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Improv Utopia Returns in Style

Posted by Bill Binder on June 5, 2014

improvutopia[1]It’s hard to believe I’ve been making the drive to Cambria, California four years in a row now. It’s become an annual tradition for performers from around the world to come together in the tiny California town in Camp Ocean Pines. A lot of people ask me the same question; “Is it really a camp?” It’s a fair question, I suppose. There are plenty of camps these days (computer camp, space camp, etc) that take place in some Community Center, but Camp Improv Utopia is certainly the camp experience we all remember from years gone by; trees, archery, walking up the hill to the cabins; it’s about as authentic as you can get.

But it’s not the axe throwing that makes camp a special experience, it’s the fact that when improvisors are removed from distraction they accomplish things that we try to achieve in our improv all the rest of the year. Many festivals have weekends filled with great events, shows, workshops and the like. But there’s always that downtime where people explore the city, break off with their respective troupes. There’s no such thing at camp. Many performers aren’t even their with their respective groups from home, because camp becomes a single ensemble for the weekend.

Every time people talk about what life would be like if we could quit our day jobs and do improv full time, this is what we get for three days. There’s an energy not only in the workshops, but the opportunity to create your own activities. During the hours in the afternoon between classes, a quick walk through the woods can find some spontaneous jams, Brian O’Connell doing some one-on-one coaching, practicing for cabin shows, or taking pictures for the excellent Improvisors Project. It’s aptly named Utopia – or what improvisors would imagine utopia to be; a place with no offices or restaurants (or wi-fi really). Just a place to sleep, a place to eat and acres to study your craft.

The workshops themselves were excellent, Paul Vaillancourt, Karen Graci, Jaime Moyer, Josh DuBose and Amanda Blake Davis were all at their best with their three hour workshops. It’s funny that even though campfires went late into the night, people arrived energized at the first workshop each day.

The evenings were also filled with more communal activities including an instructor show, an open panel discussion on the state of improv, Jam City and the much talked about cabin shows. Each cabin (named for an artist or scientist of note) came together as a new ensemble to perform. Many cabins took inspiration from their cabin’s namesake including The Cousteu cabin’s red knit hats worn throughout the weekend. In it’s fourth year, the cabins themselves have taken on a life to themselves, which includes the new campers who stay in them each year. It’s exciting to see.

The campfires, the excitement for the cabin shows, the jams, the workshops and just the access to performers at all levels who were happy to sit on a log and talk improv with any level 1 student. It was the truest expression of “Yes, and”, an environment that nurtures the growth of the performers. All in all, a truly reinvigorating improv experience.

Cover Photo courtesy ImprovUtopia

Currently Bill is an instructor at The Torch Theatre and producer for the Phoenix Improv Festival. He tours teaching and performing across North America.

Spotlight On: Detroit Improv Festival

Posted by Nick Armstrong on June 3, 2014

This is your 4th year doing DIF. How have you seen the improv community grow in your area in the last four years.

This is our fourth consecutive year of having the improv Festival in the metro Detroit area. It certainly has had a long-term effect on improv in our community. The Go Comedy Improv Theater’s class enrollment has multiplied since they opened six years ago. ComedySportz Detroit opened last fall and has had a great impact on the improv scene. Planet Ant Theatre started full time improv classes over the past couple of years and has had great success. This is not all directly attributed to the festival, but DIF allows our communities to come together and showcase the talent that we have in our area. It also brings some of the best improv talent from around the country to our area to show the possibilities.

We’ve also put a lot of effort over the past couple of years into expanding the DIF organization into a true source of community outreach. We are (finally) a fully licensed 501(c)(3) non-profit and we work year-round on connecting the improv community to ways to give back to Metro Detroit as a whole. We have an ongoing partnership with Gilda’s Club of Metro Detroit which includes fund-raising and providing free improv workshops to those touched by cancer. We have also worked with HAVEN (supports victims of domestic violence), Havenwyck Hospital (a licensed psychiatric and substance abuse facility) and The Greening of Detroit (works to improve the ecosystem of Detroit) among many others, because drug addiction and substance abuse is becoming a big problem in the states, if you are addicted or know someone who needs help, please visit this article about https://firststepbh.com/blog/checking-boca-raton-rehab-center/. In addition to the obvious good that comes out of these programs, it increases the awareness of improv.

You’ll have tons of performers coming from all over the US to perform at your festival. What can a troupe expect while performing at your festival?

We try to bring a unique experience to our festival and play to our strengths. We have an excellent audience that sells out most weekends at our improv theaters throughout the year. Our three main theaters in Ferndale are located just a couple blocks from each other. We have a core group of volunteers that is very enthusiastic and plays the part of ambassadors for our visiting troupes. The visiting troupes can expect: first-class treatment; a great stage experience; suite accommodations at our host hotel; comfortable, clean and welcoming homes with our local improvisers; delicious, sponsored food at our workshops and in our green rooms; excellent opportunities to meet and mingle with other improvisers at after parties, barbecues, hospitality tents; and new for this year, a welcome reception with champagne toast, and so many more surprises, including a gift bag with Detroit goodies provided by our sponsors. Ok, so the bag isn’t a surprise anymore.

You guys have some great headliners and workshops this year. Tell us a little about that and why you decided to pick them.

Not only do we try to bring the best improv talent from around the country but we also try to make this a homecoming. We have an annual invitation to The 313, one of Detroit’s most popular improv troupes, to return to the city where they started. Actors Keegan-Michael Key, Maribeth Monroe, Andy Cobb, Nyima Funk, Joshua Funk, Marc Evan Jackson, Jaime Moyer, Sam Richardson, Marc Warzecha and Larry Joe Campbell try very hard to come back despite their very busy schedules. We are also welcoming back natives Jon Glaser, Tim Robinson, Mike O’Brien, Norm Holly and others to play a huge role as headliners and workshop instructors. I also travel with my day job and see some of the amazing improv around North America including Toronto, Chicago, L.A. and New York. We’ve invited amazing talent such as Kevin Dorff, Susan Messing, Colleen Doyle, Jason Shotts, Tara DeFrancisco, Rick Andrews & the Magnet Touring Company, Natasha Boomer and the guys from MANTOWN. Each headliner plays a different role in attracting both audience members and improv troupes to our festival.

Our festival has expanded this year to a week long celebration of improv due to Fred Willard’s acceptance of our invitation. On Sunday August 3, he will host a Q&A and take part in a Meet & Greet prior to our licensed screening of the improvised film, Best in Show, at the historic 1600 seat Redford Theatre in Detroit. He will also be performing improv with his comedy troupe, The Mohos, during the evening. We hope this event will attract attendees to our festival who are unfamiliar with the art form of improvisation. We already have a large amount of pre-sold tickets for Opening Night and expect the evening to be a huge success. The amazing Matt Naas and the Sing-along Singers will be performing improvised songs prior to the film and we will also have an afterglow next door with local and out of town troupes.

What’s going on in the city when improv isn’t happening? What should people do?

We try to offer our out of town improvisers as much improv as possible. However, on Saturday August 9 after we have a Festival Barbeque, workshops and a family-friendly improv show at ComedySportz Detroit there is time to tour the city with some of our volunteers. We are very proud of our city and would love to showcase it for our visiting improvisers. We also have some amazing restaurants in the downtown Ferndale area that help us produce this festival. But I’m not going to lie. Most of the activities that we have planned this entire week will be improv-based.

What do you hope performers will take away from DIF?

We hope that they will remember the festival as a time to connect and reconnect with old and new friends. We hope to be recognized as a festival that must be attended and experienced. We came up with our tag lines of “Be What Happens” and “See What Happens” based on the premise of, like improv, “you have to see it to believe it because it will never happen the same way again.” It’s truly the visiting troupes that make our festival a success and we want to continue this tradition.

Nick is Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for adults in California and Pennsylvania. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network and performer and teacher at iO West as well as member of The Sunday Company at The Groundlings. He has also taught many workshops around the country.

Spotlight On: Pittsburgh Comedy Festival

Posted by Bill Binder on May 30, 2014

thumbnail_1381618617-300x300[1]Pittsburgh is launching their first festival later this year, but they’ve been planning it for a long time. I first met the producers at The Detroit Improv Festival and the were anxious to learn as much as they could. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a freshman festival so hungry for info on how to put on the best festival possible. As a producer of a festival myself, I’ve spoken to Brian Gray many times, and I had the opportunity to chat with him about his hopes for the upcoming festival.

Pittsburgh is doing their first festival this year, but the improv scene has been around for a while. What was the spark that led to the decision to put on a festival?

The idea for a festival has been gestating for a long time. Years ago, I talked to some of the comedy leaders in town about doing a local/regional festival but it never caught on. Since then, three institutions (including two brick-and-mortar theaters) have opened in Pittsburgh dedicated to teaching and performing comedy. There’s a lot more momentum and a lot more local talent. We’ve had members of the Second City touring company drop by for a jam after their show and tell us how amazed they are at what we have hidden away here. Yet the average Pittsburgher and many in the national comedy community have no idea.

Last summer, two area stand-ups (who also do improv) asked for my help bringing improv into a festival that they were planning, and the Pittsburgh Comedy Festival was born.

Indelible Photography

Indelible Photography

Many performers will be visiting Pittsburgh to perform for the first time. This is a real chance to show them what Pittsburgh Comedy is all about. What is the Pittsburgh improv scene? What do you love about the improv in this city that you don’t find anywhere else?

Improv has been alive in Pittsburgh for thirty years but only within the past three has there really been consistent teaching and a growing community. This meant students becoming indie teams becoming house teams with weekly performances and so forth. We have teachers here who’ve trained and lived in New York, Chicago, LA and some who came up the ranks in Pittsburgh and are an amalgam of these styles. As a new scene, we have yet to develop a unified voice (not sure we ever will), but here are some observations I’ll make:

  • Accessibility: Pittsburgh audiences are not used to seeing live comedy. If you come out and do your “Reverse Harold”, people won’t know what to make of it. We are still trying to define improv for many people in town and having small successes putting up high-quality improv that has an easily understandable structure (e.g. an improvised musical).
     
  • Experimentation: Pittsburgh has a lot of performance opportunities compared to the small community of artists, which opens doors for experimentation. New groups, duos and one off shows can get a shot here. One incubator of experimentation has been a show in its third year at the Steel City Improv Theater called BYOT (Bring Your Own Team). At BYOT, improvisers write an idea on a hat and are given 5-7 minutes to try it out. These can be anything including groups, duos, sketches, “games”, late night monologue jokes, etc.
     
  • Variety: It’s not just about the improv scene! Pittsburgh is great at allowing improvisation to feed stand-up and vice-versa. Arcade Comedy Theater books improv and stand-up, as well as sketch, comedy music, even magic! They also offer classes in many of those forms. After 10+ years of improv, I just took my first stand-up class and have been telling all my improv peers to follow suit. The class was about discovering your voice, being yourself onstage and learning what is funny to you–all relevant to my improv. This belief that studying different modes of comedy will improve ourselves as comedians is fundamental here.

I know the producers have spent over a year traveling to different festivals and talking to festival producers around the country. What have you learned? What have you seen that you want to do? And what have you seen that you think you can make even better?


We’ve learned so much!

This is our first year, so we are taking an agile approach of trying some ideas and being open to some failure and learning from our mistakes. We won’t pretend like we will do this better than those who’ve been in the game 5 or 10 years.

We have responded to some festivals better than others, and we want this specifically to succeed in Pittsburgh. Our goal for PCF 2014 is to create a small successful festival where performers feel re-energized and audiences are pumped to see more live comedy in the weeks and months to come at our existing comedy venues.

To that end, we are focusing on one venue with mostly evening performances (save our family programming). We want it to be something special to be involved in PCF. And rather than have to find the “good shows”, we want performers (and largely comedy novice audiences) to know that they can drop into any performance and have a great time! We’ve been to large sprawling festivals and smaller intimate festivals and we feel the latter will be a successful model for us this year.

We also really want a focus on the performer community at PCF. Some festivals go out of their way to make you feel like you were taken care of and you just get filled with warm fuzzies thinking back on your experience–that’s what we want to create. And because so few of us are a big deal on the festival circuit, we are looking out for the little guy. We don’t have a lot of details confirmed but we are going out of our way to make this festival as cheap (financially) as possible while as high value as an experience as we can. There are a lot of opportunities to meet and network with other improvisers, play with them and learn from them even outside of workshops.

Perhaps that’s the biggest lesson we’ve learned: when festivals take care of their performers, performers want to come back year after year. That is what we’re striving for with PCF 2014.

One note I would add that may be unique to Pittsburgh (I at least have not been exposed to this side of other festivals) is a huge effort to involve community partners. Collaboration, public/private partnerships, Art+Tech are a huge part of the Pittsburgh culture, and Brian is working hard to find symbiotic relationships with area partners. Here are some examples so far:

What’s going on in the city when the improv isn’t happening? What should people see?

Phipps

Phipps


WHERE TO START?!

I have been in Pittsburgh 14 years now and I still find new, amazing and wonderful gems in this city every year. I’ll pick a few in different categories.

Do this first: Phipps Conservatory is right down the street from our venue and full of plants and art.

A “Pittsburgh” thing to do: Eat a Primanti Brothers sandwich. We’re famous for these. It’s meat, coleslaw and fries on a sandwich. Alternately, check out the Duquesne Incline. Some of the country’s oldest continuously operating inclines and beautiful views of the city.

Want better food than Primanti’s? Check out our burgeoning food scene at Salt, Avenue B, Tender or Meat and Potatoes, just to name a few.

A Pittsburgh attraction: Catch a Pirates game at PNC Park. The ballpark, opened in 2001, features great views of the city over the Allegheny River and a 50/50 shot at some good baseball. There are games Wed night before PCF kicks off and Sunday afternoon after the festival.

A little culture: Pittsburgh has great museums, large and small. I’d recommend the Andy Warhol Museum and The Mattress Factory for off-beat art. There’s also the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History a short walk from our venue.

Worth sticking around for: extend your trip to see Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright (about 1.5 hours drive North of the city) or the Bayernoff Museum (20 mins North, a mini-mansion with secret passages and one of the largest collections of automatic musical instruments). Both require reservations in advance and are 100% WORTH SEEING.

If you come back another weekend (which I recommend!), you can also check out:

Art crawls: downtown once a quarter and for the young and hip crowd, head over to the Penn Avenue Arts District on the first Friday every month (followed by a great dance party).

Killer small theater scene: Bricolage, Barebones Productions, City Theater, Pittsburgh Playwrights, Quantum Theater, Uncumber Theatrics (to name a few).

You’re surrounded by a lot of great cities. Many performers will be driving to the festival, but many will be considering flying out. That’s an investment. What do you hope they’ll take away from the festival that will make it a great experience for them? And for you?


I would love performers to leave PCF thinking:

  • They really went out of there way to take care of me and my group.
  • We had a fun show on an amazing stage–large and open but with an intimate feel. And built for theater. That’s where I like to perform improv.
  • I met so many amazing people! I took advantage of the happy hour, the drink specials after shows, and hit up the performer/volunteer party and felt I had a lot of time to connect with other performers.
  • I am really thinking about my work in new ways. I took some great workshops and got to ask a burning question at the comedy panel.
  • Overall, I had no idea there was such an amazing growing scene in Pittsburgh. I’m definitely coming back for PCF 2015 if not before!

If you’d like to visit Pittsburgh, submit now.

Currently Bill is an instructor at The Torch Theatre and producer for the Phoenix Improv Festival. He tours teaching and performing across North America.

Spotlight On: Kansas City Improv Festival

Posted by Bill Binder on May 29, 2014

thumbnail_1399339607-300x300[1]As the National Improv Network moves into its second year, I’ve met so many people who are passionate about improv in so many places that I’ve been to and places I’ve never been before. Among those latter people are the producers of the Kansas City Improv Festival. It was a real pleasure to get to talk, if only briefly with some of the people working on the 2014 Improv Festival and hear about how fantastic that festival can be.

I got to learn a bit about the festival, their direction and their hopes for the year with Ashley Osborn. When she says she hopes to put this festival on troupe’s short lists. I think she may very well pull it off.

 

Kansas City has had a festival for several years now, but this is one of the first years that there’s been an interest in bringing in national groups. Why the change?

We’ve actually had a festival for 14 years—we just took a little break in the middle. The original KC Improv Festival (called Spontaneous Combustion back in the day) was one of the first independent national festivals, and featured acts who traveled from both coasts. There has been participation by acts from across the country every year, from the big dogs (Del Close, Mick Napier, Armando Diaz, etc.) to up-and-coming groups from Chicago, Minneapolis, NYC, Dallas, and beyond. When we brought the festival back, we continued to bring in national acts, but by invitation instead of application.

KCIF131

Photo courtesy Steve Gibson

Because a lot of traveling performers have never played in K.C., what is the improv scene like? How many troupes and theatres are there? And – purely out of curiosity – does the MO side and the KS side of the river have different styles of improv?

K.C.’s improv scene is healthy, innovative and consistently growing, featuring a variety of seasoned veterans and up and coming troupes. Weekly shows and classes are available at 3 separate venues, encompassing the entire spectrum of short and long form with regular weekly shows and competitive formats. Education has taken off in the area over the last few years, and with it the amount of awesome talent in shows every weekend. Luckily, the talent is thick on both sides of the state line, although most shows fall on the Missouri side in and around the Westport entertainment district. Neither Missouri nor Kansas has claimed a specific style that they keep from the other state, although we could use something new to fight about after the Big 12 broke up.

Since you are bringing in national groups this year, what kind of shows are you hoping to attract? What things have your local audiences not seen yet?

We want to bring in awesome performers-period. We aren’t looking for a specific format or performer, just troupes that are ready to rock our audiences.

Outside of performances, will there be other events for visiting performers? Workshops? Parties?

Absolutely! We will have after parties every night of the festival so we can try to show our performers a good time while they’re here. Also, workshops will be available both weekends, instructors to be determined, so stay tuned. Past workshop instructors include Joe Bill, Mark Sutton, Jill Bernard, Susan Messing, and Nick Armstrong. An added bonus is that we generally try to cart our visiting improvisers around as much as possible so that they don’t get lost and end up at the wrong barbecue joints.

Courtesy of Steve Hevlet

Photo Courtesy of Steve Hevlet

What’s the venue like?

We are using two awesome venues this year. Our first weekend will be held at the Off Center Theater in Crown Center, a shopping district in the middle of the city, only a few minutes from downtown, Westport, and the Country Club Plaza. Of the two, it is our larger venue with audiences on three sides of an amazing stage that is perfect for a fired up improv audience. Our second weekend will be held at the Kick Comedy Theater, a venue that houses improv shows every Saturday night for the KC Improv Company and many other guest troupes. The Kick is in the heart of Kansas City, the Westport entertainment district.

When the festivals not going on, where should people visit while they’re in town? What are the best places to see? And where are the best ribs?

If you’re a shopper, hit up our beautiful Country Club Plaza. If you’re into museums, hit up the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the Kemper Museum of Modern Art, or the Crossroads Art District. If you’re looking for a wild night, hit up the Power & Light District or Westport. If you want the best barbecue you’ve ever had, go to Oklahoma Joe’s, it is in a gas station, just go with it (fellow contenders are Arthur Bryant’s, Fiorellas Jack Stack, & Gates). If you want to witness an amazing local fave and you happen to drink beer, check out the Boulevard Brewery, or just order a Boulevard beer. Also, we have fountains everywhere, look around, its our thing.

If you could have a perfect festival, what would you hope visitors, both performers and audience members would say about it?

Our perfect festival would leave people remembering that it was filled with down-to-earth improvisers, mind-blowing workshops, and kick-ass shows. We work to put on a professional festival that showcases our improv scene while inviting visitors to join us, teach us, and entertain us. We want to be on every troupe’s short list so that they can be a part of the incredible momentum we have going on here in K.C. And barbecue.

It’s not too late. Festival submissions are still open, but they’re ending soon.  Be sure to submit today.

Currently Bill is an instructor at The Torch Theatre and producer for the Phoenix Improv Festival. He tours teaching and performing across North America.

Festival Review: The First Ever FemProv Fest is a Hit!

Posted by Jodi Skeris on May 13, 2014

My 2-person team, Fancy Football (with Holly McKee Clark) were lucky enough to get into the First Annual Femprov Fest ’14 in San Francisco. The ladies put on a killer festival for their first go ’round! Many high fives to Jill Eickmann and producers Chrysteena Lairamore, Radhika Rao, Michele F. Salami, and Sabrina Dax who handled publicity. The shows were held in the Tides Theatre off of Union Square with solid line ups. The fest had not only improv teams but also sketch and stand up in the mix. I was massively impressed at the crowd they pulled in for all the slots. My team’s slot was almost sold out in the 100ish seat theater. The fest ran like a well-oiled machine with no awkward lulls between sets. The festival also had some co-ed and lady-focused workshops which I didn’t get the chance to attend (a bit out of my price range), but looked awesome. Me and Holly did get some solid hang out time with the Jill, her staff, volunteers, and members of the other teams at a nearby pub. Free popcorn brings people together my friends.

I’m very excited to see this fest grow and develop in the many years to come. It doesn’t matter what gender you are, you’re gonna want to witness the fun!

Jodi Skeris

Jodi Skeris is an actress and writer in Los Angeles. Jodi started improvising and sketching back in WI in 2002ish until she moved to NY in 2004ish. She began her training in NY at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (UCB) and expanded to Armando Diaz’s Magnet Theater as well as the People’s Improv Theater. Since moving to L.A. in 2010ish, she’s continued her improv training at the iO West and UCB-LA. Jodi has performed in many sketches, indie/house/musical improv teams, plays, musicals, web series, video shorts and indie features in NY, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and WI. She’s also written sketches, one person shows, video shorts, and web series as well. She’s also been on the TV too! Ohh! If you want to learn more about Jodi and her adventures, check out her website at: www.jodiskeris.com

A Social Festival for All

Posted by Maria Konopken on May 8, 2014

So you have a Facebook and Twitter for your improv festival. You may even have a Google+ page. Sweet. Awesome. Now what? Many festival organizers and improv groups know they need a Facebook, Twitter, and all the things because everyone else has it. But most of the time those pages just sits their unused which can be your biggest mistake. By leaving your social untouched and unloved, you are missing out on one of your festival’s biggest assets to help not only promote, but also build your festival’s presence. Here are a few tips to help you get started make your Social Media well social.

1. Make it a part of your marketing plan.

Along with your website, interviews, and flyers, your Social Media should be considered in your marketing plan. As Ariel said, go where the people are. With nearly 30% of Americans getting their news via Social Media, it is a force that can not be ignored when it comes to promoting. Just posting everyone once in a while is cool, but it doesn’t get the word out. You get the word out by coming up with a plan for before, during, and after the festival. This can range from what you are posting, Facebook advertising, and hashtags for the event.
On anything you use for marketing, make sure it connects with your Social Media. For example, on flyers make sure you have your Facebook and Twitter handle. Connect your website with your social platforms. The main purpose of Social Media isn’t to sell sell sell, but think of it as a television commercial or radio spot, but online. While you can’t always connect directly to ticket sales, the proof will be in how well the word got out.

2. It’s Personal

Let your festival reflect the offline atmosphere online. That means all your posts shouldn’t be come to our show! Come to our workshops! Buy tickets! Some of your posts (which should maybe be 5-7 a week leading up to the festival) should be about the groups, some of the planning, fundraisers, or anything personal towards the festival. One of the 13th Phoenix Improv Festival’s most popular posts were photos of the performers as teenagers. Another was images from past festivals that built up nostalgia and got users excited for the upcoming festival. People in general relate to things more on a personal level. As a result, they are more likely to invest in seeing your festival, and are less likely to ignore your buy tickets posts when they do happen.

3. Get the performers involved

Piggy backing off point two, if your performers are having fun it will reflect in their shows. This can be done before the festival by featuring them in your social media, emailing asking for any of their promotion, or as the Phoenix Improv Festival likes to do, treat them like rockstars. Be creative in how you post or get them involved, and know they may not want to and that is alright. You may want to start with local groups and build from there. Those groups that are invested personally will your biggest advocates for your current festival and beyond.

4. Your audience isn’t just improvisors.

While the performers of the festival may be your biggest advocates, they aren’t the ones buying tickets. Sure their family and friends may purchase some, however you should try to appeal to the general public of your city. With your Social Media, make sure some of your posts are directed at people who love watching improv to those who have not seen it before. This can range from videos, photos, and getting the venue and local businesses involved. For example, any Tweet we were sure to mention the Herberger Theater and mention our Family Friendly shows. Also connect with your local audience because who knows your city better than you?

5. Have Fun!

At the end of the day, improv is adults playing make believe on stage. While we can have grounded moments, your social media shouldn’t be your Office Space type of job. Your Social Media should reflect the fun and beauty that is improv. Whether it is pictures from the event, quotes from the show, or what is going on backstage, let your audience, performers, and online community know the fun you are having. Don’t be an asshole. 😉

Born and raised in Phoenix Arizona. Runner. Improvisor. Traveler. I play well with others in my fancy shoes, and I love Space Jam.

5 Things you should do after a “bad show”

Posted by Ryan Nallen on May 6, 2014

In my time as a performer, I’ve had good shows and I’ve had bad shows. I put “bad show” in quotations for a reason, which you’ll see why later. You can’t always be ‘on’ nor should you be. You need to have a bad show every once in a while to bring yourself back down from cloud nine. Most importantly, a bad show keeps you humble and it keeps you hungry. The feeling I have after a bad show is the worst. So bad that I don’t want to feel that ever again. So bad that I actually want to perform again that night to get another try. I didn’t always think that way though. There were times where I would let a bad show ruin my night or week and dwell on it. However, with time, I learned that dwelling on it wasn’t pushing me forward, but instead holding me back. Below I’ve listed some things or ideas to keep it mind that have worked for me when walking off stage after what I considered a “bad show.”

1. Identify what didn’t work

You have to take a step back and think about what occurred during the show that didn’t work for you. Specifically, what YOU did personally during the show. DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT tell others what they did that didn’t work during the show. Leave it to your coach to identify what other people did or didn’t do wrong. It’s not your place to say, “Hey you played a character that steamrolled the whole show!” That will always be taken as a personal attack and it’s also not your place to say such a thing. So, think about what you did specifically during the show that didn’t work. Maybe you came out and said a line trying to be funny and it bombed. Maybe you played a character that was a bit over the top and didn’t allow your partners room to speak. Identify those SPECIFIC things so that you can work on them or stop doing them in future shows. If you’re someone who is constantly running out to be in the first scene and your shows have been lacking lately, maybe take a step back and let someone else have a try.

2. Identify what did work

This may seem contradictory to the above concept, but it’s not. There are so many different facets to an improv show. It’s easy to walk off stage after a show that didn’t get many laughs and think the entire show was a failure. However, that’s not always true. At a basic level, you would consider that a “bad show”, but in reality there is no such thing as a bad show in my opinion. There are off shows sure, but not ‘bad.’ There is always something someone has done in a show, no matter what, that is something creative they brought to the table. Remember we’re getting on stage and making things up, which takes confidence, courage, and creativeness. The three 3 C’s. It could be a minor detail of the scene (“this cabin is cold”) or just calling your scene partner “Dad” or “Mom.” Those are ideas and they wouldn’t have occurred had you or your partner not brought them to the table. Remember that. A bad show would be two people standing there staring at each other saying absolutely nothing for 25 minutes. You have to think about the things that you did during the show that were minor accomplishments. For example, I did a show in a bar (barprov) where there were little to no laughs from the audience. I could have considered that a failure, but instead I focused on the things that worked well for me and bettered myself as a performer like good scene work, object work, and the edits being on point. There is always a silver lining. There’s always a plus side. I’ve (and I’m sure we all have) heard audience members say, “I could never get on stage and do what you do.” Remember that when you stop and think, “I suck” because you’re doing something that is considered inspiring in someone else’s eyes.

3. Be critical

Don’t bullshit yourself. In the past, I would say to myself, “well I was having fun and that’s all that matters” after I had an off show. I wasn’t identifying what did or didn’t go wrong or right, but instead just saying, “hey that was great guys!” That mindset was not getting me any better. I wasn’t moving forward, but instead staying stuck in the rut that I had now created for myself. Sure, having fun is one of the main reasons why I started doing comedy in the first place, but I also want to be a good performer and I strive to be better at doing something I love. I started to be more critical and rather than patting myself on the back for a mediocre show I started being much harder on myself. For example, something I may say to myself now would be say “that character got laughs (good), but I repeated that catch phrase too many times which watered down the character (bad).” If the show didn’t go well then tell yourself that. If you want to be good at something you have to be a relentless critic of yourself. There is always a better to your best. You can walk off stage having the best show of your life or the worst show of your life, but there will always be something that you could have done better.

4. Move on

The show is over and there is nothing you can do to go back in time and change that. That’s a fact and until time machines are created there is no changing that. There is no point in living in the past nor should you want to. After a show, briefly (by brief I mean 10 minutes) take time to identify the things that worked and didn’t work and then MOVE ON. Sure, you had a bad show and it sucks, but you can’t live in that. You can’t dwell on that. You have to take the notes you’re given (even if you’re giving them to yourself), and look forward to the future. This is something that applies to any failure in life. You don’t want to live in the failure and be miserable about it all the time but instead learn from it and strive to be better.

5. Schedule another show

If you don’t have another show scheduled on your calendar then schedule one. As we’ve all heard from Batman Begins, “Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.” I remember that line every time I fail at something in life. We fail so that we can learn from it and work harder about so it never happens again. One of the biggest motivators for me after an ‘off show’ is knowing that I will always have another chance. There will always be another opportunity to try again. Having an off show also brings you back down and reminds you that you’re not untouchable. It keeps you hungry.

As a performer, no matter what level you consider yourself (beginner or advanced), you will always have good and bad shows. It’s inevitable. You won’t be hitting homeruns at every single show you perform in and even if you’re consistently getting laughs, there is always a better to your best. You need to constantly challenge yourself and be hard on yourself so that you can grow as a performer. You need to identify the things that worked and the things that didn’t work for a short period of time after a show and then look forward to the future to apply what you learned.

Once again, that’s only until time machines have been created.

Ryan Nallen is a graduate of the iO Training Center, the Second City Conservatory, and the Annoyance Theater in Chicago. Ryan performs regularly with his independent team Switch Committee as well as on the Playground team Desperado. In addition, he is an Associate Producer for Big Little Comedy, which produces the Big Little Comedy Fest each year. In January 2013, he completed an entire month of comedy by performing 31 days in a row. He’s a frequent blogger (ryannallen.com, NIN, iO Water Cooler), Pinterester, Instagramer and Tweeter. Based on that previous sentence, it can be assumed that he has no life.

 

Admit to Everything

A Look Back at the Alaska State Improv Festival

Posted by Bill Binder on April 30, 2014
A Festival Happened Here

A Festival Happened Here

When I’ve been telling people I went to an improv festival in Alaska, the first thing they want to know about is… Alaska. And it’s understandable why. Alaska is still a far away frontier filled with danger and beauty. So let’s talk about it for a moment. Juneau, Alaska is surrounded on every angle by beautiful mountains and snow-caps. Lakes and rivers. Oh, and humpback whales. But as foreign an experience as the small little town in the north was, one thing was very familiar; a love of improv.

Juneau has a small downtown, a very small downtown. I walked it’s circumference a few times while I was there. But almost every book store or coffee shop I stopped in at knew I was “one of the improvisors”. In a town that size, people care about their community and are excited to see art grow there. And in a town that size, you’re going to run into other performers at just about every meal or excursion and get a chance to sit down with new folks over a meal and talk improv. Even without a festival going on in the evening, it was a lovely improv experience.

But there was nothing “small” about the improv. Eric Caldwell and Michael Christenson are known for shows around the country that are the farthest thing from “playing it easy”. In a community that may very well let them get away without challenging themselves, they play on the edge of absurdism and dadaism in wonderful ways. The result is a small and educated community prepared to enjoy the many kinds of improv out there.

Glacier Runoff

Glacier Runoff

And that’s what they brought into town; puppetry, apocalyptic cabaret, shows exploring the themes of Lovecraft and 1930’s pulp and more. I personally was very happy to showcase invocation to an audience like that at the beginning of my Sunday show.

Oh yeah, and we all got on a boat and watched humpback whales.

This is about as far an experience from Del Close Marathon as one can get. It’s like getting welcomed, ever so briefly into a little secret art community and have the chance to share your art and learn from theirs and then go home. I’m actually torn now because I would desperately love to submit a show to visit again next year, but I’d almost feel guilty of robbing some other performer a chance to experience such a thing.

Huge thanks to Eric and Mike and all of the volunteers who were there every day. This isn’t going to be an “every year” festival for most performers. It’s a big journey. But I hope every troupe tries to visit this place and recharge their improv.

—
Currently Bill is an instructor at The Torch Theatre and producer for the Phoenix Improv Festival. He tours teaching and performing across North America.

Festival Review: The Phoenix Improv Festival Rises For the 13th Time!

Posted by Nick Armstrong on April 29, 2014

I had the great opportunity to attend the Phoenix Improv Festival last weekend and this festival has no signs of slowing down. The theme of the Festival seemed to be a throwback to early High School. Which would make sense since the festival just hit puberty at 13 years. But PIF has always been a mature festival from the get go. You know like a kid that has an old spirit? That’s PIF in a nutshell.

The venue is unbeatable to this day. Held at the Herberger Theater which holds a little more than 300 people you are in a theater that would make William Shakespeare jealous. Also, the teams that played were solid, coming from all over the country, New York, Los Angeles, Cedar City, Chicago and of course their local improv scene which has grown tremendously over the past 13 years.

It was great to see the Arizona community come together for this festival. The Torch Theater, JesterZ, NCT Phoenix and Not Burned Out Just Unscrewed were all on hand to hang out with each other, perform and celebrate improv in their state.

One of the many great things about PIF, is they know how to take care of their improvisors. They take cover one night of hotel for your team, den mothers who drive your drunk team everywhere and get you safely to and from parties and workshops. Our Den Mother for King Ten was awesome and made us all sack lunches ala the theme of the festival. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, kool-aid and an apple! Thanks Stacey Gordon! The thing I really lov e about PIF is it’s not just a festival, for one weekend out of the year you are a Phoenix Improvisor. They treat you as if you are a part of their family.

For the last two years PIF has tried to do an unconference. How this works is improvisors attend, make up what topics they want to talk about during the morning session and then come back later to chat about those topics. I thought this was great idea, but wasn’t well attended unfortunately. Improvisors really missed out.  I will say that I attended and got a lot of great information from it and the people that were in there did as well. It was a great way to share and exchange information. Topics included everything from diversity in improv to team management. I hope to see it grow.

Bottom line. Look for this festival next year. It’s by far one of the great festivals in the country and has consistently been for the last 13 years. One of the first festivals out West, and I see many more years to come!

Nick Armstrong

Nick is Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for adults in California and Pennsylvania. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network and performer and teacher at iO West as well as member of The Sunday Company at The Groundlings.  He has also taught many workshops around the country. We are always looking for better ways to serve the community. Drop us a line and let us know what you want.

To e-mail nick e-mail nick@nationalimprovnetwork.com. For more information visit: http://www.nickarmstrong.com or http://www.improvutopia.com

Discovery: How a Long-Form Audience Gets Involved

Posted by Nick Armstrong on April 22, 2014

In short-form improv the audience is with you from the get go. Frequently asked to participate with a suggestion here and there or asked to come up onstage and be a part of a game. Short-form has a way of keeping and audience participating and being a part of the show and it’s great. Audiences love to be a part of something. In long-form, the audience participation becomes a little tricky. Most teams ask for a suggestion at the beginning and then the audience watches their show for thirty minutes. The show can be great or the show could be a stinker. Now, I’m not about to say that an audience has to be pulled up in a long-form show or has to constantly asked for suggestions, that’s not long-form. But I always ask myself:

How in long-form do we keep the audience a participant in the show?

Sure you can say the basics like a team that listens to each other, has fun and wraps the show up in a nice bow is a way to keep an audience captivated. It can. But what’s the thing that is the magic of long-form? The thing that keeps the audience surprised and leaning forward in their seats? DISCOVERY. It’s the discovery that the improvisor or team make in moments. This is what keeps a long-form audience participating in your show. Because right when you make that discovery, they do too and that makes them feel a part of the experience. If your team is truly in the moment and on the same page then the audience is right there with you and with each discovery comes a laugh, a lean forward in your seat moment, a wow, or even an aww every now and then. If your show lacks discovery then most likely it’s relying too heavily on invention and audiences can sense that, they don’t know what it is, but it’s not real or funny to them. If your team is in invention mode, then the audience has a chance to get ahead of you  and most likely be disinterested or not care.

Discovery vs. Invention:

Discoveries are found in the true moment of a scene. It’s the discovery that your show has been in a pyramid the whole time, that the two of you are siblings, but didn’t know till the middle or end of the show, that Jane was actually the waitress from the first scene, but the girl buying groceries and falling in love with the checker in the last beat. The simple discovery of knowing your partners want. It’s a way a show magically comes together. Through a series of discoveries.

On the other hand there’s invention. This is a dirty word in long-form improv. Invention is used when you have nothing and really just have to make something up, going for a joke or adding plot. John and Sue are in a scene and they are two students in a high school hallway. Sue gives John a glance and a wink, John then says, “I know you’re an alien.” Now, this could be a discovery if that was a lead on from another scenes, but pretend this is a first beat. It’s kind of out of left field and Sue was trying to give John the gift that she likes him. John doesn’t take it and invents a plot point instead. Now the scene is an uphill battle. In a moment of discovery, John takes the bait from Sue and adds information back. Then they continue to discover together building off the last thing said.

So, what to do? Simple, don’t get ahead of yourself. Listen, really listen to your partners body language, tone of voice, what they’re saying and how they’re saying it. And then you can start to discover the true scene together. Don’t worry about getting it right in the first moments of the scene. Just stay true to your character and what they want and then have a fun time discovering the rest. Your audience will appreciate you more and so will your scene partner.

Nick Armstrong

Nick is Camp Director and Founder of Improv Utopia an improv retreat for adults in California and Pennsylvania. He is also one of the founding members of the National Improv Network and performer and teacher at iO West as well as member of The Sunday Company at The Groundlings.  He has also taught many workshops around the country. We are always looking for better ways to serve the community. Drop us a line and let us know what you want.

To e-mail nick e-mail nick@nationalimprovnetwork.com. For more information visit: http://www.nickarmstrong.com or http://www.improvutopia.com

 

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