Sunday, March 30, 2008 by John Robison.

This is a first for me, and maybe for KC area bloggers as a whole… everyone with a KC area improv blog is posting on the same subject today: The best & worst things happening in KC improv. I know it’s late in the day, but I’ve avoided reading anybody else’s to keep my inner slate untarnished. So here goes. Please to enjoy.

The 3 Best:

1. The Roving Imp

What kind of shameless self-promoter would I be if I didn’t lead off my list with my little theater, The Roving Imp? I wouldn’t include it on my list if I didn’t believe it to be true. In the one year since I’ve opened the theater (anniversary date: April 7), it has presented literally a hundred shows from groups all over the KC and Lawrence area. These groups have a venue for performing that they didn’t have before, and there’s nothing bad about that. High schoolers from surrounding small towns have had the opportunity to learn the craft, expanding our pool of performers. We’ve presented new formats, such as the Game Show, Antiprov,  and the Long Form Showcase; and have others on the horizon: Trivial Prov-suit and Movie-prov. For my money, there’s been no other single event in Kansas City in the past year that has been better than the Roving Imp for the craft and the art of improv. Have audiences been on the small side? Yes. Am I worried about that? No. When so many good things continually happen under one roof, it’s just a matter of time until this well-kept secret leaks out.

2. The KC Improv Festival

My second choice for the best is the KC Improv Festival. I have absolutely nothing to do with this (not because I don’t want to… I just don’t have time…), but I think that the festival is really important to the future growth of KC improv and to gain some attention for our area on the national improv stage. I would love to see not only the huge yearly festival with national acts, but also a smaller festival featuring our local folks six months later. Maybe I’d be able to tackle that one… one day.

3. Improv Thunderdome

The third best thing in KC improv is Improv Thunderdome. This little brain nugget was implemented wonderfully, and has generated more general excitement among the non-performing and performing alike than any other event I can remember. When you sell out consistently, gain that much media attention, and generate eight or twelve new performing groups, you’re definitely doing something right. Are there some issues? Sure. Would I maybe have some Friday night shows? Definitely. But it’s tough to argue with results.

The 3 Worst:

So much for the positive comment section of the blog. Now for the things that make me frown a bit…

1. Support of other groups

I try to get out to see other groups perform as often as I can. Since I’m in a show every single Saturday, it’s often tough, since when other groups have shows, they’re almost always on Saturdays. Speaking in generalities, of course, I find that when I’m in the audience, I’m the only improviser in the crowd. Not counting events such as FFC’s annual Best Of Show or Thunderdome, when was the last time you as an improviser attended a show that you were not performing in? Or a show of a group you’re not in? We’re all busy people with lives, but shouldn’t we help support each other?

2. Smack Talk

Man, I am not a fan of online, written down smack talk. So many ways of spinning madly out of control, and for what? It serves no purpose, other than to really scare away folks that are casually cruising the KC improv boards. You’ve gotta think that there are potential audience members or potential auditioners reading these things.

3. Developing & keeping audience 

I personally suck at developing audience. I don’t know if I just don’t have the time to do it right, but I want to be out front and say that I don’t have any suggestions on how to fix this. I’m open to advice on this (or anything else, for that matter). I have been in and attended so very many shows that have had small houses, and it’s not right. I alluded to small audiences earlier at the Imp, but it’s not limited to there. Most groups I’m familiar with have had audience problems at one time or another over the past year, either cancelling shows or performing for fewer than are in the cast. What’s the solution? Who the hell knows? But it’s sure a big problem.

There we go. My top and bottom three. Feel free to comment away.

Now that I’m done, I can go see what the others said.

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Thursday, March 27, 2008 by John Robison.

Having been in the performing arts for so long, I’ve seen a ton of auditions. I’ve learned a lot from them, and the auditions I hold now are lots different from the auditions I used to hold.

In the beginning, there would be a page-long form, a set rehearsal schedule, photocopied cuttings from the script with highlighted parts, multiple readings and pairings, etc. That was probably appropriate back then… I was less experienced, and I needed that level of intensity.

Nowadays, with more experience under my belt, I honestly can tell everything I need to know in about 10 minutes, and many times even less.  Ninety percent of the preparation work I used to do has gone the way of the (insert extinct animal here). When I first figured out that I could be this efficient, I held quickfire auditions for a show, and it worked great. People were in and out, and I had the whole show casted by the end of the two-hour time slot. I called people back that night, and started rehearsals the following week. All this efficiency had an unintended consequence, however. It freaked people out.

After filling out their form, grabbing a script to read from, and then being sent home after 10 minutes, I accidentally destroyed the egos of the very people I was hoping to use in my show. Maybe I didn’t have as much experience as I thought… When they came to the first rehearsal, they told me they were convinced they hadn’t made it in, when in fact, I loved them… I just saw their talent from the very start.

I had two auditions over the past couple weeks. One for the Imps, and one for a musical I’m directing this spring. They incorporated the audition modification I’ve been using lately: everybody stays until I get the feeling from them that they’re satisfied they’ve shown off their abilities. Probably good for the musical… but I haven’t been surprised yet by anything all of a sudden bubbling to the surface after 20 minutes. But, it makes the auditioner feel better to stick around.

This is more important for improv auditions. I have everyone stay together and do scenes together as a group. This is vital, and I’m glad I thought of it before I even thought about directing an improv group. A lot more variety is necessary for your average improviser than for your average stage actor.

Even so, for me, casting an actor for my group is very simple, and has surprisingly little to do with improv. The good news: If you’re looking to be cast in a group I direct, here’s how you can do it.  The bad news: You can’t fake these things, and I can tell if you are trying. The things I look for in an auditioner are people that have positive attitudes, have good on-stage energy, are able to think at least moderately quickly, and at least attempt any directing that I do during the audition. The most important for me are the first and last.

A positive attitude is vital, because the culture of the groups must remain positive and trusting. I’ve turned away people with good experience because they came in with a holier-than-thou attitude, or because they didn’t laugh even once at anyone else during the audition. “Holy crap! You mean you watch us even when we’re not on stage?”

Surprise!

As for taking direction… you would be surprised how many people hem and haw when you ask them to speak with a British accent, sing a song, or crawl around on the ground - all things you will probably do eventually as an improviser.

Also in the beginning, if there was someone I really loved, I would invite them to join the group with no audition at all. That was important when I was trying to build the group. Now that there’s an established group, it’s vitally important to be able to keep the group dynamic relatively the same. How many times have you had a job ruined by some person you absolutely couldn’t stand? No more free passes… for my group now, Jill Bernard herself could waltz in (which she probably would) and she’d still need to at least come to a workshop to find out how her energy would affect the existing group. (By the way… Jill, if you ever relocate to KC, I cordially invite you to come play!)

There’s so much more going on at an audition than meets the eye; so much more to consider than just “was this audition good?”. I, for one, am exceedingly glad they don’t roll around every day. Every six months is plenty often.

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Monday, March 24, 2008 by John Robison.

Once again, wealth comes from the comments.

I happen to have been born into a family with a multitude of talents. Since I’ve begun directing shows, I’ve performed with almost everyone. I have two brothers and a sister, with me as the oldest. My next brother, Carl, has done tech for every show I’ve done for the past 10 years, from the time we had to cart around my iMac for sound and some portable lights to today, when he has his own lighting panel and laptop. He’s much happier nowadays, since he has his own little room.

My next brother, Brian, was in some of my shows just after high school, and now is content to be in the audience. That’s good. Audiences are important.

My mother has catered dinner theater shows I’ve had, and is now one of my biggest advocates, spreading the word about my fledgling theater to everyone she can, as she serves meals as a waitress with an attitude.

As I’ve mentioned before, my sister, Julie, is a member of the Roving Imps, and has been in shows with me since she was 10 years old, and she was the “cue card girl.”

My dad is the one member that doesn’t come around much anymore. He enjoys a good scripted play, but improv games are not his thing. When I first told him I was opening a theater, and that we would be doing a lot of improv, he didn’t know exactly what that was. I turned on “Whose Line is it Anyway?,” and he nodded. He said, “Yeah. I’ve seen that before. That shit ain’t funny.” Nothing you can do about that. If you don’t like Colin Mochrie, there’s nothing that can be done to salvage the genre for you.

Even my wife has gotten in on the action. Though she was initially afraid of improv, she took some of my classes, and worked up the nerve to perform a few times. She’s on a hiatus now, but we both have hopes that she’ll get back to the stage someday… probably when our son develops the ability to sit through a show.

I’m very lucky to have them all on my side. Even Dad the Improv Hater pitched in money to help me get started. Everyone else helps me on a weekly basis.

The only time any of this becomes uncomfortable is on stage. I’m going to blame Julie for this one. As improvisers, you’re in all kinds of different scenes, playing all kinds of different parts. It’s inevitable that eventually you’re going to end up playing the significant other of everyone in your troupe… even your own sister. When this happens, there’s always this little guy somewhere in the back of my mind that curls up into the fetal position and puts his fists to his temples as he whimpers, “no…. no… no…. no….” However, I do my best to ignore that little man and play the scene as it should be… and so far there has been no good reason for those two characters to have any intimate physical contact. Thank God. That little man in the back of my mind would have something to say about that, as would the audience, most of whom are well aware of who the actors are.

It would be like watching Donnie and Marie together, or John and Joan Cusack, 0r Bill and Hillary Clinton. You know… just uncomfortable for everyone involved.

It hasn’t always been easy. During that same game of Stunt Double I spoke of last week, our lovely fellow improviser told Julie, “We should totally make out,” and then called “Stunt Double,” completely forgetting who the stunt double was… yours truly. There were about 15 very uncomfortable (and hilarious) moments on stage where Julie and I kind of looked at each other, at the audience, and all around, and then all of Julie’s improv experience coagulated into a moment of genius… she also called “Stunt Double,” and I was able to make out with myself, giving myself several audience-satisfying gropes before relinquishing the stage.

I enjoy sharing a stage with Julie, and I’m fairly confident that even if the situation demands something we’re uncomfortable with, we’ll be able to sidestep it, using the schtick of the game, the wonder of a well-placed lights out from our brother, or through the grace and understanding of our audience.

I have a psychiatrist’s number standing by just in case.

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Thursday, March 20, 2008 by John Robison.

A comment to my previous post got me thinking about touching… so get ready for some random thought process…

Obviously, physical contact on stage is going to happen. Most improvisers don’t use it enough. I know I sure don’t - but there are reasons why. Are they good reasons? I might get myself into trouble here, but one of the main reasons I don’t touch as much as I really should… I’m a man. When you’re doing comedy, as long as you all trust each other and have general consent, gender shouldn’t be an obstacle. But it is.

Human interaction encompasses a huge amount of kinds of physical contact, but we don’t display much of that range on stage. There isn’t one person in any group in which I play that I would be totally comfortable planting a kiss on if the situation called for it. I would do it, but if I’m not committed to the choice, it won’t have the right effect. And sometimes, a kiss (especially between men, for some reason), can bring the house down.

As a group, the active Roving Imps are largely women. Unusual for improv in general… par for the course for us. Also, they’re ages 18-25. Maybe this hearkens back to my days as a middle school and high school teacher, but there’s something deeply ingrained within me that says, “You will get yourself in trouble.” So, as a general rule, it’s hands off the ladies. Maybe it goes back to my last post… maybe we just don’t have a high enough level of trust yet. Maybe I have a mental block. Either way, I think it’s really limiting an important portion of improv that we can do. According to Trish’s comment from yesterday, my group is not the only one that could use some work with this, which is at least some small comfort.

During our show last weekend, an improviser (who’s also my sister, Julie) and I were playing “Stunt Double,” and I was the stunt double. As I was called in to substitute for the other actress, Julie said, “hop on,” and indicated that she wanted me to jump onto her back. What I should have done: immediately trusted and agreed with her, jumping on. What I did: hesitated, and half-denied, until she persisted, when I finally hopped up on her back. It was great… the audience loved it, and it became a really memorable moment.

Instead of trusting and being in the moment, I took time on stage to worry about the effect my 193-pound body would have on my little sister, who I shouldn’t have worried about. In case you’re wondering, she describes herself as being “built like a football player,” which comes in handy when you want to pick up tiny teenage boys, which she’s done on more than one occasion, always with hilarious results.

The second thing that prevents me from initiating physical contact is the fact that when it comes to the Imps, I’m in charge. I’m not only an actor on the stage, but I’m the director, who casts the troupe and the shows.  Ever since I directed my first show at age 19, there have been jokes and insinuations about “John’s casting couch,” and perhaps after so many years, I’ve got more mental walls up than I want to acknowledge.

Perhaps what I need to do is start trusting that the women of my troupe are both grown-ups and professional, and know me well enough to be able to have their butt smacked or boob grabbed every once in a while. Maybe. Where exactly is that line? Being an introspective male director/performer is hard.

We need to start doing more exercises getting comfortable with trust and physical contact. Anyone have any favorite exercises for this? I’ve got a couple, but obviously not enough. I’ve got to get the ball rolling on this, because if I’m second-guessing myself even with the experience I’ve got behind me, then the newbies in my troupe have no hope.

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Tuesday, March 18, 2008 by John Robison.

On stage you do so many different weird things that it’s really important to have a good rapport with one another. Building that kind of trust is extremely important, or you’ll think twice about hopping up on someone’s back to ride them like a prized steed, or you won’t be in tune well enough to be able to believably convince the audience that you’re long lost lovers.
It’s a tough thing to develop… people naturally have all kinds of walls and barriers around the core of their real feelings - they get naturally put up so their vulnerabilities aren’t exposed for the world to see and take advantage of. Getting past some of those barriers to expose some real feeling is really hard for a lot of improvisers, especially those just starting out. In a really good scene, the actors will be reacting in a realistic way, and it’s nearly impossible to do well unless you’re in tune with your own self. Sure, you can do great shows without this level of commitment, but teams that consistently gel have this kind of focus.

It sounds touchy-feely. It probably is. But it’s so important, even in scenes that are waaay out there. The Roving Imps have made a lot of progress toward this goal lately, but still have a ways to go.

Last week, one of our prodigal Imps rejoined the group for one show. She started with the rest of us, but hadn’t performed with us in seven months. Was it really a good decision to throw her back into a show right away? Probably not, but we needed performers, and there was some excitement to have her back again.

It’s amazing how throwing someone into the mix can really alter your whole performance, even when it’s someone that was at one time part of the group. We had a great show, and the audience was laughing, but those great, deep connections were nearly completely absent. This is absolutely not our former member’s fault… she hasn’t had the last seven months to think about this. She had seven days.

However, the rest of us (me included) absolutely forgot all about reaching down deep for those connections and relationships. The characters all knew each other, and had some great lines, but emotional stakes were absent.

Of course, nobody realized this was happening in the moment. That’s the advantage of hindsight. Looking back, I wonder if the reason for the absence was that the high level of trust was no longer there. Did we all feel comfortable opening up our vulnerabilities?  Impossible to tell. We all learn as we go along, eh?

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Thursday, March 13, 2008 by John Robison.

Audiences are interesting phenomena. How they react to your comedy depends completely on the people in them. The audiences that I’m in front of are all fairly similar, and I understand the type of thing that they’ll laugh at. When you start to expand, however, you have to keep a close eye on your audience, because you don’t know anything about them.

I recently had experience with this sudden audience change. Improv Abilities has recently begun performing on Wednesday nights at Famous Johnny’s in Overland Park. The audiences there are used to seeing stand-up comedians, and have never seen improv comedy before. The first show that IA performed there was very similar to the other shows IA performs other places… and it completely flummoxed the audience. They didn’t know what to think. The concept of audience volunteers was foreign. When the host asked them for an object to get the scene started, three different people handed him actual objects… like pencils, a glass, or piece of paper.

By the second performance, IA had tweaked the show to appeal more to a novice improv audience, but it really got me thinking about the differences. The main one that I’ve noticed is that this kind of audience loves the blue humor. There’s no faster way to get the crowd in your corner than to drop an F-bomb. To me, the difference in audience is the difference in the people who list Amelie as their favorite movie versus American Pie. The FJ crowd is the American Pie crowd.

For me as a performer, this means that my improv style is really different. I find myself going for the cheap laugh a lot more often on the FJ stage. My style is naturally cerebral, so that still comes through, but it’s peppered with a lot more locker room-type language. It’s like applying Darwin’s principles to the improv stage. Whatever gets the best response comes back, while the silence-inducing material is absorbed by the ether, never to return, no matter how clever you once thought it was.

I guess there’s improv out there for everyone… it is just up to the performers to figure out what their audience likes best, and give them mainly that… and expand to other things occasionally, just to keep yourself sane.

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Wednesday, March 12, 2008 by John Robison.

Last night I had a rehearsal with Improv-Abilities. I’ve been a member of IA for a year and a half now, and have a really great time. It’s tough in more than one way to be a part of another group when you are running your own troupe, teach high school classes, and are organizing eight to ten shows a month, in addition to trying to have a life, but it’s terribly important.

I’ve always felt that if you exist solely in your own world of performing, you’re losing out on the wealth of experience that others can bring. I personally love to see how other people run rehearsals. I love to play games that I don’t have to run. It’s good for me to get notes (both positive and ‘work on this’) from others. Many times I’m looking at others’ performances and I tend to neglect my own performance. If you’re actually on stage, you can’t give your all to a scene and be critical at the same time.

Last night, for example, I was in a scene during the game “Blind Date,” and my scene partner got a note that her character wasn’t clearly defined; that if she had grasped onto a particular characteristic and played with it, she would have an easier time in her scene. What a great note… and one I would have never given, because from within the scene I was completely unaware that her character was a little nebulous.

The comment also helped confirm that, in that scene at least, my character creation instincts were correct. To me, this is the biggest reason not to isolate yourself, no matter how big your ego might be. Being in a situation you’re not controlling is a great way to make sure that your barometer hasn’t been corrupted in some way, and that you’re still presenting yourself in a way that’s at least moderately entertaining.

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Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by John Robison.

Like any self-respecting extrovert that loves the sound of his own writing and thinks he’s an expert on something, I’m tossing my virtual hat into the ring of paragraph-smithing.

I’ll be talking mostly about improv, as that’s my passion and area of expertise. I won’t be writing every day… no need to put that kind of pressure on myself. But, whenever something improv-like happens to me, I’ll endeavor to post. Even if nobody ever reads it, at least I’ll have it to look back on, stroking my own ego and rolling around in my own wordy filth. (See, that’s a sentence that I’ll really appreciate a year from now.)

That said, I feel I’ve got a good perspective on this whole improv-y scene, and a good, open mind from which my thoughts can flow. What gives me the right? Well, like everyone, I’ve got access to the Internet and I’ve got a website. There ya go.

What sets me apart?

I actually know what I’m talking about. I first found the thrill of performing 23 years ago, when I was a bit player in a community theater show. It wasn’t much, but they charged admission. The next year I got the lead in a children’s theater production of “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” as the evil mayor, and from there, no looking back occurred. After dancing through the typical person’s childhood and teenage school plays and musicals, I emerged from high school in my small town of Linwood, Kansas to find out that there was no theater to be had.

Being lazy (?), I decided that instead of driving to Kansas City, I’d create a performance group in the nearby town of Bonner Springs, where I worked. I worked with a group of friends and family, and we started performing all around town. Before long, I got a reputation as a guy that put on an entertaining show. I was the Woody Allen of Bonner Springs, directing, starring, and sometimes writing my own shows. That went on for eight years. Toward the end, in about 1998, I discovered improv comedy, which I used at that time to help develop the acting skills of my troupe, and those of my middle school actors (I had founded a Drama Club at the school where I was employed).

As time went by, I got the appeal of improv, which gave all the satisfaction of acting, but without any of those messy lines to memorize or props and sets to organize. Don’t get me wrong… I still love plays and musicals, but I can do 16 improv shows in the time it takes to do one scripted show, at a fraction of the cost.

Eventually I gave up the community group… I turned it over to another of the members so that I could move on and grow my skills in Kansas City. Once there, I discovered that my skills were pretty well grown. I quickly was hired to start directing shows.

I also joined my first “professional” troupe. (professional in that there is pay… but not much of it, as all improv here in the KC area currently is.) I fell in love.

More on all this in future posts, I’m sure.

Eventually, my dream to open my own theater started occupying more and more of my thoughts. (Tons of folks have the dream, but few have the opportunity or cojones to actually do it.) I had the background. I had the skills. I had the devotion. I did not have the pedigree. All my training had come in the field.

So, it was time to go to Improv Olympic. I spent six weeks in Chicago doing improv over 30 hours a week, in front of expert instructors that boosted my talents and knowledge by a huge degree. It was huge for me, and really knocked me to a new level of performing.

Came back, opened the theater, and now host two shows a week, and perform for others during the rest of the week… (more on these later as well!)

So, that’s the skeleton of the “creation story” of the Roving Imp, for anyone that cares. Please feel free to comment, ask questions, challenge my authority, or otherwise pick apart anything I’ve written.

Holy hell… I’m longwinded.

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