating becoming more and more the norm, the show’s wealth of ideas continues to grow.

Even Spence admitted to placing personal ads, but doesn’t see them being picked for the show.

“I told one of the cast members and he was like, ‘I’ve got to see it, I’ve got to read it, we’ve got to do it!’” Spence said. “I showed it to him and he said, ‘Yeah, this isn’t funny.’ Of course it’s not funny, I read these ads every week, I know what to not put in there.”

“I Saw You” is performed every Wednesday at the Town Hall Pub, 3340 N. Halsted St., at 8 p.m. The show is 21+ and costs $5. For more information, visit BruisedOrange.org.