The top 10 of ‘08

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.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 at 15:53 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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