How long have you been a resident organization at Flashpoint and how has being a part of an arts incubator helped your organization?
Mark: We became a resident organization in 2004 when Flashpoint opened and were one of the pilot resident companies. It was really instrumental to the organization and came at just the right time for WIT’s growth. We were starting to develop a training program – so the community organization and the peer organization was very helpful.
What do you look forward to with your move to Source?
Mark: We’re looking forward to having a bigger audience and connecting with that bigger audience. Also, the technical aspects of being in a bigger space – there’s more you can do with more space to play in. There are more organizations using the stage to interact with and I think it’ll be more intense since there will be a lot of overlap with the way that we’ll be rotating the use of the performance space. There’s really no loss of intimacy because the space is so flexible. You can still have a really intimate show. When we do Improvapalooza we’ll be able to get 300 people in and out of Source in 5 hours – we couldn’t have done that at Flashpoint.
Also, Source was one of the first venues that we played in, so it feels good to go back. It’s like we’re completing the circle.
If funding was no obstacle, where would you be and what would you be doing?
Mark: We would have bought Source ourselves.
Topher: If there was one change we could make to Source, it would be to put a putt-putt golf course on the roof.
How do you juggle simultaneously being directors, administrators, artists and teachers? Do you ever improvise or forget to improvise at the wrong times?
Mark: We’d probably be voted “guys most likely to make wise-cracks during serious meetings.” But then again we’ve really never felt much pressure to turn that off completely. There’s an opportunity for levity and humor everywhere – it helps us communicate better as people. Though, sometimes when we’re stressed because of all the organizing and management that we have to do, it can be hard to let that go at the beginning of a rehearsal or performance.
Topher: Mark and I have been working together for 8 years and we’ve developed an ability to play together offstage, as well, which helps when we’re making business decisions or dealing with conflicts. The hard thing is having an office upstairs and a playing space downstairs. On Friday, I have to finish up paperwork and then go downstairs to be funny onstage.
What attracted you to this form of theatre? To me, it’s always been analogous to the archetypal dream where you’re speaking publicly… naked.
Topher: I have nightmares that I’m onstage and don’t know my lines. I was a theatre major at Wesleyan and did theatre in high school. I was always horrible at memorizing lines. I was good at getting the essence of the dialogue, but couldn’t ever remember my exact lines and other actors would end up having to adjust their lines because of me. But I knew I was an actor and being able to perform improv allows me act in a more immediate way than scripted theatre. I go to a play and think “oh my god” you have to say the exact same thing every night – torture.
Mark: I was a student of improv before I wanted to be a performer. It’s about personal transformation and pushing yourself to explore other personalities and other strategies to deal with people other than the default way. I was able to discover parts of myself that I was on the verge of losing. It can be very hermetic in DC and it’s easy to get sealed in a box. It’s healthy to shake those expectations up. At the time I came to improv, I was temping, I had just come back from
Topher: I was also temping for two years. I intended to go into politics, but immediately fell into the throws of bi-polar depression and mania and just went to work and then home for two years. I saw an ad for WIT’s classes and went and those classes pulled me out of my shell and helped me to understand myself and seek help. Improv literally saved my life. The nature of improv is freeing – it’s putting the cart before the horse.
Are there common misconceptions about improv?
Topher: The primary confusion that people have is that you don’t aim to be funny, you aim to be truthful and that’s funny. If you aim to be funny, you’re not going to hit it.
Mark: One of the fundamental things of improv is to be honest, to speak and live the truth of the moment no matter how awkward, violent or painful it is, so that you get better at doing that in your own life.
After seeing the iMusical, I had to wonder if there are covert ways that the actors communicate and cue one another on stage. What’re your secrets?
Mark: We have some structure like “verse chorus” songs versus “tagline” songs though 1/3 to ½ of the songs end up being free-form. The ensemble is so connected to one another that you know when someone needs help. If I’m doing fine, no one really needs to come; if people can heighten, clarify or add to what I’m doing, then they’ll come onstage.
Topher: That’s why we have rehearsals. To establish trust and understanding between people. To learn to listen and read subconscious cues.
Mark: There is a maxim in improv that if the scene is going great, leave it alone. And if it starts to sink, jump in and paddle. It may seem counterintuitive because if a scene is going well, you’d want to join it, but you may end up breaking it.
Topher: One human trait is required to do improv: basic human empathy – the ability to read other people and know what they are going through and to know why they are doing what they’re doing
It’s time for random questions… What’s your favorite pop culture guilty pleasure?
Mark: “What the Buck” on YouTube. It’s a black hole of delicious, trashy, celebrity goodness. It sticks to your teeth. Forever.
Topher: Sunday morning news shows. Meet the Press. It’s terribly trite and shallow, but I DV-R and watch all of them.
Would you rather do improv with Keanu Reeves or Patrick Swayze?
Mark: There’s a Zen-like saying that “A good improviser should be able to improvise with a paper bag.” So… Keanu Reeves.
Topher: Keanu because have you seen Patrick Swayze recently? Oh yikes!
Is there anything that I didn’t ask, that you want to say?
Mark: Our classes are held at 13th and
Topher: That neighborhood is seeing a real resurgence and we’re excited to be there for it.
Mark: Having our classes and everything in the same neighborhood will help us to build a community. We’ll all be able to have a designated hang out. We just need to find a watering hole without $8 vodka tonics…
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