8 Signs That Your Improv Team Is Heading for a Breakup
8 Signs That Your Improv Team Is Heading for a Breakup

Improv isn’t always all fun and games. Take it from someone who has gone through two team breakups within the past year.

To the average audience member, a team may appear to have amazing comedic chemistry on stage. But if the off-stage chemistry isn’t there, improv team members will often part ways and seek new theatrical horizons. Sometimes it’s simply an issue of conflicting schedules or a lack of managerial organization. Other times, it goes deeper than that and involves a web of drama, which can end in bad blood or tears. In either case, there are some key warning signs you should keep an eye out for that may foreshadow a painful improv breakup in your team’s future.

In this article, I’m going to share with you the warning signs I noticed in the days leading up to the breakup of my improv teams. If you spot any of these signs with your own team, you may want to start exploring other improv alternatives.

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The Acting LifeChristopher PetersonAnna Hubbel, Improv
No One Wants A Pit Musician’s Autograph
No One Wants A Pit Musician’s Autograph

I am intensely passionate about attending live theatre, mainly because of its immense power. It makes reality melt away, drawing me within a into a world different than my own for a few hours, playing my emotional keys through sentimental ballads and show stopping soliloquies, and provoking thought and subsequent change. Due to the fact that I myself aspire to become a professional performer (especially a musical theatre performer), I swell with the admiration I feel towards the extraordinary people I see gracing the stage. I adore the fact that when I attend a Broadway musical, I am able to exit the theatre directly after the curtain call and approach the stage door in the hopes of meeting one of these exceptional performers.

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Broadway, EditorialChristopher PetersonAdriana Nocco, Wicked, Pit Musicians
The Truth Behind Small Theater Programs
The Truth Behind Small Theater Programs

From universities known for their large and respected theater programs to the college theater underdogs, On Stage writers have walked you through some of the best programs in the country. But what about schools not known for their theater program? Or even schools with very small programs? Are they worth talking about? Of course it depends on what you’re looking for but sometimes you can find great experiences in surprising places and theater departments in non-theater schools are a great example. 

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College TheatreChristopher PetersonNoah Golden
Tips to Help Your Audition at Unifieds
Tips to Help Your Audition at Unifieds

Unifieds. For those who have endured through these audition sessions, I tip my hat to you. It’s a stressful and hectic process which proves to be more fruitless than successful. But there are those times when the stars align that a unified audition goes so well, an offer of admission is made.

These are rare but I’ve seen them happen. More often, a student will come in, give a strong audition and that will at the very least, put them on our radar as a strong candidate for admission later on. Then there’s the flip side, when we see a student give a lackluster audition that disqualifies them from consideration. It doesn’t happen in the majority, but it does happen.

While there isn’t a sure-fire blueprint for success to get into every school you audition for, there are definitely things you can do to help your chances in that room.

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Auditions, College TheatreChristopher PetersonChris Peterson, Unifieds
Sometimes Your Accompanist Sucks (and what to do if that happens)
Sometimes Your Accompanist Sucks (and what to do if that happens)

Recently, I attended a college audition session where there was constant issues with the accompanist. While they were certainly trying their best, they just weren’t skilled enough to be able to play an audition session at this level. And because of this, it had a negative impact on the students auditioning that day. Each person after the next had some issues; whether it was rhythms, key signature, every student seemed to be off when singing their selections.

Over the course of your performing career, this is going to happen to you. While the majority of accompanists are fantastic, talented and helpful, there will be some who can torpedo your audition with their lack of skill.

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AuditionsChristopher PetersonChris Peterson
When a Show Starts to Really Work After Performances Begin
When a Show Starts to Really Work After Performances Begin

So we’re backstage at the conclusion of performance #10 in a 12-show run of Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, produced by Big Dawg Productions at the Cape Fear Playhouse down here in Wilmington, NC. We’re in the single, narrow dressing room that accommodates all five of us and our two-person backstage crew, changing back into street clothes.

J. Robert Raines, who plays Doctor Watson, is in the midst of changing his shirt, with a broad smile on his face.

“That,” he says, “was just so much fun!!”

Amidst murmurs of agreement all around, acknowledging that it had taken us a while to reach a performance level that was “fun” for all of us, we stumble across one of the harsh realities of community theater; that by the time everybody literally gets their act together, the run is over.

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Community Theatre, The Acting LifeChristopher PetersonSkip Maloney
My Broadway Baby Playlist
My Broadway Baby Playlist

At 34 weeks pregnant with my first child, and being the “love all the info person I am,” I’ve read several books (or parts of) on pregnancy. I know that the baby can hear voices right now. I know it’s good for my husband and me to speak out loud to her since she can recognize our voices specifically. But it feels weird. Now, we speak all the time to our cat, but then again our cat is vocal and answers back which makes it seem less strange. But talking in the general direction of my stomach…hmmm.

Anyway, I found a way around it - Music. Specifically, Broadway show tunes because that’s mostly my entire music library. Here are the songs and shows my Broadway Baby is being exposed to which if the books are right may result in helping calm her when she’s here, live and in-person!

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The Acting LifeChristopher PetersonLiz Chirico
Poor Jud Fry : A Different Perspective on Oklahoma!
Poor Jud Fry : A Different Perspective on Oklahoma!

The theatre is all about perspective. Depending on how you look at a song or characters, the entire arc of the story can change. Take Grease for instance. On one side it's viewed at as a fun, teenage musical about falling in love and getting through high school. On the other hand, it's a cautionary tale, making the statement that it's okay to succumb to peer pressure to get the boy of your dreams.

By looking at some of these shows in a different light, it allows us to see through the eyes of a different character. One musical that comes to mind is Oklahoma! 

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EditorialChristopher PetersonChris Peterson