Schubas - pH Comedy Theater

29
Volume 44 Number 02
FEATURE
The pH crew, from left: Tom Shannahan, Guy Wicke, Jason Geis, Bryce Wissel, Tristan
Tanner, Micah Philbrook, Jeff Ford, Kayce Alltop.
pH
Comedy company launches new improv training
program
Having spawned countless comedy legends, Chicago is synonymous with
improvisational comedy. That said, comedy company pH looks to expand
the city’s pedigree by opening a training center that offers classes for
improv newbies. Based at Stage Left Theater, pH—the name stems from
the idea of group chemistry—recently celebrated five years in the game
and looks to help spread the improv gospel with a series of five eightweek courses that focus on smaller, more affordable classes, and help
students learn skills like character creation. The A.V. Club talked to cofounder Jason Geis about what it does—and doesn’t—take to get started
in improv.
The A.V. Club: This is the first time you’re offering classes for improv?
Jason Geis: It’s something we’ve talked
about for a long time, but we really wanted
to make sure—[founding member] Micah
[Philbrook] and I did a lot of research to
make sure we weren’t offering something
that was a repeat of everything else you can
take just to charge money for it. We really
wanted to make sure everything we did was
completely different. We wanted to come up
with a curriculum that was very specific to
pH. We took a long time on it and wrote out
everything, planned out every class, and
made sure we found the right people to
teach the classes.
AVC: Improv doesn’t really have a clear curriculum like math or science. How do you
come up with classes, and what makes one
improv class different from another?
JG: When we formed pH we wanted it to be
a different kind of theater company. We
didn’t want to do long-form like the Harold
[at iO]. We didn’t want to do all sketch-review like Second City. We wanted to do highenergy shows that the audience can participate in. So we sat down and thought, “How
do we create shows that fit the bill? What
skill sets do you need to do shows like this?”
and kind of worked backwards from that.
We wanted to approach it from the viewpoint of if you’ve never done improv before,
or if you’ve done it for five years, when you
start with our level one, you’ll get something out of it. That was a little bit of a challenge. Most level ones are just basics, like
“Here’s how to do improv!” What we wanted to do was, while you’re learning the basics, learn what makes improv work and
what makes a show work. It’s not just learning the basics and not realizing what it has
to do with anything. Like, “Here’s the basics, and here’s how they work in a show.”
We also sat down and figured out what
other places weren’t doing. A lot of places
don’t focus on creating characters. When you
do improv, there’s not a lot of emphasis placed
on how to develop a really believable character. Our entire second level is about how to
create a character. The whole third level is
based on how to get out of your head and
move fast. No one else is really offering that.
AVC: It seems like improv is an ability that you
have or you don’t. How can it be taught?
JG: I firmly believe anybody can do improv.
It’s an issue of commitment and getting over
yourself. It really is. If you can get over the
fact that you’re afraid you’re going to look
stupid, then anybody can do it. You improvise on a daily basis. You and I are improvising right now. I didn’t know what I was going to say to you, I don’t have a script in
front of me, you don’t have one in front of
you. We’re off-the-cuff, making it up as we
go along, and that’s all improv is. Once you
get comfortable with that idea, and the idea
that you can’t say anything wrong, and that
you don’t necessarily have to try and be funny for things to be funny.
A lot of it in the beginning is making [students] feel really comfortable. Making them
feel that it’s okay to make mistakes. A lot of
what we laugh at is normal, everyday stuff,
delivered from different kinds of characters.
You can have a very mundane conversation
onstage about balancing a checkbook, but if
it’s two crazy clowns, people are going to
laugh about it. It’s the people who are adamant about never being in front of people
onstage, but those people aren’t going to
sign up for classes anyway. If you’re at least
curious to sign up for classes, we can probably get you out of your comfort zone to a
point where you realize it’s not that bad.
AVC: What can you do to get people out of their
comfort zones?
JG: A big part of that is encouraging students to come see the shows. You’ll see the
teachers acting like idiots onstage, not caring, and getting a good reaction, or messing
up, bombing, and still getting up there and
doing it. The level one and two classes have
very nurturing teachers who are very into
reinforcing that there are no wrong decisions or wrong moves. Those first few levels
are key when you’re teaching people to feel
really comfortable and that they’re really
supported. There are other people onstage
that can help. It very much is a team sport;
you’re not out there by yourself. We do a lot
of trust exercises. Once you trust people, it’s
a lot easier to look stupid in front of them.
AVC: Is there anything you consider to be taboo during the classes? Some things that people shouldn’t try and bring to these classes as
novices?
JG: Every class and group is going to be different. What’s important in the beginning is
to make sure people feel safe; that people
can be themselves. Don’t come with a bad
attitude, thinking you’re going to hate it.
Don’t come and talk about things that you
know are going to make other people feel
uncomfortable. That’s a learning process,
too. You might have a class that’s completely raunchy and that’s how they want to play,
and that’s fine if everyone is comfortable
with that. It’s important for us not to discourage any choices, but how to make them
better. The only thing that’s taboo is having
a bad attitude. —Dave Hofer
pH’s improv program launches Jan. 12, and enrollment costs $150. For more enrollment information and classroom locations, visit whatisph.
com/classes.
Schubas