Question: What makes a good troupe?

1.  You must be comfortable with one another.

Improvisers are constantly exposing parts of their brain that may not get exposed on a regular basis in everyday life. To be truly creative, you can’t be afraid of those around you. You should be able to talk about absolutely anything. You should be able to touch each other without recoiling. You should have the kind of relationships where you don’t have to censor yourself for any reason.  I am successful to varying degrees in the groups I participate in. With people coming in and leaving, and group dynamics constantly shifting, accomplishing true “comfort” is always a moving target… but I’m always trying to get there. Also related…

2. You must have a positive environment.

In my troupe, this is terrifically important. You can be super talented, but if you don’t have a positive attitude, you don’t get in. It’s our culture, and is vital to establish a basic level of trust really quickly. If you’re scared of being teased or derided because of some stage experiment you tried, you’re not going to ever grow, because you’ll be scared of being talked about behind your back. Plus, life is just too short to deliberately bring a sourpuss into your life. Which leads into…

3. You must have an open mind

Some people I know would have some trouble performing some of the scenes I’ve been in. If you have a certain mindset, and aren’t at least a little open, you’re going to have a hard time with these “non-traditional” social roles that might happen on stage. Some of the recent highlights from this category: a NASCAR family that keeps physical love amongst themselves, shunning those that find outside partners; a gay male trying to find his place in a small town; a political debate over the wisdom of voting for Ralph Nader; a man whose wife struggles to fit in with his existing girlfriend and boyfriend; a boy that is trapped in a grocery store and after many months is forced to eat people and people by-products… and so on. I don’t personally currently take part in any of these situations, but with an open mind, we were able to create some really interesting and funny pieces. For crying out loud. They’re not real.

4. You have to rehearse and/or perform on a regular and frequent basis.

In general, I hate comparing any art to sports, but in this case I’ll make an exception… if your football team doesn’t practice, they’re not going to be good. Even if you are a team that’s currently at the top of your game, then you stop rehearsing for six months or a year, it’s going to affect you. When you start up again, you might still be better than any of your competitors, but you won’t be as good as you used to be. Performing is also important… keeping in touch with your audience is essential to being a good troupe. Staying in touch with your base helps keep you grounded in reality.

5. You must have some basic improv training.

You can only be successful up to a point without having some basic ideas about how to make a compelling scene, create interesting characters, and support your scene partner. These things happen all the time by accident, but you’re really increasing your chances of them occurring if you train. This also implies that you’re willing to learn, which is extremely important. No matter who you are, you still have room to grow.

6. You have to be talented. Duh.

You can train at the best places,  get together a lot, be comfortable, and have a positive environment, but if you don’t have the talent, you’re just drinking buddies. You can’t really learn this, but some level of attention, timing, and quickness has to already be there.

Reaching some of these is pretty easy. Some of them are constantly moving, so you will never reach 100% (everyone has some hangups… you’ll never get to a 100% open mind, for example), but if you get everyone in your troupe as high as possible on these things, I’ll bet you’re a good troupe.