Classic Improv

When I pitched Mission: Improv-able to BDACT, I had no idea what I was doing. Classic improv. I wasn’t on the selection committee at the time. I’d never pitched a show before. I’d never directed or assistant directed a show before. I’d never even done improv on stage before.

But I knew exactly what I wanted. I could see the show in my mind. “Silly people doing silly things.”

I pointed out that it was a low-risk venture, financially. Set budget? Costumes? No, nothing like that. Maybe some hats. Props? Yeah, a few, but we could pick those from the prop room. We didn’t need anything specific, so no need to buy anything. We would do it in Encore Hall, so there wouldn’t be any lost opportunity of a main stage show that would make money. I also pointed out that I’d talked to several people who really knew the theater and they’d been very excited about the idea. Apparently, it had been floated a few times but we hadn’t done an improv show. And I had a very experienced team helping me in Megan, Jennifer, Jill, and Tommy.

Then I started getting questions about the future of the show. Was the idea that we could do it multiple times? Would there be a core cast, and then others rotating in? Could it fill weekends where there was a gap? I realized people were already considering if this could be a multi-year production.

Thrilling.

That first year was all about finding our footing. We learned a bunch of improv games. We discussed humor as if we were scientists. We had games that were painfully bad and we took them apart, figured out the pieces, and put them together again to make them work.

The audience responded. People came to see the show and really seemed to enjoy themselves. We were encouraged. We were delighted. We were eager for more. “Next year we could…” “Hey, for next year, what about..?” I had to tell everyone, “I don’t even know if they’ll let us do the show again.”

We’re about to go into our third year. We’ll be doing the April show, and another weekend in September. Our second year was about refining what we’d done in the first year. This year, we have a few more surprises in store as we continue to solidify our identity.

We’ve done some traveling performances, too. We performed at a state risk management conference, what we called “insurance improv,” of all things. We’re going to be performing at Jefferson Elementary for an assembly.

It turns out, improv is about way more than “Silly people doing silly things.”

It’s about thinking quickly, without a script.

It’s about listening.

It’s about lifting each other up and highlighting our talents.

It’s about being creative and flexible.

It’s about building something memorable.

It’s about having the confidence to take a chance and do something even though you have no idea what you’re doing.

Classic improv.