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Improvisors Are Actors, Too
By Julie O'Shea
Theater Bay Area
November 2005 Issue
About five years ago, improvisational theatre
underwent something of a cultural revolution.
Companies started popping up all over the place, each trying to
carve a unique niche in the Bay Area's vibrant, fast growing theatre
scene. The art form was
suddenly hip, suddenly chic and suddenly everywhere, from uptown bars to
downtown clubs to cable TV.
Some have argued that shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Curb Your
Enthusiasm has helped revive this old theatre technique and make it new
again. But Drew Carey and
Larry David can't take all the credit here.
Improv theatre has also blossomed under the
dedication, excitement and drive of many small local groups that seem to
have materialized starting around the late 1990's.
Do an Internet search for Bay Area troupes and classes and dozens
of names appear on the screen. Gone
are the days of performing in small out-of-the-way comedy-sports clubs.
These days, there is so much more to improv acting
than stand up, like Moliere, Chekhov and Shakespeare, to name a few.
It's not unusual to walk into a theatre and catch an improvised,
or long-form, version of one of the master playwrights.
OR if you'd like to take in an original production, troupes are
cranking out those, too. On
the Peninsula where folks thrive on the new and innovative, a gaggle of
improvisers is waiting to unfold full-length murder mysteries in your
living room, church halls or company conference centers.
And for those who prefer their improv served in traditional
game-style fun, there is always Bay Area Theatersports' (BATS) Sunday
Players.
"The Bay Area is one of the historic homes of
improv,” says John Kovacevich, BAT's executive director. "I think San Francisco is a place that attracts creative
people. [The city] is a
pretty open canvas. People
can create their own troupes."
Tara McDonough, one of the founding members of The
Un-Scripted Theater Company agrees.
"San Francisco does have a different
flavor" McDonough says, "Improv here tends to be narrative
based. I think it's more
theatrical.
Although the art has been gaining popularity,
improv actors point out that there is still a divide between the
scripted and unscripted worlds that they hope to close in the coming
years. They'd like to be seen as legitimate actors who are someday
paid livable wages for their talent.
"We are slowly making our way into the
mainstream society,” says Christian Utzman, another Un-Scripted
player. However, he notes,
"We are not fully accepted yet"
Many improv actors who, at one point or another
have felt snubbed by their mainstream counterparts share the sentiment.
What scripted stage actors fail to realize they say, is that
everyone can benefit from learning improv skills.
Scripted acting and improvised theater go hand in
had notes Shaun Landry, one of the founding members of the San Francisco
Improv Alliance and Oui Be Negroes.
For instance, says Landry, if someone forgets a line in the
middle of a scripted scene, an actor who's taken a few improv classes
can easily steer the action to where it needs to go.
"In improv we have the advantage of having
[something] happen for the very first time" Utzman explains. But for scripted stage actors, he adds, they have to
re-create whole scenes as if they are occurring for the first time.
And they do this night after night after night.
"Each [theatre technique] complements the
other" Landry says "Having them both together is a dream”
What’s more, Landry adds, is that improv is now being seen as a
"viable format" for auditions.
Not only can improv come in handy while performing
in, say Romeo and Juliet, but these skills also spill over into every
day life, like job interviews, dating and public speaking in general,
which is probably what makes improvisational theatre so attractive to
non-theatrical people.
Indeed, Kovacevich estimates that 80 percent of the
students who enter a BATS class do so out of mere curiosity, and most
end up staying because they get bit by "the bug."
"The majority of them are not actors; they are
not people who have ever been in a show.
There is something that attracts them," Kovacevich says.
"Improv gives adults the permission to play...to get over
the initial hesitation and just play."
Utzman, who also teaches improv classes, puts it
another way "It's almost like therapy" he says and then laughs
"or a miracle drug."
"One of the things about beginning improv is
to have a good time." he says.
"I'm trying to teach people what it feels like to be a good
improviser."
It can also turn introverts into totally different
people.
"You wouldn't know it from talking to me, but
I was painfully, painfully shy," says McDonough, who is gearing up
for Un-Scripted's holiday show. "Very few things scare you after
you've done improv."
Others use it as an outlet to unwind.
Landry, a transplant from Chicago, says she has met
people who are bankers by day and "the best improvisers in the
world" by night.
"I can't think of one actor who doesn't have a
day job" Landry says, speculating that 70 percent of improv actors
consider this their "calling," but only 5 percent can actually
do it as a full-time job.
Jeremy Koerner, who heads San Jose's Mysteries for
Hire, is one of the lucky few.
"Now I get paid for everything my third-grade
teacher yelled at me for," he jokes, before quickly acknowledging
that most of the actors in his ensemble have jobs outside of acting. No so for Koerner, who adds with a smile: "This is my
day job."
This is Christopher Eickmann's goal too.
He and his fiancée, Jill Mueller came out West three years ago,
hoping to find a long-form improv group to join.
When they couldn't find one, they opened their own, Lila Theatre.
"We are really serious about the
commitment," says Eickmann, who makes everyone in his eight member
ensemble sign a one-year contract before he hires them.
"Then is a big rebirth of theatre going on.
One of our goals is to make improvisational theatre legitimate.
While Eickmann can afford to pay his actors, he
can't afford to make managing Lila his only job.
And so, while they wait to hit it big, Eickmann and Mueller both
have side gigs to pay the rent.
"You have to treat it like a business-not a
theatre company-a business. And
any new business is hard." Eickmann says.
"If you want people to pay for [improv], it has to be in a
nice theatre, and you have to pay your actors."
Smiling Eickmann adds, "We are on our
way...but we haven't gotten there yet."
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