Friday, January 1, 2010 by John Robison.

Comparisons to past years will have to wait until 2010, but since I have about 20 minutes left on the children’s naps, I’ve got time for the bottom 10 of 2009. Enjoy:

10. Red Rubber Ball/Dictionary Soup, 1-31-09

After our fantastic January, this show reminded us that theater can be a fickle mistress. The shows themselves were great, especially Dictionary Soup, but evidently everyone had already been to the theater in January. Of course, Dictionary Soup is a group that has had trouble attracting audiences consistently - partly due to its 2009 2nd Friday slot, which was not a tremendous time for attracting people to the Roving Imp. And even though Dictionary Soup is our audience’s choice for #1 favorite show, I’ve had some audiences say they’re a little scared that DS will churn out a well done drama instead of a comedy. This is due mainly to a show which was a pretty amazing tale of a convict accused of murdering his brother. Amazing, but definitely more dark than a usual improv show. We’re switching things up in 2010, so hopefully we’ll give DS the love it deserves.

9. ‘Arold/Omega Directive,  3-28-09

Snowstorms keep audiences away. Actually, a very small amount of snow is worse, because people are scared of what might be later. That’s what happened here… a little snow = a little audience.

8. Red Rubber Ball, Dictionary Soup, 7-10-09

Poor RRB & DS… Perhaps not a winning combination.

7. Dial-A-Show, Dictionary Soup, 8-14-09

I think Keith doesn’t believe me when I tell him that we actually do have people visit the theater, and there is actually an audience. For such a quality show, DS should have throngs of fans. We’ll have to do something about that. We probably should have done something about that well before now.

6. Full Frontal Comedy/Biblioclast, 5-15-09

You know what else keeps audiences away? Thunderstorms with associated tornado warnings. We had a really well attended night the following evening.

5. FAT, 4-17/18-09

Martha Maggio’s original award-winning one-woman play was another show that deserved much more audience, and probably would have gotten it if more of us had been in town. The Chicago Improv festival happened at the exact same time, so not even I got to see this show, which was later described to me as “amazing.” Maybe we should do a combined FAT/Dictionary Soup night.

4. Improv Survivor Premiere, 1-30-09

Wow. That was a rough weekend. Was there snow or something? It was the very first regularly scheduled Friday show, and Improv Survivor substituted for Puppet Nation, which is a great idea that 95% of all improvisers are scared of.

3. Thursday Prime, 1st Thursdays January-May

OK, so technically there were five of these, but since the shows were free shows during the weekday, it didn’t seem right to punish them by listing them separately. They were a great experiment, and introduced the Roving Imp to a few new folks. Since RI switched up its rehearsals in June, there was no longer a slot available for this Thursday show… which was OK, since very few people made it out anyway.

2. Improv Survivor/Biblioclast: Spaceballs, 7-3-09

The shows were good, but look at the date… the Friday directly before Independence Day. Holidays are never good for attendance, and this one definitely wasn’t. Maybe one day I’ll learn to just not have a show… if the desire to create art doesn’t overcome me, as it usually does.

1. RI’s Kingdom of the Crystal Imp/Dictionary Soup, 4-10-09

Another Friday, another Dictionary Soup show, and the second half of our anniversary celebration. The first half of it went great, but it seems that people weren’t so psyched about the sequel. We ended up converting the show into a near-jam, as the bulk of the small audience had performed with us before anyway. Great show… but we did it basically for ourselves.

The good news - the number of small audiences is down by a lot over 2008. Average audience size has doubled, although there’s still plenty of room for improvement. And Dictionary Soup has nowhere to go but up.

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Monday, December 28, 2009 by John Robison.

I know… too long since a blog entry. Things are busy here at the Imp… since the festival, we’ve been gearing up for the opening of the RI Coffee House, which opens Jan. 1. Cool!

I’ll do a quick series of entries here at the end of the year, because these topics appeal to the trend nerd within me… top 10 & bottom 10 shows (audience-wise, weighted by actual ticket sales) of 2009 as well as a little comparison with the top shows of past years. Here goes… enjoy!

10. Robot Parade/One: 8-28

A formula that’s worked really well here at the Imp is allowing improv students to defer payments in favor of bringing audience members to the shows they perform in. Some months they take advantage of it, and some months they don’t. August was a month the students brought their friends… and in force.  The next challenge: getting those folks to stay for the 9pm show. Poor One.

9.  Lawrence Public Library Double Header: 7-2

A great, fun show that took place during our extremely busy summer of private shows. Nifer, Ryan and myself performed energetic and catchy games for two packed houses of 90% kids under age 8 in Lawrence. We’re going to do more of these gigs in the summer of 2010, hopefully… ’cause now we’re really good at it.

8. ImpFest, Day 2: 10-23

Anyone who’s been a regular at the Imp cannot deny that our very first improv festival was awesome for audiences, performers, and the community. Our Friday lineup included some of the best groups in the city, and this special event really drew the crowds to come see them. We’re doing it again next October, so start gathering those audition videos!

7. RI’s Post-Holiday Headache/Trivial Prov-suit: 1-3

After the holidays, people evidently were really anxious to laugh, because there wasn’t anything particularly different about this show. I remember being completely surprised by the turnout for these shows, as well as for the shows throughout January. I don’t know if all Januaries will have such great audiences, but I can hope.

6. Dial-A-Show/Improv Jam: 11-14

The Improv Jam has been a big draw since its inception early on in the Imp’s existence. Its success is due in no small part to a group of friends that before and after each Jam gather at the home of what can only be called the most down-to-earth socialites in Bonner Springs. These folks are six tons of fun, and love being able to hop up on stage and have some fun.  I am proud to have these folks as friends, and I am glad that they consider the theater to be a friend of theirs as well. In case you’re wondering, I would do almost anything these people ask… and that’s why we always end with “I Like My Women.” I’m just lucky that’s all they’ve asked me to do so far.

5. ‘Arold/Omega Directive: 1-24

Part of the awesome January we had as well as a great turnout for a class show, the #5 show of the year took us by surprise again. I don’t anticipate changing the class show format… but I do anticipate adding more classes in 2010, including an advanced class. Interested? Let me know!

4. Arnold/Omega Directive: 11-28

That’s right… another class show. I was still surprised, as this show happened during Thanksgiving weekend. I thought that we might get some families looking for something to do all together, and was thrilled to have an entire church group make reservations. Never underestimate the need for family-friendly entertainment. It still vexes me a bit that Omega Directive has such a great cast and such great shows, but attracts pitiful audiences. We’re going to have to change that in 2010.

3. RI’s Post-Holiday Headache/Improv Jam: 1-17

Thank you Lynches. We love performing for you. We also are learning to love January.

2. Robot Parade/Improv Survivor: 4-24

Class shows are awesome. And it’s nice that Improv Survivor got to be on the list. April was one of the shows that was really top-notch quality, too, so that’s even better.

And… the #1 show of 2010:

1. ImpFest Day 3: 10-24

With a lineup of performers like Dictionary Soup, Coma Chameleon, One, Improv-Abilities and Brownies Don’t Lie, everyone wanted to be here, and everyone was. The house was packed, and the groups delivered a hell of a show. If one more person had come to the door, they would have been turned away… not a single seat was left… not even for other cast members or staff members. I personally crouched on the floor near the exit, and was happy to do it.

This has been a spectacular year at the Roving Imp. We performed on 92 different nights, and performed or hosted a total of 170 shows during that time. We’ve created comedy, art, and comedic art, which is pretty special… if it were easy to keep an improv theater open, they would be everywhere. Thanks to everyone who helped make our theater successful this year, and let’s hope for even more success next year.

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Tuesday, October 20, 2009 by John Robison.

Just 48 hours from now, the first night of the Roving Imp’s very first festival will be done, and the audience and actors will hopefully be enjoying themselves at the after-party.

I am terrifically excited, and just a trifle nervous. We’ve never done this before. We don’t yet know what we should have remembered. My consolation is that when you boil down a festival, it’s basically just a concentrated version of all the activities we already do here at the Imp: classes and shows. The only difference is that there are more people involved, and it all happens in a shorter time frame.

I’ve tried to cover all my bases. I’ve structured the entire festival in a way that I would have always liked other festivals to be structured (each ensemble gets two chances to perform, and each performance lasts anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes, depending on the artistic needs of the piece… preordained schedules be damned), and I’ve tried to forsee possible problems. All I want is for everyone to have a great time, and if we’ve forgotten to dot an i, let’s hope t’s not an mportant one.

My biggest worry at this point is a great worry to have: a sellout on Friday and Saturday. I’ve tried to persuade everyone to purchase their tickets ahead of time to ensure they have a seat… but there are still literally about 30 people I’ve talked to that want a ticket but don’t yet have one. All I can do is know that I’ve tried my best. Sure, I’d love every single person that arrives to be able to strut right in and sit down, but when it comes down to it, we have 64 seats, and that’s it. If you’re number 65, we still love you, and we’ll see you at the party.

I’m excited to have Jill Bernard coming to our theater… and in a way it seems surreal. She’s someone I’ve talked with a few times, and to have her coming to our festival the same as she would come to Chicago or a zillion other festivals… seems weird. It doesn’t seem like we’re all that. Maybe we’re not… but we definitely put out some good improv, and having Jill here to deliver workshops and a show will really help inspire us to shoot even higher. Nearly every student at the Roving Imp Training Center is taking a workshop with Jill, which is really telling about their level of commitment to learning.

This time next week, it’ll be really interesting to see what insights I’ve gained. I’ve already learned a lot… festivals are complicated, sure, but not all that bad to plan if you’re at least a little organized. We’ll see if I still feel the same way next week!

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Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by John Robison.

An e-mail to me: I’ve been thinking about improv mindsets recently and was wondering if you have any goals, intentions or understandings in your head when you go on-stage. “Be funny” is the first thing that came to my mind, but that’s probably not the most empowering mindset (and may have bad results.) “Do the scene justice” is the next thing I thought, but is upholding a plot, characters and relationships really more important than marketing the scene to the audience? “Have fun” was another thought, but that doesn’t account for the high standard many improvisers hold themselves to.
What do you normally think to yourself?

Let’s take this a little bit at a time…
I think that saying to yourself “be funny” is like playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in the chamber. You’re not going to win this one. Everybody and their grandpa tries to be funny, and let’s be honest - they’re not funny. I have never genuinely laughed at a single thing my grandfather has ever said.

Your goal should be to “be real.” Each human is a unique individual, and will have a different outlook on every given topic. Since you’re one of those unique individuals, by being real, you’re giving your audience something they couldn’t get anywhere else. People will laugh, but they will not be laughing at how funny you are… they’ll be laughing at your honest reactions. People are fascinated by the way people behave in real situations - hence the popularity of reality shows (real ones… scripted reality shows are terrible - have you seen “The Hills?”). Be real, and you’ll be funny. It’ll happen.

Doing the scene justice is a good idea, but it seems a like kind of a nebulous thought to have in your head as you’re heading onto the stage. If you’re doing your job correctly, your actions will not only create great relationships and characters with a nice simple plot to hold it all together, but will also entrance the audience. Audiences want scenes to work well. Honestly, I do not think of the audience while I am within the piece. I pay more attention to the energy in the room.*

Perhaps a more helpful outlook from the sidelines is “What does this scene/piece need?” See my paragraph on Predator Mind below…

Have fun? Absolutely. If this isn’t fun, then you need to stop doing it right the hell now. You have a limited amount of free time - why are you doing this if you’re not having fun, especially if you’re doing it for little or no pay? Just to make sure I have fun, I remind myself to have fun before each and every show, and remind myself how lucky I am to be able to go out, pretend to be someone else, say ridiculous things that I personally don’t believe (I had a character last weekend ready to defend Sarah Palin and everything she stands for), and have people pay you to do it.  And by the way, having fun and also having high standards are not exclusive. I think they go hand in hand.

Here are three techniques that I regularly employ when I’m on the sidelines:

• Completely blank your mind - Michelangelo was said to have stared at a piece of marble, see the sculpture waiting within, and then to remove the portions that didn’t belong. Some people see longform the same way. From the moment your ensemble hears the suggestion, the mental energy begins to flow, and the piece forms onstage without you having to actively do anything. Trust in that energy and the ability of your unconscious to interpret it. Go on stage with absolutely nothing in mind, and see what already exists there. See what inhabits you when you step up.** It can be scary as hell, but you’ll discover things you wouldn’t ordinarily think of. I’ve found that this works best at the very start of a piece, and not quite so well later on.

• Initiating line - No matter what you think might happen in the piece later on, it won’t. Trying to plan ahead will not work unless you force it, and when you force it, you will destroy it. Comedy is like a soap bubble… beautiful, amazing, and easily annihilated. That being said, you can still give it gentle nudges. In the fraction of a second it takes me to step onto the stage, I formulate a concept of the initiating line I want to say, and how to say it. And that’s all. You’ve blown the bubble… and now you have to see where it sails. Let your scene partner react, and the two of you reacting honestly in the moment will create a scene completely different and way funnier than anything you could have planned out on the sidelines.

And while I’m on this topic, no matter what line you initiate with, for the love of God, have some emotion behind it. So very many times I’ve seen an actor come on stage and say something about the environment like, “Look at that fishtank,” which is like an engraved golden ticket to a maddeningly boring-ass scene about wacky stuff. However, that same line, said with perceptible fear, euphoria, sadness, hatred, or some other strongly felt emotion will lead to a much richer scene. AND it gives your partner more direction, which is always a plus.

• Predator Mind - While you’re on the sidelines, do not think at all of the future, but rather let your spirit of the wolf come out. Watch and listen to what’s happening on stage as if it were your next meal, and you’re starving. Listen to every little detail. Live in the moment, and be ready to pounce when you identify something that must happen. Time for an edit? Do it. Need a walk-on character to help clarify what the environment is? You’re there. What is the scene calling for right now? A high energy character? Clarification? Heightening? Consistently aggressive editing? You’ll sense when something is not right, especially after you’ve been doing it awhile.

You’re not sitting there looking for opportunities to go on stage… if the scene is cooking, do not disturb the dynamic they’ve got going… you’ll pop that soap bubble. If you’re adding something necessary to the scene, you’re adding to that bubble, and making it more amazing. Sometimes, it calls for nothing, and the right move is to stay the hell out of its way, even if that means you do nothing the entire but edit and scene paint - because that’s what the piece needs you to do.

You cannot have a complete Predator Mind if you’re sitting on the sidelines plotting and planning ahead. Be the scene.

So, to boil an incredibly long answer down to one hippy-dippy take-home concept: The scene is alive. You are not in control of it. As a beginning improviser, you do not fully understand its language, so you must not assume you know how it lives. Listen to it carefully, and it will tell you how to make it thrive.

Now begins the footnote section…

*If you don’t believe in invisible energy that flows between and among actors and audiences, you may not be cut out to be a performer. There’s a reason that shows are better live than on tape, and it’s human-generated energy. Read the chapter on thermodynamics in Mick Napier’s “Improvise.” Then after you’re done being confused (he once told me he wrote that chapter in a hotel in Amsterdam, if that helps), read it again. He’s right. The energy is there, and you’ll kick up your game several notches when you learn to recognize it and use it… as long as you don’t depend upon it.

**Seriously… the energy is there, and your subconscious can pick up on it and lead you the right way. I’m a huge fan of the subconscious.

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Thursday, July 23, 2009 by John Robison.

Hi all,

I’ve come to the point in every blogger’s life when he has to make a confession. It’s not what you think… but it appears on everyone’s blog sooner or later. I’ve just been too busy to blog lately. This summer was full of private shows and workshops in addition to the regular Imp shows, new ensembles, and a new baby in my family. Now that Ivy’s been here for two months, things are beginning to return to normal, and perhaps I’ll have some time to write. It’s already been true. I’m actually working on some writing… I have three different creative projects in the works, all writing related. These are taking up 90% of my writing time, which is already pretty scarce. The first of these is a book based upon the Dictionary Soup shows of the past few months, which have been of a good enough quality that, with a little refining, they will be fit to make the leap to the scripted stage. So, if my absence is a little longer than you’d like, this is why. It takes a lot to transcribe a live show, analyze it, and tweak it into a finished product. And there are two other projects lined up behind the DS book.

That being said, I do intend to blog… I have at least three topics I have partially completed, but you know me… I do go on. So hang on, those of you that have asked me improv-related questions… the answers are coming!

In the meantime, come see me at the Imp, and keep an eye out for the newest John Robison book!

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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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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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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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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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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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