Chicago Part 3: The Ugly

Monday, May 25, 2009 by John Robison.

Though there was a lot to love about the Chicago Improv Festival, there were plenty of shows that I would have been fine not seeing. We won’t be mentioning any names of these groups. Every group has an average or sub-par performance, especially when they’re in a new, unfamiliar location, so just in case these performances were unusual, we won’t addle them with a negative review. However, a negative review can often teach us much, especially if we can avoid what went wrong. Here are the bottom 7:

Group 1: 4 men, 3 women. I’ve seen this group perform before, and have really liked them before. The set started out really well, with very heavy scene painting that set up a playground, complete with swings, a knocked out tooth, and a diamond ring. There wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with this show… but it didn’t really do anything for me either. Relationships were well set up and solid, but

what went wrong:  there was a lack of strong decisions or games, so the entire story was fairly level, with minimal raised stakes. The story was fairly predictable. Comedy comes from the unexpected, and there wasn’t any here.

Group 2: 8 women. This is another set that was perfectly fine, but generally unremarkable. This set was based on the word “psychology,” and took place all around the same multi-story apartment building in a series of two-person scenes. This is a great format, and led to some fun moments… there just weren’t enough of them. I’ll probably get into trouble for this, as I’m putting forth a wild generalization, but in general, I find that when improvisers start out, the female improvisers catch on to on-stage relationship building very easily, and have great emotional connections… but those scenes tend to be static. Male improvisers generally are more plot-based, and come up with these terrifically complex and fun situations.. but you really couldn’t give a flying flip about the characters, which usually have no depth.

what went wrong:  Being a group of all women, it suffered from gal-prov syndrome - great relationships, and nothing really happened. The pace was pretty quick… but just as a scene was starting to cook, an edit happened. There were lots of questions on stage that added no information. Each of the eight actors had at least two characters, which made for problems remembering names and a little confusion occasionally as to which character was on stage at any one moment. Also, the person in the booth was like a kid with a new toy, as he got in the way several times during this 30-minute set with different sound effects and the bubble machine. There really wasn’t a reason to hear a wolf howl while the characters were having a heart-to-heart on top of the skyscraper.

Group 3: 6 men, 3 women. This was a group of teenagers, which means that they were light on experience, but heavy on energy and enthusiasm. This group was fine, and will probably really be great once they gain some more life experience. The set began with each character actor coming forward all at the same time with an initiation, and each one continued their own scene - so the audience got an onslaught of nine simultaneous one-person scenes. Kind of a cool opening, if a little tough to figure out. Scenes went from one side of the stage to the other quickly, and there were a lot of funny moments, but

what went wrong: since the scenes were so quick, there was a quick joke, and then nothing else happened. Characters never connected, and scenes didn’t go anywhere. And with such quick scenes, it was tough to keep coming up with new ideas based on the same suggestion. If the actors had been older, they’d have never made it.

Group 4: 4 men, 3 women. This show featured short monologues followed by scenes. There were some fun games and characters, but

what went wrong: the show was almost completely unmemorable due to a bizarre circumstance in which characters with no relationships talked exclusively about things and events in an unemotional way and somehow managed to speak completely in generalities. In my experience, talking about “stuff,” especially without detail, is about the most boring thing you can do to an audience.

Group 5: 6 men, 1 woman.  I was surprised that one of the shows I decided to see turned out to be a scripted show… I guess that’s what I get for stumbling out away from the official Chicago Improv Festival schedule. Perhaps I shouldn’t have. I should let you know that before I started doing improv, I did scripted theater, both on stage and directing, for about 20 years. This show was absolutely one of the worst shows I have ever seen, although there were some really fun characters and moments, like puppets with human heads crossing Niagara Falls, a vampire that doesn’t realize what he is, and a strangely emotional man with a barrel instead of skin.

what went wrong: The script seemed like it had been written at about 2 a.m. the previous morning while the whole cast was stoned, drunk, or both. There were three tons of random lines and scenes tossed in that didn’t fit with any of the rest of the ’script’ (which appeared on stage during certain scenes that weren’t quite solid yet)… these were lines which you could tell the cast thought were hilarious, and the audience thought about 25% of them were good. What was intended to be a wholesale ripped off “Golden Ticket” musical number (from Willy Wonka) was instead a half-assed half-mumbled disaster. Maybe this show will be good after a complete re-write and another month of rehearsal, but somehow, I doubt it.

Group 6: 4 men, 2 women.  At the time, this was the worst improv show I had ever seen. Using an extended Harold format with no opening, this team explored the world around a ski resort. The show started out in a really promising way, with several compelling characters and good relationships. If only they had stopped after the first beat.

what went wrong: The Harold group games seemed to be either completely scripted or planned out to barely incorporate an audience suggestion. How do I know? They used props and lettered placards to introduce the games “Argument with a Dolphin” and “The Slap,” which respectively ended with an actress getting squirted with actual water and with an actor getting ‘comedically’ slapped after a long buildup. This group used props and costumes to differentiate characters… so as you can imagine, characters were all relatively similar. Like so many of the other groups you’ve read about so far, there was too much plot, a lack of specific detail, a general lack of games… but maybe that was good.

One game in particular involved a scene in which a man was talking to a foreigner in the visitor’s native language. For the audience, this meant watching a scene in complete gibberish. Not a bad idea, really, and it has the potential to be really fun. When the scene lasts from around 6-7 minutes (honestly… I started looking at my watch once I thought it had gone on too long, and it had already been two or three minutes at that point), you end up at the least boring and at the most angering your audience. The other people on the team had a complete failure to recognize when that particular game was done. I had to nearly physically restrain myself from rocketing onto the stage and editing the scene myself.

At some point during this disaster, I was looking at the actors on the sidelines, and I noticed that there was one actor that I had not seen yet, and at this point, we were in the third beat already. Again… maybe that was OK. When he entered in the 4th beat, he did nothing but deny, ask questions, and destroy the narrative. It was unbelievable. When the end came, it was a relief.

After this show, which was paired with Group 1 (above) for a price of $15, I was fairly upset, to say the least.  On the train on the way to a different show, I was in a rant (part of seeing a show with me, I suppose… if it’s crap, you will hear about it). During this diatribe, I remarked that I could have done a better show in a coma. A month later, we now have a show planned around that very idea… watch for “Coma Chameleon” coming in June. Even terrible shows are good for something.

Group 7: 3 men, 2 women.  A mere two days after the worst show I’d ever seen, this group came along, shattering the record. This group attempted short form games, which is ballsy for the Chicago Improv Festival, although if you do it well, you’ll really stand out. That didn’t happen, though the group started out well. They started with a version of “Doo Run Run” using holidays instead of names, and it was actually a great alternative to the version everyone else plays. It was a good two-minute warmup.

what went wrong:  They didn’t stop with that game. They moved on to “Symphony,” which they decided to play using only vomit noises. By the time they finished 10 minutes later (yes, 10 minutes of vomit noises), more than one of my companions were feeling physically ill. I was just bored. But even this wasn’t the worst part.

With 10-15 minutes left in the set, they decided to fill it with a “Revival,” in which they take audience suggestions and form a religion around them, then hold a revival. The game lasted way too long… was way too loud… too “wacky wacky,” completely unconnected to any kind of real emotion, completely devoid of any likeable character, and had entirely too much schtick. That’s not even the worst part.

At one point during this turd of a game, the actors call upon the entire audience to stand up and begin clapping along to their loud and terrible singing about Snagglepuss. Audience members that did not seem to be completely experiencing a come-to-Jesus moment were in for it. If you stood up and declined to clap, one of the actors would come up to you, point at you, and yell back to the stage that he had found an unbeliever. One of my traveling companions received this treatment, and was completely mortified, as was I.

At one point during this onslaught, I glanced down to the aisle beside the seats (seats are raised, hiding the aisle) and saw two fairly prominent national improvisers that had found their way to this hiding spot, where they wouldn’t have to participate and tacitly approve of this behavior. I have never before seen an audience bullied in this way.

As you read the following statement, remember that I own an improv theater, and spend hundreds of hours a month on improv: If this had been the first improv show I’d ever seen, I would never go to another one. Groups that do things like this might amuse their friends, but they will chase away more people than they attract, and that’s bad for all of us.

Overall: I’m not normally a Negative Nelly - I’m a natural optimist, and see the positive in everything. However, there are bad shows out there… hopefully we can see them, learn lessons from them, never repeat their mistakes, and improve the art of improvisation for everyone.

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Chicago, Pt. 2: The Top Shows

Monday, April 27, 2009 by John Robison.

The shows we saw in Chicago ranged from mind-blowing to blood boiling. As a showcase of top talent across the country (and world), I had an expectation that the shows at the Chicago Improv Festival would be tours de force, helping inspire ideas in me and give me a standard of quality to shoot for. That wasn’t truly the case, however.

Out of the 14 shows I saw, I would consider three to be really great, two to be above average, five average, one below average, and three to be terrible. I’ll start with the top half. You should see these ensembles if you get the chance:

1. Mustache Rangers, Minneapolis, MN

Somehow the two men with fake mustaches managed to create a dynamic relationship and weave a fantastic story without ever moving from their chairs, or indeed, even turning their heads. The Rangers were so sharp and detail-specific that I found myself picturing their described scenarios in my head, no matter how impossible they might have been. Clever wordplay and brilliant relationship work showed us all exactly how great improv should be done. Go see the Rangers if you get the chance. You’ll be glad you did. Takeaways: Details are fabulous. I am a little jealous I didn’t think of this format first.

2. The DK & Morgan Show, Bellingham, WA

Great improv always has clearly defined, compelling relationships at its foundation, and this show was no exception. The two men (DK and Morgan) hopped around in a series of scenes, creating each relationship quickly - hunter & rabbit, lifeguards, business owner & employee, father & video game playing son… each scene had an interesting dynamic and found a game quickly. It sucked me right in. As with most sets, certain times found the men with a moment of waning energy, but the clever duo also had a pianist with them to help cover transitions, pick up energy, set mood, and enhance scenes. In the scene with the video game, the theme from “Super Mario Brothers” played softly in the background while the duo talked. The whole crowd applauded when the actor pushed the pause button, and the piano chimed in with the clipped ring identical to the pause music in the game.  Takeaways: Establishing definite relationships right out of the gate saves time. A good improv pianist is worth his/her weight in gold.

3. Late Night Tit Bits, Chicago, IL

This show was not part of the festival itself, but went on directly before my show. I would have seen whatever show happened right before mine - I’m glad I saw this one. It was advertised as “burlesque improv,” and it was… kinda. It was definitely a burlesque show. The smarmy male host did his job really well, keeping a great pace and keeping the crowd engaged between the scripted monologues of the six women, which were funny stories about how each got involved in burlesque performing (each actor kept the same character throughout); and each woman’s dance, each of which was energetic, fun, and sexy. In particular, my favorite was the real estate agent that just danced on the side… her dance was full of verve and joy, which made her amazing. On the improv side of the coin… it was there. The host took my suggestion of “burned out light bulbs” as the problem facing the house that evening, a suggestion which did indeed pop up from time to time during pre-determined “improv segments,” which featured some one-line jokes about the problem and some brainstorming about how to solve it. Improv only made up about 5-10% of the whole show… and the improv itself wasn’t terribly stellar, but it didn’t need to be, as the rest of the show was full of life and energy. I genuinely enjoyed myself…and would have been just as entertained if the improv had been absent altogether. Takeaways: Energy, commitment to a character, and fun count for a lot. A little skin doesn’t hurt either.

4. Imp’ers, Martha’s Vineyard, MA

This group was one of the apprentice teams, were really young, and had one of the best shows I saw at the whole festival. The five women and two men in this troupe performed “FarmProv,” in which each scene happened at a farm, and all the characters were animals. The strength of this troupe was that the great characters had believable relationships, and when they found the games in each scene, they played the hell out of them. In particular, a scene in which the chickens and lizards went to war against each other was hilarious. This troupe had its problems, sure (like lack of detail in scene painting)… but problems are so very easy to overlook when you have good basic improv skills combined with this much joy and exuberance. Great show. Takeaways: I already knew animal characters can be really funny - I have a lot of stock recurring animal characters that routinely bring the house down - but when you have an entire stage full of anthropromorphic animals, you’re freed from human constraints, and magic can happen. I may adapt this concept into a longform of my own.

5. Psychic Improv, Boston, MA

Again, great relationships and fun games combine to make a show worth seeing. Ths group’s schtick is that they are both psychics, and they prove it by having an audience member write down a phrase on a sheet of paper before the show. They seal this paper inside an envelope, which they rub on their foreheads (a la Johnny Carson) between each scene. At the end of the set, they open the envelope, reveal the phrase, and use the old improv maxim “you can justify anything” to apply that phrase to each scene in the entire set.  Good fun! Takeaways: It doesn’t matter what happens in any given scene… you can justify anything.

6. Moving Walkways, Baltimore, MD

Another apprentice team, two women and two men were this time performing a format that is really similar to the one Omega Directive does in the first half of its show. MW started by putting an iPod on shuffle, skipping past a certain number of songs, then using that song as inspiration for all the scenes that followed. The song turned out to be from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” so the scenes were religion, church, and sin based, including classes on how to be a deity and how to fornicate properly. The characters were all quite good and compelling, and the only thing that stopped this group from being higher on the list is that nothing really ever happened to them. Takeaways: Characters and relationships are so very important, and are a great way to start a scene.

7. Three-Hole Punch, Boston, MA

The third group from Massachusetts in my top 7 makes me wonder what’s in the water up there. This group of four women had a series of three-person scenes that recurred throughout the set. The relationships were fine, and the games were fun. It was a great show to watch, and even though there was never a specific point when they really sunk their improv hooks into me, I still enjoyed myself. Takeaways: Three-person scenes aren’t necessarily too crowded right up top.

Still to come… the bottom 7, and the horrors contained within.

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Chicago 2009, Pt. 1 - the narrative

Thursday, April 23, 2009 by John Robison.

We just got back from the Chicago Improv Festival… and it was a great time! Though I personally was performing with Babelfish (along with Joe and Nathan), Julie, Nifer and Carl decided they’d like to have some fun at the festival as well. It was the four of us that made the trip up in the Prius.

We left at about 10:15pm last Thursday, directly following Roving Imp rehearsal. It had been one heck of a day, but we still managed to leave on time. Julie and I switched off turns behind the wheel every two hours, to make sure we didn’t get too fatigued… Friday was going to be another really huge day. It was a fun drive, and most of us managed to get at least two hours of sleep. When we arrived in Chicago mid-morning, we stopped in Lincoln Park to stretch the legs and enjoy the scenery. We walked and hung out along the shore of Lake Michigan for an hour, and then came inland for some frisbee. (If you don’t know, I’m a huge frisbee fan… I’ve played in four countries, on the rolling hills of England, in the courtyards of monasteries, city streets, and tons of other places… so relaxing and so fun!)

Our first appointment in Chicago wasn’t until 3pm, so we found our hotel, explored the city a little to make sure we knew exactly where train stops were, and had a lunch of stuffed pizza at a famous pizzaria. One piece apiece was plenty. Yummy, yes… but holy moly… the only way you could have more cheese would be to shower in it.

The workshops in Chicago were given by famous improv actors of note, but unfortunately, they were a little pricy. I was lucky enough to be able to arrange a private workshop for just Julie, Nifer and I… a highly targeted workshop on improv puppetry, a subject I’ve talked about here on the blog before. We’ve had terrible problems with it - problems which I suspect are now on their way out. Our workshop was with one of the actresses behind “Felt,” a longrunning puppet improv show in Chicago - and one of my personal favorite groups. (I don’t mention her name here since Felt’s actual actors are a pretty well-kept secret, as they don’t see themselves as being in the cast. The puppets themselves are the stars.)

She gave us a lot of great tips, showed us the construction of their stage, worked with our puppets a little, and gave us some insight into how Felt works. The three most valuable bits of advice she gave us were to have more human characters (as opposed to the crazy monsters that dominate our ensemble now), make our puppets have longer arms than they currently have, and to nearly destroy the cardboard in the puppets’ mouths, so that they are almost like a worn-in baseball glove. I’d always been sort of protective of the mouths, as I didn’t want to break my puppet. When I saw the results of the baseball glove effect, I was an instant convert, however. What was I so worried about anyway? It’s cardboard, for crying out loud, which is currently plentiful.

After a half hour nap, it was off to Donny’s Skybox for the evening’s shows. (For show reviews and insights, stay tuned for Part 2!) We got a little lost on the way, so were going to be late for the 8:00 show, until we arrived at the Skybox and found that the show began at 8:30. We saw four groups there, and then headed north, faced with two options: attend the after party at the Annoyance or catch up on sleeping at the hotel. I waffled for a large portion of the train ride… then decided to go to the party. Why not, right? I was still mostly coherent. Joe and Julie came too, and we hung out at the bar in the front of the Annoyance while we waited for the party to kick into full gear. We got to talking with a couple people from Boston, who were waiting to see the midnight festival show, happening in the same theater. It didn’t take me long to decide to see that show rather than stay for the party. Connections and networking are fine, but shows are better. We saw two groups in that show, and at the end, I realized that I was almost too tired to continue living. Julie and I managed to lumber, zombie-like, back to the hotel, where I slept the sleep of the dead.

I woke earlier than I really wanted to the next morning, although I didn’t necessarily want to spend my trip getting the right amount of sleep. Plenty of time to catch up on that later, right? Julie, Carl, Nifer and I got up, ate breakfast, and headed over to the beach (we were right next to the lake) for 90 minutes of walking on the beach and frisbee. The three of them headed off for a visit to Navy Pier while I went back to the Annoyance for a workshop that had been announced at the last minute: a workshop on directing technique given by Mick Napier (whose book I reviewed earlier in the history of this blog).

He knows what he’s doing, and he’s spent time actually quantifying qualities which I’ve always kind of considered to be intangible. I’ve personally been directing shows for 15 years or so, and I had a fantastic high school director that gave me a great example to follow, so the amount of actual new, helpful information I gleaned was small but important, especially in the arena of coping with improvisers with bad or destructive habits. Many of the questions coming from the other directors in the room floored me… I remember thinking that I’d probably have trouble trusting these directors as well, and I wasn’t really surprised that they were having problems with their troupes. But then again, we’ve all got to start somewhere, right? Good directors aren’t usually born.

The workshop also gave me a new confidence. Knowing that the techniques the Great Mick Napier uses aren’t all that different from the techniques that John Robison of the Small Potatoes also uses… well that’s cool. Coming back, I have a renewed sense of clarity, and those improvisers I work with that have issues… I feel like I have the tools to mitigate those problems.

Afterwards, Mr. Napier casually tossed out a quiet and unassuming invitation to the crowd that he had reserved a table at his favorite gay restaurant/bar, and whomever wanted could join him. To my surprise, only about eight people decided to join him. I did… how could I pass it up? Out of the nine people there, five of them were theater owners, which was cool for me. Being a regular man, Mick sat at the other end of the table and talked quietly with the folks down there while casually watching some sporting event. I was a bit disappointed to not get to talk to him more, but still had a wonderful time talking to folks from New York, Chicago and Austin down at my side of the table - all three are big cities for improv, and it was great to get to hear about the scene there. You know something - most of those theaters aren’t doing things much differently than we’re doing here in Bonner Springs.

Toward the end of the meal, Mick switched sides and sat at our end of the table to talk to us for awhile. At that point, a strange realization came upon me. What do I have to say that would be interesting to Mick Napier? I’ve read his book, heard stories about him, visited his theater… it’s an imbalanced relationship right from the start. I ended up talking a little about my theater, a little about his book, and (prodded along by the guy from Chicago), a little about some of my own improv theory that was partially influenced by Mick’s book. All in all, I just hope I didn’t come off looking like a jackass.

My show was that night. All along, I had been saying that whatever shows were playing at the Annoyance that night, I’d see. I just feel a little more at ease playing in a room if I have a little history with it. As we sat in the bar before the shows, Mick Napier recognized me and waved, then came over to our table, and I introduced him to the other three. He was a charming host, giving us a little artwork tour of his lobby.

Before our set, I was relaxed, excited, and ready to go. It was the most normal I’ve felt in any Chicago show I’ve done to date. Ostensibly, my role in the Godot format is to come on with odd and interesting characters inspired by the conversation between Joe and Nathan. This time, however, there was no need. Joe was crazy. He played a lot with the door and window on the stage, and at one point got stuck underneath the audience. He was a robotic fan, did cartwheels, and was artwork. As you might imagine, with a bundle of energy like that, Nathan and I were the straightmen for Joe, which kept the energy balanced and scenes grounded. Having that sort of crazy energy on stage isn’t too common, and it’s fun to play with, even if playing with it often consisted of Nathan and I standing there, watching Joe bounce off the walls, and commenting how strange life could be, and gently poking fun at his behavior. It’s a role I haven’t gotten to take with this format yet, and it was fun to do. I think it went well. People seemed to laugh a lot. Overall, I was happy with the show and with my performance.

I got to hang out at the Annoyance bar afterward, and talked a lot with Nathan and his girlfriend Tara, their friend, the wife of a Mustache Ranger (who thought maybe I was a little bit gay), and Corey Rittmaster, a super talented performer originally from KC that now lives in Chicago. He performed a show at the Roving Imp last summer, and was amazing. I was really excited to hear that he wants to come do another show at the Imp this year… how cool would that be?

Sunday we checked out of our hotel and had breakfast at one of my very favorite vegetarian restaurants - The Handlebar - with my sister-in-law, also a talented actor (who actually started me back on the path to opening a theater, way back when), before we headed over to the Gorilla Tango Theater for the apprentice showcase, where Improv-Abilities performed during last year’s festival. Again… show analysis coming soon.

We packed so very much into these two and a half days. Exhausting and amazing, and it gave me a lot to think about, and some new formats were inspired. I’m glad we went. Let’s see if we can get in again next year, eh?

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ImpFest ‘09

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 by John Robison.

ImpFest ‘09 at the Roving Imp Theater, Bonner Springs, KS - just west of Kansas City!
An Improv Festival Extraordinaire to be held October 21-24, 2009

Now accepting submissions of 20-30 minute improv shows recorded in front of a live audience
To enter your group for consideration, send:
an electronic, CD or DVD copy of your show
a hi-res promotional photo of your group
a brief description of your group’s format
a $12 submission fee

by July 10, 2009

Festival highlights:
Two chances to perform
Rockin’ After-Parties
Optional Group Activities during the day
A relaxed, fun & creative atmosphere

send submissions to:
John Robison
115 Oak St.
Bonner Springs, KS 66012

or electronically:
john@rovingimp.com

Questions? 913-441-2309

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Updates Part 2

Tuesday, April 7, 2009 by John Robison.

Remember a while back when I was updating on all that has been going on? Here’s part two!

Great Shows: Something is starting to happen, as some really mind-blowing shows have occurred lately. In particular, Omega Directive has really come to life. This group has never done a bad show, but the past three or four shows have been amazing. Now that Trish has joined the group, the quality has gone up even more. This group is definitely going to be the next big thing in the area. I’m investigating the possibility of doing some OD shows in other venues to help expand audience faster. Dictionary Soup has been awesome as well. Keith and I seem to have found our place with each other - and it’s a place that is more serious and thoughtful than with any other scene partner I perform with. That doesn’t mean we ignore the wacky… there’s still plenty of that… but the wider array of emotion, energy, and subject matter tend to make the shows more memorable, interesting, and funny. We’re also hitting some great strides with Biblioclast, which has absolutely come alive since we did our format tweak nearly three months ago. Our characters are more interesting, and bigger things are happening. This is the group I expect the most growth from in the coming months.

Anniversary Show: I’ve got a whole post coming soon about the 2nd anniversary night. Keep watching this blog.

Concessions: Despite my attempts to find a company to supply a wider and cheaper variety of concessions, so far I’ve been unable to find one that fills that need as well as the need of decent customer service. The last company I tried not only wanted bank account numbers, social security numbers, credit card numbers, personal mortgage info, and other personal information, but also had sub-par communication. As I told them in a note, right now I get concessions from Wal-Mart. I give them money, they give me product, and they don’t ask any questions. They clearly state prices and have knowledgeable staff standing by. A lot of people have bad things to say about Wal-Mart, but when their products, service, and price is clearly better, well… the free market tends to take care of competitors. The hunt continues. If you know of a place that supplies snacks, I’m all ears.

Classes & IA: Classes here at the Roving Imp have been going really well. They’ve been going so well that we added a Monday class about six weeks ago… which is now nearly full as well. It continually amazes me how even people new to improv can be tremendously successful with just a little guidance. These additions are definitely good news, but with the addition of the new class and associated show, I needed to give something up, and Improv-Abilities was that something. I was with IA for nearly three years, and love the people in that group. We had a lot of great times, and learned a lot together. My performing with them has been limited for awhile, since RI shows happen every Saturday, and most IA shows also happen on Saturdays. I’m lucky to work with many of the people in that group in other capacities - Aron & Magie in Omega Directive, Keith in Dictionary Soup, Joe & Nathan in Babelfish… it helped cushion the blow. I’m sure we’ll find ways for me to play with the rest of them again, too.

Fridays: Last August (or so) we started to have one show a month on Friday. It’s a natural evolution. As audiences grow and we get more groups, it’s only natural we have more nights of shows.The final Friday in March, we expanded that one Friday to two shows. Now in April we’ve expanded to another Friday, also with two shows. This means we’ve now expanded to 13 shows during a normal month, from eight at this time last year. Now we have shows every Saturday at 7pm & 9pm; first Thursdays at 7:30pm; and second and final Fridays at 7pm & 9pm. Fun times more often!

Libraries: In addition to those extra shows, we’ve been very lucky to be asked to perform this summer at various libraries around this area of Kansas. So far, we have 10 shows/workshops lined up, and I expect at least a couple more this month. This should really help spread awareness of the Roving Imp around the area, as some of the libraries are expecting crowds of 200-300 people. More on this as we do the shows!

Scripted Show: I may be crazy. I’m fairly sure I am. However, depending on how sleep-deprived I am, I have tentative plans to do a scripted musical sometime toward the end of August. It’ll have flexible rehearsals, very minimal set/costume/prop levels, and high level of fun. I want to try to marry the musical with an improv attitude. We’ll see what happens. Again… stay tuned.

Festival: The most exciting news for last is something I’ve been contemplating for nearly a year, and I’m ready to give it a go - The Roving Imp will host an improv festival at the end of October. There are tons of reasons to do it. It gives us a great opportunity to have some guest groups all mingling together in our theater. It gives us a chance to perform for those groups as well. We’ll choose groups from those that submit… we’re not expecting to get a huge number of groups, or even groups that anyone has heard of, necessarily. But I know that there are groups out there that this festival will appeal to. There are groups that would love to take part. Even if we get just a small number of submissions, I will be happy - you’ve got to start somewhere, right? I plan to have an optional activity itinerary for the groups that attend… as most of them will probably be flummoxed as to what to do here in Bonner Springs. I’ll pay the groups a door split, which won’t be much, but it’ll be something. We don’t do this for the money anyway, right? This will be great fun, and a great gathering of amazing people getting together in a relaxed way - in true Roving Imp style.

The timing of this is good for the Imp, as it’s about six months from our anniversary, so we’ll have a big event at each end of the calendar. The festival is six weeks after the Kansas City festival - although the KC festival and the RI festival have drastically different methods of operating, goals, and ways of inviting groups and attracting audience, I want to make sure we’re far enough away to not affect each other, as I’m hoping local KC groups will want to come perform here as well. As with about six other projects… stay tuned for more information. I’ve been working on the basics for a couple months, and plan to have my first publicity materials ready by the middle of next week. If you’d be interested in getting more info, e-mail me and let me know, or leave a comment on this post.

Thus endeth the updates for now. As you can see, though, everything is a work in progress. I’m beginning to think I like it that way.

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RI: The First Two Years

Thursday, April 2, 2009 by John Robison.

This is it. I always knew we would last this long, but it also is thrilling. As an independent improv theater in a small town, we have lasted two whole years. And even more exciting than that is the fact that we seem to be stable enough that we can keep going as long as we want. It’s been a combination of luck, guile, planning, and wisdom.

I am thrilled with the level of art and the quality of entertainment we’re able to provide. We’re at a point where we haven’t put on a bad show in a good long time. Even our lowest quality shows at this point are still funny and watchable. Our training center has recently more than doubled in size, and is getting nothing but fantastic feedback. We’ve managed to book so far nine private shows in the months of June and July. And I’ve still got tons of great ideas… so many that I force myself to not write anything down unless the goal is closer than about six months out.

Our show this Saturday marks the two year mark. At that point we will have presented over 225 shows. We’ve called 24 different actors Imps, and we’ll have nearly half of them on stage with us for this anniversary show, including two actors from our very first show who have since moved on - Lauren and Tim, both of whom I’m thrilled to have back for this show.

I am completely thrilled with most aspects of the Roving Imp at this point, with the exception of drawing an audience. Audiences seem to be unpredictable… they run hot and cold… and even though they are for sure better than they used to be, I would still really enjoy being able to fill up the theater for my actors on a more regular basis. I know we’ve got the goods… and when people come, they enjoy themselves, even if some of the humor goes over their heads. I talked with my friend Trish, who is also insane in that she ran a theater for several years, and she said that her sellouts didn’t start consistently happening until after about five years. That made me feel better, but I’d still be awfully happy if that happened sooner.

A quick look at some of my 15 favorite shows of the past two years:
Grand Opening, April 7, 2007 - A terrible show with mediocre improv, but you never forget the first time, especially the game of Complaint Department that wouldn’t die.

Karaoke Night, April 21, 2007 - Our second show… we decided it would be cool to fill in with karaoke between games. Even in the middle of the show I realized what a terrible idea that was.

The Complete History of America, Abridged, Aug. 24-25, 2007 - The only scripted show we’ve presented (until later this month, when Martha Maggio presents her awesome show, “Fat.”) received fabulous reviews, was six tons of fun, and received the combined audience of an antique tractor show at KKK headquarters on the 4th of July.

Full Frontal Comedy, Oct. 13, 2007 - The first troupe I ever joined played at my theater, and were great. It was the first night the theater ever looked full, and I’ll never forget it!

Giving Thanks, Nov. 17, 2007 - Two words: Goat Goat. It’s like Turducken, but with only goat.

High School Improv Showdown, Jan-May 2008 - A great, fun, stressful time in which we did improv in between cajoling high schoolers to attend rehearsal. I will give it another go one day.

Imp Wars, April 5, 2008 - Our first anniversary Star Wars show - we debuted new games, a new longform, and set ourselves an anniversary pattern to follow.

Trivial Prov-suit, May 10, 2008 - I knew right away this show was going to be great.

Teenagers from Outer Space Movie Prov, June 21, 2008 - MovieProv would never be this good again. It was the perfect storm of audience and campy movie, and was a truly good time.

ABBA/Improv Jam, July 19, 2008 - The first time we had two shows in one place. Some of us went to do a scripted ABBA tribute I wrote, and some of us stayed behind to run the Improv Jam - Nifer’s first time hosting!

Omega Directive, Sept. 13, 2008 - The second OD show featured just three of us, and for the first time showed us the power of taking on someone else’s character.

Post-Holiday Headache, Jan. 3 & 17, 2009 - I didn’t think the audience could get better than our first show, until the 17th rolled around. For the first time ever, I didn’t think we were going to have enough seats. We did, but just barely.

Biblioclast: Revelations, Feb. 14, 2009 - We finally got the bugs worked out of the format, and ended up with an awesome show where I got to play The Beast.

Dictionary Soup, Feb. 21, 2009 - My favorite DS ever, where Keith and I played serious relationship work, weaving in the funny, all while going back in time, though Keith wasn’t really aware of it.

Omega Directive, March 28, 2009 - The most recent show we’ve done is also one of my favorites. Fun, fast, and completely uninhibited by conscious thought. This is how improv should be done.

I had to edit, because there have been so many highlights. Hey… since you’ve read this far, why not share a couple favorites of your own. I’d love to hear them!!

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Random updates

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 by John Robison.

Hello all,

I haven’t blogged in way more time than I’m comfy with, but for good reason - there’s been so much going on that time has been scarce. So, here’s a big sample of some of the random events/ideas that have kept me from writing:

Puppet Nation: As many of you may have seen, Puppet Nation isn’t on the schedule. We got to the week of the show, had a powwow, and concluded that we did not yet have the show ready to go. We weren’t confident in our ability to entertain the audience, so we pulled the show. I still have it on the back burner, and it’ll stay there until we are able to improve our puppetry. I am going to try to schedule something with members of my favorite puppet troupe in Chicago… more about this below!

Improv Survivor: The postponement of Puppet Nation left a hole in the schedule during the last week of January - a hole that had to be filled in less than a week. During that week, I came up with a brand new format based on the reality show “Survivor,” which I had never seen before, but knew enough about to know I wanted to do it. We cancelled PN on Monday, and on Tuesday, I started scrambling. During that week, I watched an entire season and a half of Survivor, using my handy-dandy Internet connection. I sculpted the entire format, we workshopped it on Thursday, and performed it on Friday.

I’m sure a dozen people have done Survivor shows before, but this one is really unique. Basically, it’s a giant longform in which the six players and host draw personality characteristics out of the audience suggestion hat, and assume characters that they play for the entire time. They then alternate between “challenges,” which are short form games, and “camp,” which is the longform portion, where the characters interact in whatever ways they want. Camp is also where the special audience-provided useless rewards come into play. This format still is not quite at the stellar level I’d like it to be, but it’s entertaining and it’s interesting. I look forward to tweaking it as we go forward.

One: Our group Omega Directive has been so successful that I’ve begun recruiting for a brand new elite group. Out of the eight spots, I’ve got two full right now… I am confident I could have the other six full by the end of the day, but I’m really trying to get some folks that might not come to the Imp otherwise. I’m also trying to balance the group as far as men & women go… which is super tough. Right now, I plan to start rehearsals for this group at the start of June (a rough time of year for me… more later) and start performing in July. Quick turnaround, but if it’s cast well, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Baby: My wife and I are expecting a girl at the end of May… which is tough. There aren’t that many improvisers in Kansas City with children, but all of them can tell you how tough it is to balance family with a craft that demands evening and weekend hours. Plus, when you own a theater, you can’t really just shut down for two months and put yourself on parental leave. So instead of shutting down over Memorial Day weekend, as we normally do, we’ll be taking the last weekend off, because a fella has to give himself at least a week to adjust to a screaming uncontrollable bundle of joy. Insane to start a new group the week after that? Yes. But I’ve been accused of being insane many times before. It’s temporary… but the art that springs from insanity persists long beyond.

Thunderdome: James and I will be taking our Trivial Prov-suit show to the Kansas City Improv Thunderdome on Saturday - March 14. We have absolutely no chance of winning, as it’s an audience-based voting process and we’re a two-man group who is splitting audience between Thunderdome and the Roving Imp, which will still be open. James and I had one of our best shows last weekend, and I’m looking forward to playing in front of a whole group of people that has never seen the show before. Hopefully it will inspire some of them to see our show more regularly. That’s really the point of competing - just getting our name, unique show, and brand of fun out there. We actually did TP in the mini-Thunderdome last August and advanced to the finals, despite doing what were in my opinion two of the worst TP shows we’ve ever presented. I think if James and I are on our game this Saturday, we can really amaze some folks, which would be great - people that don’t come out to the Imp’s more advanced shows have no idea the kind of quality that happens.

On that same note, James only has two more regular TProvs left before he moves to Chicago. After that, my partner will be Jeremy Danner, and possibly one other person… who hasn’t said yes yet.

Chicago Festival: Though the Imp didn’t have its video recording system perfected in time to be able to have any shows to submit to festivals, I am lucky to have performed with a group that did… and sure enough, that video earned Babelfish a spot as a performing group in the Chicago Improv Festival. I have performed with Babelfish twice… it’s basically a group of Joe Henley and Nathan Stewart and whomever else happens to be there. In this particular format, Joe and Nathan sit around talking to each other about random stuff, and I wait offstage, listen, and pull themes from the conversation, then initiate scenes. It’s incredibly difficult and rewarding, as the person in my spot has to initiate every scene, as well as have a wide variety of characters to contrast the two characters who are in conversation. In a way, Joe and Nathan are the college professors forced to interact with me, the LSD hallucination with form. Good times.

This is what happens when you don’t blog for such a long time. We’re already super long, and I’ve only managed to get halfway through my topics. Perhaps I’ll wait on the other ones until later. It’s feast or famine around here. Thanks for reading - I really do appreciate it!

Since you made it this far… why not come out to the Imp? I’ll even give you a dollar off if you mention this blog (offer good until I’ve posted two more blogs after this one). If you can’t make it to the Imp, leave a comment. I love reading those comments… even the ones that say I’m an arrogant jackass.

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New excitement

Friday, January 23, 2009 by John Robison.

One of the double-edged swords of being constantly exposed to creative people in a creative environment is unbridled creativity of your own. For me, this manifests itself by creating new groups. I’m trying not to go completely nuts, because there are limits… you don’t want to overload your audiences with a whole bunch of new stuff… you don’t want to completely freak out your wife, who is about 20% freaked out at all times just because you own a business… and you don’t want to overtax performers.

So for this year, instead of having the grand change-splosion like in 2008, change will be a little more tempered. I can afford to do this since we’ve got such a great base of wonderful shows happening. Right now, there are three new projects… some are nearly here, and some are still on the horizon.

Project the First: Puppet Nation

Originally hatched last October after my sister Julie saw some puppet show on television and talked to me about it… and it reminded me of the really good puppet improv I’ve seen. We’ve made our puppets and have been rehearsing, and are set to debut this new show a week from tonight. I must admit… I’m more nervous about this show than I’ve ever been about any improv group I’ve created yet. First off, there’s infrastructure. One of the reasons I love improv so much is that it doesn’t require a set or props. This does. You have to have a puppet theater on the stage to hide the actors. The puppets themselves are props… and with multiple puppets per person, it gets crowded back there really fast.

Secondly, it seems that doing this puppet stuff is tough. Right now we’ve got four improvisers doing this show… and even the more experienced ones are having a tough time - they’re having to actually ‘do work’ at the same time as doing improv. Syncing a puppet’s mouth, arms, and body to fit the action is a lot tougher than any of us thought it would be. I have a ton more respect for good puppeteers now than I had before. Comedy is such a delicate animal… so far this puppeteering stuff has been throwing a wrench in our funny chi. Don’t get me wrong - I expect the show will have a respectable start… but we’re going to have to work our collective puppet butts off in the next week to make sure we don’t disappoint ourselves. Don’t be surprised if you come see the show, and none of the puppets have butts.

Project the Second: Expanded Classes

Roving Imp Saturday classes have proved popular enough now that we’re ready to expand to a second class. Hooray! I have a limit of 10 people, as more than that doesn’t play quite enough for my taste.The class format seems to work well, mixing absolute newbies, those with a solid grasp on improv, and people with over a decade of improvising. Everyone has things to work on, even if they just need to be reminded of things that they have forgotten about for the last four years. And there’s no better way for a newbie to get good really fast than to play with folks that are on fire. (that’s not literal, by the way. actual fire isn’t good for anyone’s performance). Actually getting to perform in front of an audience is also the kind of experience that no amount of rehearsals will ever prepare you for… and it’s good for people learning to have that.

The new class will likely take place on a weeknight (Monday or Wednesday), and have its monthly performance during our Final Friday at 7pm… to accommodate folks who just aren’t available on the weekends. I have two people that fit this category, and have told me they’ll sign up as soon as I get the class going. If there are two, that means there are more… I just have to find them and get them to sign up. I expect this class will start around the start of March… which means I’d better get my butt in gear and start telling folks. Next time you see me, don’t be surprised if I’m stuck in third and look a wee bit uncomfortable.

On a related note, our newest Imp, Denton, has expressed interest in teaching a non-performance class solely for beginners. We’re going to give it a try, and see if it’s something folks are interested in. I tried this when I first opened, but didn’t have any street cred at that time. Maybe now. Denton’s the guy to do it, too. He’s got good training, great enthusiasm, and experience. No timeline on this yet… maybe we’ll shoot for March as well.

Project the Third: Working Name: One

This new performance group will follow the same formula as Omega Directive. Omega Directive is a different kind of Imp troupe, made up mainly of improvisers that perform with other non-Imp groups, and who are really crackerjack. We’ve had such great, high-quality shows and so much fun & success with Omega Directive, that this similar project is almost a no-brainer.

Despite my apparently genetic aversion to having numbers in the name of my groups, “One” is speaking to me right now. We’ve spent some time the last two weeks of Roving Imp rehearsal tweaking the formats (both variations of longforms we’ve developed here at the Imp), to both make sure it would work and also to help get the actors as excited as I am about the group.

The new show will open in April, and will feature two halves of long form. The first being “One Location,” where each scene takes place in the same location, throughout time, back and forth. I love this format (which I brought back from my time at i.o. in Chicago) because it allows a great variety of scenes to happen, but also allows popular characters and scenes to come back in a completely natural and expected way.

The second format is one sprouted from a couple places… the first was during last year’s Chicago Improv Festival, when legendary group JTS Brown reunited for a talk about the old days. I’d never heard of this group before, but several of their members are rather famous nowadays. The idea came from something they mentioned about basing a longform around a character who gave a monologue at the beginning of their set. Each person played this character, bringing something different to the character, yet keeping the essence of that character. My non-Imp group, Improv-Abilities, developed a really cool game from this called “Group Monologue,” appropriately enough.

I toyed around with expanding that game into a longform, but as I thought about it, it became clear that having six mini monologues at the start of the show would box in the actors too much. There would be too much precedent, and everyone would be in their heads, trying to make sure they were keeping true to what had been established. Instead, it occurred to me to combine this idea with a longform in our arsenal called “Timeline,” in which we follow one character throughout their lifetime. In this new combined format, we follow one character in their lifetime, but that character is played by everyone in the cast at some point. Guaranteed interesting characters, because you have to make them unique enough that everyone can pick up on voice, body, and behaviors. It worked really well in workshop.

The formats are developed and the show is on the schedule. Now all that’s left is to cast it. I’ll talk to a bunch of actors, hopefully a bunch will talk to me, and I’ll develop a list of interested actors, and then choose the six from the list that complement each other the best. Sometimes I think I won’t be completely satisfied until I have every improviser in Kansas City working here at the Imp. There are worse places to be…

So there you go… more from my occasional series on what is exciting to me at the moment. Between new projects, ten other performance groups and family time, I no longer wonder why I can’t seem to blog more often. Besides… one of my blogs is worth at least six of most other peoples’ length-wise. Except Trish. God bless the long-winded, as we need it more, for we have weakened our fingers with typing and our butts with sitting.

Third butt reference. Time to wrap it up.

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The Bottom 10 of 2008

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 by John Robison.

On a whim, I decided it might also be helpful for me to figure out which shows of the year were the least successful. Nobody really likes to look at this side of life, but it’s necessary in order to improve. While earning my master’s degree, I heard about managers that fire 10% of their employees each year, no matter what - the bottom 10% performing employees. It’s a tough policy, but I can understand several reasons why, logically, it makes sense - it motivates everyone to improve, and if you’re always eliminating your bottom performers, your overall performance will go up over time. Not a very nice thing to do, necessarily, but I guess that’s business for you. Not a philosophy I personally will ever subscribe to, but it’s interesting to think about on a theoretical level.

The thing I noticed right away about these bottom performing shows is that for the most part, I have already taken steps to correct the reasons for their poor performance. Will those steps work? For some, absolutely. For some… who knows?  Please enjoy the bottom 10, from the top of the bottom to the number one, our worst showing of the year.

10.  RI’s Implympics, 8-29-08

As I look back, there was nothing inherently wrong with the show itself… it was a matter of scheduling. This was our second Friday show that we’d ever done. In July, we expanded to one Friday evening per month as a test. This second one proved that the audience as a whole hadn’t yet caught on to the fact that Friday shows were happening. Also, this show had the misfortune to be scheduled on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. This, as I have discovered, ain’t a great time to have a show.

9. RI’s Halloween & Scary Election Show,  10-31-08

Same deal here… Friday show when people aren’t yet terrifically excited about Friday shows, and it fell on a holiday - Halloween. I think if I had done a better job of promoting this show, it could have done better. Live and learn.

8. Omega Directive Premiere & Hypothetical 7, 8-9-08

Although Omega Directive has proven to be one of my absolute favorite groups to perform with and to watch on video later on, at this time, the group had done no shows. Brand new, untested groups do not usually generate any audience interest.  Attendence for OD shows has picked up since this first one, so people must be enjoying it as much as I do. Then there’s the H7 problem. This group has tremendous troubles attracting audience… their first show here at the Imp was well attended, and has never regained that level. After talks with a few of the H7, I’ve discovered this isn’t necessarily a venue problem… several other H7 shows have had similar problems. However, frequency may be an issue. Different audiences have different rates of audience fatigue. The H7 audience may not be one that can handle a monthly show. So, in 2009 we’ll be cutting back to five H7 shows at the Imp, and they’ll be exploring other venues as well. It doesn’t hurt my feelings that that’s happening - if something’s not working, you have to do what you can to fix it.

7. Game Show: Card Sharks & Makeshift Militia, 5-31-08

As much fun as the Game Show format was, it never caught on with audiences. Maybe not everyone is as big a game show fan as I am. I talked to people, and many of them said they thought it was a cool idea they’d like to be a part of, but those talks didn’t translate into butts in seats. So, we stopped producing the Game Show in May. Problem solved. As far as Makeshift goes, this show happened right after the end of the semester, and their audience had scattered, as had most of their performers.

6. Red Rubber Ball & Trivial Prov-suit, 9-6-08

This one’s easy. This show happened the exact same weekend as the KC Improv Festival. Audiences here were terribly small. It’s tough for the small theater with shows every weekend to compete with a large special event with a great big budget and celebrity power. Good thing it’s only once a year.

5. RI’s Coronation Day, 4-19-08

2008, in my mind, is split into two sections - Jan.-April and May-Dec. (like the romance). In the first few months of the year, I saw that attendance at Roving Imp shows was not at the point where it really should be, so I planned a complete RI lineup shakeup to begin in May. This is the point where we began expanding the number of performance groups and changing the weekends so that the 7pm and 9pm shows were different groups. This has proven to be the best decision of 2008. Attendance since May has been noticeably higher, and I’m 90% sure it’s because of the difference from 7pm to 9pm. This particular April RI show suffered from not only this “previous to May” designation, but also from a really stupid theme. Coronation Day? Really? That’s going to attract people? My bad.

4.  Dictionary Soup, Biblioclast Premiere & the Hypothetical 7, 10-11-08

Again, we have the premiere of a brand new show, which seems to be a pattern, and H7, with the audience problem. That’s more than Dictionary Soup could overcome, which despite a great turnout the previous month, was still a fledgling show - this was only its third appearance in an 18-month period.

3. RI’s Revenge of the Angry Groundhog, 2-2-08

Sure, this one fell on a holiday, but I can’t imagine that that’s the reason for the turnout. This one suffered from the same problem plaguing RI shows in the Jan.-April period, despite what I thought was a fantastic theme.

2.  RI’s Implympics/MovieProv, 8-16-08

I’ll first address MovieProv… which I thought was a really neat idea with a lot of promise. I personally never got into MST3K, which maybe should have told me something. If I, the rock star nerd, didn’t like it, what were the chances that people less nerdy than me would like it? This show was universally hated, and it didn’t take long for us to stop doing it. Conceptually, I still like it, and it produced some fun moments, but most audiences were the opposite of interested. So… that didn’t help. Most audience members like coming to two different shows that they’ll enjoy, which didn’t help the RI show at 7pm. Also, did anyone else notice that THREE of the shows on this list are from August? I don’t remember exactly what was happening in the world as a whole in August, but there may have been external factors at work as well.

And now… our least attended show of 2008… the show that makes me shudder to look back upon…

1. MovieProv & the Hypothetical 7, 7-12-08

The double death knell. We’ve already talked about the problems with both of these shows, and we don’t need to rehash that here. As I recall, this was the only show of the entire year where we had the casts of both shows, and maybe one or two others. I do recall that we made absolutely no money this weekend. Let’s never have another weekend like this, OK?

Lessons learned from the bottom 10:

1. My instincts are correct - when I feel like a show is tanking, I give it another month or two, and then make changes. I did this with each and every show on this list, without knowing they would eventually turn out to be the lowest performers. I knew it by feel, which makes me feel good about my innate business sense.

2. It’s important to know when something can be saved and when it needs to die. We didn’t cut the bottom 10% of shows, but we did cut maybe 5%. The Roving Imps could be saved, and I’m glad they were. Game Show needed to die. MovieProv needed to die. I understand that there’s another group in town that is having a lot of success with the MST3K style, but they’re not improvising it on the spot, having never seen the movie before. I’m not bitter… that’s just not something I’m interested in. I’m never bitter that a performance group has success. Success in one area benefits us all.

3.  Don’t expect miracles from brand new, untested formats, no matter how good you think they are. Nobody else knows what I know, and so nobody knows how good or bad this new group is. I wish there were a way around this, but I don’t think that’s possible. Every group has to have a first show.

4. Be flexible, and be ready to change things. Somebody wise probably said something at one time like, “If you are rigid and inflexible, you’ll break when a stiff wind comes along.” They probably said it in a more eloquent way. That’s one of the great things about having your own theater, and not caring about being extremely rich… you have the freedom to experiment. I’ll try almost anything once or twice to see if it works. You never know what might happen.

Happy New Year, all, and thanks for all your support for the Roving Imp Theater. I couldn’t create any of this kind of wonderful art without you, and at the start of shows when I say that I appreciate each and every one of you, I truly mean it. See you in 2009!

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The top 10 of ‘08

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 by John Robison.

As we approach the end of 2008, I’ve been doing a lot of looking back… after all, it’s been the first full calendar year that the Roving Imp has been operating. We had shows on 57 nights, and a total of 117 different 45-90 minute shows. That pans out to just over one night a week, and to about two and a quarter shows per week. I always keep track of our top shows, because that’s really cool to be able to replace your top yearly and overall shows as time goes by. It’s quantifiable progress in an artsy unquantifiable environment. It’s also good to see if my instincts as an artist and businessman are backed up by ticket sales.

Our top 10 nights of 2008:

10. ABBA Musical, 7-19-08 - I was commissioned to develop a short musical based on the songs of ABBA and the lives of a couple obsessed with the musical “Mamma Mia.” This night was RI’s first experience with having two shows simulntaneously. Some of us went off to perform the ABBA tribute while others stuck around to run an Improv Jam. It paid off.

9. High School Improv Showdown & Makeshift Militia, 2-9-08 - The High School Improv Showdown was the most difficult show to produce this year, mainly due to the inherent flightiness of high schoolers and to the fact that this was a brand new program. However, the few high schoolers that consistently made it to rehearsals and were able to perform put on really good quality shows that left their huge audiences rolling in the aisles. As you’ll see in the next few, it didn’t matter what the 9pm show was… the 7pm show carried it along in its wake.

8. High School Improv Showdown & Game Show: Trivial Pursuit, 3-8-08 - Again, the high schoolers helped boost ticket sales with their huge numbers of supportive friends and family members, despite being partnered with the completely unpopular Game Show.

7. High School Improv Showdown & Game Show: Deal or No Deal, 4-12-08 - Plans for a 2009 HSIS are in the works. Once again, there are huge difficulties with #1 - getting the message out to high schoolers, whose drama teachers have generally not been too supportive; and #2 - once the high schoolers are interested, getting them to commit a tiny regular portion of their busy lives to do some improv. When they’re here, they love it… but many of them don’t love it enough to commit. Hmmm….

6. The Harold, Dictionary Soup & Makeshift Militia, 8-23-08 - A huge show that was bolstered by the fact that a photographer from the KC Star was attending, Dictionary Soup was having its first show in over a year, the KC Improv Festival was coming the following week, and the new Harold class show was really starting to get into gear. Buzz around this show was higher than usual, and it showed in the audience.

5. RI’s Ho-Ho-Holiday Show & Trivial Prov-suit, 12-6-08 - Having a December show make the top 5 was a real relief to me, after having snow put a damper on each and every Saturday show in 2007, and having various holiday activities put a damper on December shows throughout the theater world every single year since Macy’s opened. A Bonner Springs area club got a group together and saw this show, and several former members of the HSIS came home from college to see their favorite show, TrivProv, making it a happy December at the Imp.

4. The Harold & Omega Directive, 10-25-08 - Once again, having the students of the Harold perform for their friends and family made this show one of the highest attended in 2008.

3. High School Improv Showdown & Antiprov, 1-12-08 - The first HSIS to have both teams participate (remember that December snowstorm?), their families and friends were hungry to see them perform, and turned out in droves. This was the second or third truly huge audience we’d ever had, and I remember wondering if the floor would hold. It did, with no problem.

2. RI’s Talkin’ Turkey & Improv Jam, 11-15-08 - The convergence of two large groups coming to see the show made for a great night, and having most of them stay to try their hand at improv was icing on the cake. I love it when a whole bunch of people new to improv come in to a great big crowd and have a great time. It pumps up everyone’s energy, and the show is better for it.

The #1 attended show of 2008, as if you couldn’t guess:

1. High School Improv Showdown Finals & Trivial Prov-suit Premier, 5-10-08 - A deadly combo of a scholarship winner being named, bragging rights being awarded, and the introduction of a heavily-hyped new format made this show the best-attended show in the history of the Roving Imp, and was the first show to have attendance higher than opening night, over a year earlier.

Things I’ve learned from the top 10 shows:

1. If you can get some high schoolers that really enjoy improv, they’re not only great for attendance, but they also infuse life into the whole atmosphere (two former members of HSIS are currently members of the Imps).

2. The same formula can work with adults, too. That’s what the Harold is all about. It won’t work quite as well, because seriously, what adult has 30 BFFs that will come see them?

3. Regularity pays off - when people know to expect the same show on the same weekend every month (or every other month), they go ahead and mark it on the calendar. The Improv Jams are an example of this. There’s a group of fantastic folks that come to every single one. Predictability is everyone’s friend from a scheduling standpoint. Leave the randomness for the stage.

4. The Cheers/Seinfeld/Friends formula works. Follow a popular format with a new one that you think will take off, and some of the fans will follow.  I think TrivProv wouldn’t be the success it is right now if it hadn’t had a start following HSIS. Omega Directive is just as good a show, but hasn’t yet caught on… yet. It’s recently been moved, and follows the Harold show.

That’s the top 10… as always, I’d love to hear feedback. And in a half-assed effort to appear to be a professional blogger, look out very soon for the yang to this particular post - the bottom 10 shows. It’s a darker alley, filled with some mistakes in marketing and production values. Stay tuned.

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