Questions To Ask Before Joining An Improv Project

Below are some questions to ask when setting goals for yourself as an improviser or considering a new improv project. These questions may help you choose which projects you focus on and which projects might need to wait.

What are the expectations?

Does the team want to practice, just perform, or both? How much or how little? Does the team want to go to festivals? What is the expectation of financial contribution, if any?

It is best to understand the expectations from the get-go and check in with the group frequently along the way to be sure you are on the same page. Ask for clarity around these things before giving your yes. 

Are you prepared to commit?

We must be prepared to back our yes up with a full-bodied commitment. We don’t make half-hearted choices on stage - don’t make half-hearted choices off stage, either. Improv trains us to say yes. Improv has a way of yes anding itself. Before we know it, we are taking seven different classes, teaching three different classes, and going to 5 different festivals over the next three months while doing six improv rehearsals a week and two other shows on the same night. Consider your yes carefully and leave some space for life and for projects you don’t even know about yet that could be a better fit!

If the project rehearses or performs on the one night a week that you have free, what are the chances you will soon be calling out just to catch your breath? If you keep needing to miss rehearsals or shows it probably means you should reconsider if you should be on the team. Saying no can sometimes be the best way to support a project in moving forward.

How is this project different?

Here are some categories of projects you might want to consider to introduce variety in the types of improv projects you do:

Be the least experienced performer on the team

• Playing with people who are further down the road than you are can be helpful. You will learn a lot by collaborating with people who have more experience than you do. Learn by observing the qualities that make the players on the team such great improvisers and translate that into your own work. 

Be the most experienced performer on the team

• Playing with people who do not have as much experience as you do does not mean you are playing with less talented people. You have the chance to learn how to truly support play. It can be refreshing to reconnect with the joy and openness of all that it is to be beginning your improv journey.  

Challenge yourself to improvise in a new way

• As improvisers, we are well aware that there are many different approaches to this wonderfully open art form. Probably as many as there are people who improvise. Playing on a team or in a show that requires you to improvise in a new way can reignite your creativity and expand your skill set. Enter this project with an open mind, and I guarantee you will grow.  And who knows, your point of view may also inform the people you are working with.

Find your artistic wheelhouse

• It is essential to be able to do work you believe in, and that feels like a home of sorts. A project where you are working with a group of like-minded artists who are after the same thing you are after. Do not misunderstand. I do not mean that you rest on your laurels. There is still work to do. Have you pushed the boundaries and taken new risks within this project? Having a common vocabulary and feeling like you are in your element can be used as a tool to go further faster. 

A duo

• There are many reasons I believe everyone should eventually have an improv duo. Oh so many. Setting aside that a duo is the most beautiful essential expression of improv - it provides an opportunity for exponential growth. A duo allows you to really feel what it is like to initiate or drive as well as support or go along for the ride in an intensified way. You are a contributor to every scene. In a duo, you really feel what it is to be responsible for an improv project. If you do not show up to rehearsal - or the show - the duo does not happen. I think that is important. A duo partner is selected based on mutual admiration and regard for one another’s work and shared artistic vision and goals. Also scheduling, traveling, and making decisions for a duo are often easier than doing so for a whole team - though both are valuable to learn how to do.

You Should Feel Like You Belong

You deserve to feel safe, respected, and included. If that is not the case I would seriously consider moving on. You have the right to your personal dignity and artistic integrity. You should never sacrifice those things.

Improv should be a place where we can celebrate each other and all that is profoundly stupid and glorious about being human. When we create brave spaces where everyone feels they can be themselves despite differences - we all become better listeners and supporters, - that is better improvisers.

If you have felt unsafe or have experienced or witnessed harm, hopefully, you feel brave enough to talk to someone about it or use any reporting mechanisms that are in place to advocate for yourself or someone else. If no one is listening, it is time to get out and find another place to play.

Long story short

Get on the same page
Commit
Try Something New
Value Different Perspectives
Lead with Love