It’s a fairly niche market and a job unlike most other ones. But I figure this is Straight Dope and people have questions! So let’s open the floor.
I can answer anything you like as long as it has to do with Improv or House Managering a small theatre.
SAK (the theatre I work for) is not a big one, and as a matter of fact, is going through its annual financial difficulty such that it looks like I may be out of a job in the coming months unless things change. But also the theatre is a bit different than a standard theatre, we don’t do scripted plays or anything like that, so it’s a bit unusual… But it is a theatre and drama abounds both on stage and off of stage.
There are storied of egos, of comedians who aren’t funny, of clueless volunteers, of bums and of intrigue and deceit!
Immediately I can tell you no the outcome is not fixed by us.
The most common competitive Improv is called “Theatresports” and we no longer subscribe to it. We did for a while but found the fees it required and such as not being worth the expense. I can’t recall the last time we participated in a competition against other groups directly, though we discussed the idea for this year.
Thinking back I think the last time outside groups came in and played against us was at “FoolFest 2003” but I wasn’t active at the time. I was in Atlanta at school.
Touching back on Theatresports though, we are heavily influenced by our time with them. We still have teams and we play Improv games (as opposed to long forms such as “The Harold.”) Though we have begun exploring more long forms recently in the form of creations by one of our performers who is a Professor at Rollins, he literally has a PhD in Improv. Well, in theatre, but his work has been almost exclusively in improv performance.
As for bananas, I find it very interesting that this is not the most common suggested fruit by audiences. By nature, improv audience members want to think of unusual things, so often we get “Kiwi” and “Starfruit” and other unusual fruits much more frequently than banana, orange or apple.
You’re quite right. But for 99% of the world, Improv is games. 0.9% know games and long form, and 0.1% know about the in between stuff. If I don’t reign myself in, I will never finish my post.
How did you end up managing a theatre house? Was that something you had experience in and had been looking for specifically, did you just kind of fall into it, or was it just the next step you took from performing?
Actually it is something I had zero experience in. However the theatre is a place I’ve frequented and volunteered at for somewhere around nine years. Up to the point where they hired me, I was volunteering there for about four nights a week, so I was already there a great deal and to be there, paid - was just a bonus.
I’m currently working my way through the Improv classes they offer and actually had to miss this semester because it would have conflicted with house managing one night a week, so I’m a semester behind the others who I started with, but it’s all good, I’ll finish eventually.
If they started in the fall, there is a very high likelihood I know them. Being the House Manager I know 99.5% of the people who attend classes, the rest I know on sight but not by name.
As for describing what exactly I do: My boss likes to describe my job as being the host of the party. The show is a party and it’s my job to keep our guests happy and enjoying themselves.
My role as House Manager isn’t quite the textbook job most theatre people picture when they think of HM. I handle everything a normal House Manager handles with the front of house, concessions, box office, as well as dealing with any patron issues. Those are the duties of a normal House Manager. But our theatre is small enough, and the way Improv is run, it allows for us to be flexible enough so that I can also play the role of Stage Manager.
Since we only have six (sometimes eight) improvisors, one tech, and one host on any given night it doesn’t require an army of people for support. Just me! So I’m also in charge of starting the shows on time, wrangling performers and handling any issues that might arise that would delay the show.
Well, the most famous alumni from my theatre is Wayne Brady. He got his start at SAK and skyrocketed quickly. Another alumni is a writer for MAD TV right now. If you saw the “Tickle me Emo” sketches, those were written by a guy named Ryan Smith. We’ve got a contingent of alumni out there in Hollywood, but no one besides those two have really been noticeable. I’ve seen three in various commercials though, so we’re hoping
As for newcomers, we’ve got a few with tremendous talent, but none with the drive to really make it as improvisors or comedians. There is me though…
Anyone can learn improv. You improvise every day. The biggest thing which stops people from doing improv is the idea that they can’t do it, or that they’re afraid to do it because they don’t want to look like a fool. I was explaining to a friend that it’s only on stage as an improviser that I feel completely free to do anything, because I am on stage and I’m a character. If my character has to dance shirtless while singing “I’m a little teapot” I’ll do it. Thankfully that rarely has to happen.
One of the other things I do at the theatre is help out with the entry level class, I’m sort of the TA for the class. The guy who teaches it is one of the most reserved people you’ll meet. He works in a library for a living and is very quiet, until he goes into improv mode, then he’s wild and crazy and wacky.
But it’s like anything else, we can give people the tools, if they’re too afraid to use them then we can’t force them. We had one girl who was very intimidated and overwhelmed and she never came out of her shell, but I’d say it’s 1 in 100 who are like her in their response to improv training.
Well, I’m alright.
I’m good compared to people in the same level of classes with me but I’ve seen hundreds or thousands of Improv shows so I’ve learned a lot simply by watching. There are some people in the same level of classes as me, who might have seen three shows - maybe. So I’ve got an edge simply through experience as a viewer. It’s like a life long football fan who gets in shape and gets a chance to play football for a pro team. He’s not great, but he knows more than Joe who grew up watching baseball.
As I’ve been told, my major strength is in supporting other people. I give them, what we call, “gifts” on stage. I give an idea or I endow them as something and then let them run with it. But one of my main weaknesses is I still get caught in my head and I plan ahead, so if I lay something out in my head and another improviser changes the story suddenly (as is very prone to happen) then I’m caught off guard and I have to reorient myself and the story. Also I get locked into reality. Sometimes I overlook the obvious next step in a scene because it isn’t realistic. It’s hard to explain
Sweet! I get to talk about Del Close! The most famous unfamous person you’ve probably never heard of. Del Close is one of the three god-parents of improv as we know it, and he’s my personal favorite. As I write more you’ll soon understand why.
Del is a character novelists dream about. He had a life long drug issue, was incredibly intelligent, had a sharp eye for comedic talent, and a vision. Let me give you a list of comedians who studied improv under Del Close:
John Belushi
John Candy
Mike Myers
Bill Murray
Harold Ramis
Chris Farley
Stephen Colbert
Gilda Radner
Tina Fey
Shelly Long
Andy Dick
Bob Odenkirk
Amy Poehler
Andy Richter
George Wendt
… and the list goes on.
It reads like a veritable who’s who of modern comedy.
Del Close worked in both Second City Chicago as well as ImprovOlympic in Chicago. Oh and Del Close did the lights for the Grateful Dead while they toured (and was their go to guy for drugs, supposedly.) Also Del Close was in Ferris Buehler’s Day Off as the English teacher at the beginning of the movie.
I highly recommend the book “Guru” by Jeff Griggs, it talks about his time with Del Close and it’s a fascinating and fun read.
Well that’s enough for now, keep the questions coming!
I was a house manager of a theater, and when I left, my SO took over.
It was fun, it was a pain in the ass, it was scary and it was bizarre.
Wild-eyed drunks, people so ill they should be quarantined in intensive care units at a hospital, bored husbands, bratty kids, house full of celebrities, house full of celebrity (arrogant) guests, stalkers, calling 911 for people who fall/pass out/cause a ruckus, waiting forever to go home because they chatted forever backstage, finding lost wallets, rings, jewellery, new and (used) condoms (?!) in the aisles after the show, rain coming through the roof, air conditioners dying, heat not working, electrical blackouts, overbooked shows, latecomers, people asking for their money back…am I missing anything?
More power to ya…it was great fun, for the most part, but after a period of time -well, time to move on.
Backed up toilets, lines for the ladies room that never seemed to end, cleaning the bathrooms (ladies are pigs compared to the men’s rooms), people throwing up, people taking pictures during a show, autograph hounds, people showing up with the wrong tickets/wrong time…nevermind, this list goes on for days.
Yours is much longer than mine. The worst I have to deal with is turning bums away and telling guests we don’t serve alcohol. But yes, I am one in a long line of succession of HMs as they burn out and move on.
