the Book of Jason

What's the point in performing improvisation?

I recently spoke to a friend who is an OPSD (Original Pat Shay Dancer) and we discussed the benefits (or lack thereof) in a long-term stay in Chicago Improvdom. Of course, if one manages to use their improv skills to get a job at Second City or ComedySportz then the result is obvious; getting paid to improvise (or being paid to use improv skills to create something else). With Second City Communications and Chicago ComedySportz offering more and more opportunities for improvisers to be paid beyond the stage work (that is, corporate events) this would seem to be a golden era for improvisers.

But (you knew that was coming, didn't you?) what if after numerous attempts you cannot get hired by either company? What if you're never put on a team at the Playground or ImprovOlympic? Or, perhaps in a worse scenario, you are on a team but that's it? You spend X amount of years doing improv and then what? When you go on an audition, your improv credentials usually don't carry much weight. A casting agent certainly doesn't care if your team was a "house team" or won "best of fest, 2000". Certainly, if you are hired you can use your improv training to make you a better actor, but to get hired first is the real trick. Unless there is a sudden boom in improvised movies and television shows, there is no real call for improvisers in Hollywood.

Where do the most talented improvisers go? Some of the greatest improvisers stay and impart their knowledge to newcomers. Others leave to write and perform on television or on film. No one ever gets hired as an improviser to be a full-time improviser (by this I am referring only to stage work and not corporate events). Why, then, improvisation? Once I'm done with my classes, what then? I, personally, love it. I do it for the art and joy of long-form improvisation. I know my reasons and plans and plots for staying. I've been in Chicago; learning, performing, teaching, coaching, learning, improvisation for just about 6 years now (which I consider middle-age, in improv years).

Why did you come here?

Why are you staying?

What are your plans?

Please visit the Argos Agency Message Board to discuss this thread. The first one is a post from me titled: "Why Improv?"

JASON