LEWISTON — Talk about a tough crowd.

Dan Kane wasn’t halfway through his introductions when the first cry of, “Get off the stage!” came bellowing out of the audience. It was followed by laughter, jeering and a little bit of heckling thrown in for good measure.

It’s all right, though, because The Thread Theater is all about spontaneity and audience participation.

Even if it stings a little.

“It’s unforgiving,” said actor and playwright Jay Barrett. “If you’re terrible, they’ll let you know. But if you’re good, you’ll get laughter and applause and all that good stuff.”

The Thread Theater is not for wimps.

This raucous new group made its debut Thursday night at the Franco Center, drawing dozens of amateur playwrights, actors and fans out on a snowy night.

It works like this: The names of the playwrights are picked from a bucket to see whose script will get the star treatment. The names of actors and actresses are also picked at random, so until it’s go time, nobody knows which script will be performed or exactly who will do the performing.

“This is theater in its rawest form,” Kane said.

You can say that again. Once scripts, actors and actresses are selected, things happen fast.

“They have two minutes to talk things over,” said writer Tony Morin. “And then you’re off and running.”

Morin, one of the group founders, was pretty calm as he explained these things. Of course, he probably didn’t know his script would be the very first to be plucked from the bucket.

Scripts are written to be 10 minutes long and they are expected to follow whatever is set as the theme of the night. On Thursday, the theme was “First Night,” so Morin had prepared something focusing on — I mean, what else, right? — the first day of rapture.

“It’s about the people who don’t get taken,” Morin said. “It’s the first night after the rapture and they’re trying to figure out what’s going on.”

It’s a great concept with wonderful dialogue. But the four actors — two men, two women — selected at random to perform, had all of two minutes to examine the script and prepare to act while audience members prepared to let them have it.

You’d expect an absolute disaster, but no. Reading directly from the scripts, the actors performed with incredible finesse, only occasionally tripping over their lines. Which of course, only made it funnier.

“This is a good group of actors,” Franco Center Director Mitchell Thomas said. “They know what they’re doing.”

“Oh, for sure,” Barrett said. “We’ve got some talented people here.”

There was little heckling and it was mostly clean, but of course, the night was still young.

“People are just starting to drink,” Morin said.

“Go to the bar often,” Kane encouraged the audience. “That will make everyone seem a little funnier.”

Warning: There’s drinking at The Thread Theater. And cussing. And the occasional inappropriate remark or two. Mostly, it’s unpredictable.

“It’s certainly not kid-friendly,” Kane said. “The crowd is encouraged to give us immediate feedback. The language does get a little brutal.”

“A little salty,” Morin said.

These two men, along with Barrett and a fourth, Jason Pelletier, got to thinking about the local theater scene after working together on “A Christmas Carol” at Community Little Theatre in Auburn. They were inspired to bring the quick-hit, spontaneous style of performing to Lewiston after enjoying it at the Crowbait Club in Portland.

“We have shamelessly ripped off this excellent program,” Kane said. “If it goes well, we’re going to take credit for it.”

Kane was only kidding. Probably. And while the format has been immensely popular in Portland, the group here is under no pressure to make The Thread Theater exactly the same.

“It doesn’t have to be a replica,” Barrett said. “It might evolve into something different and if it does, that’s OK, too.”

To stick with the theme of the night, Kane wrote about an inmate’s first night in jail. It seemed natural enough, given that the actor and writer used to work as a corrections officer. Another writer offered up a script detailing the hilarious circumstances in man’s first alien encounter.

And Barrett?

“I have a script,” he said. “But it’s on my kitchen table at home.”

No problem: There were plenty of scripts to fill the night and for two hours, names were drawn, scripts quickly scanned and performances given.

The founding fathers of the event — as Barrett describes them — are hoping to provide their brand of entertainment at the Franco Center once a month. The next presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, March 24. Admission is $5 at the door. Thomas said they are considering serving food at future performances.

The full cash bar, of course, will always be a part of things.

Typically, best scripts will be declared at the end of the night. And best performers, too, naturally.

“Best actor will be chosen,” Thomas wrote in a news release, as “whoever the audience thinks sucked the least.”

For more information, visit www.francocenter.org/events-calendar/.

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