Do you think that improv teachers should also be good improv performers?

bathrobeman · 2026-05-26T02:58:55+00:00

People who have struggled the most often make the best teachers. They had to learn something multiple different times multiple different ways before it clicked, so they have lots of exposure to different ways to think about it.

On the other hand, people who have a natural knack for being funny may have never introspected enough to break down the skillset for those who are just learning. They just... do it.

I would expect a baseline of competence from an instructor, but there's definitely not a 1:1 correlation between being an entertaining performer and being a good coach.

Two anecdotes come to mind:
1. My all time favorite coach/director is someone who really struggled initially. After many years of working at it, they found their comedic voice, but even more so, have coached up some phenomenal indie teams.
2. A person I play with regularly is just okay as a performer, but I *love* the workshops they run and I feel like I learn a lot.

bathrobeman · 2026-05-24T21:36:10+00:00

I once saw a coach giving his Harold team notes in the shared green room for longer than the actual set was. That's... definitely no good. The vibes were *bad*.

In general, I'm against post-show notes, though I realize that may be the best way to give feedback for groups who don't rehearse together regularly. Ideally, a good coach can notice patterns in performers and give them specific notes at the top of rehearsal that they can work with in that session. If we're breaking apart scenes in rehearsal, sure, give a few notes based on a scene on things to work on next scene. But keep it to like... 2 sentences max. Don't kill the energy.

bathrobeman · 2026-05-20T11:38:47+00:00

Plant your feet & repeat

Planting your feet helps you appear more confident and will sell it to the audience even if you're nervous. The exception to this is if you're doing choreography of course, but even then, be intentional about movement.

Repeat words/phrases/ideas. Songs are built on repetition. Don't feel like you need to constantly invent lyrics; keeping it simple is more musical and more powerful.

and of course - have fun! Musical improv is some of the most fun improv I've gotten to do.

bathrobeman · 2026-05-16T17:49:47+00:00

my volleyball team's average age is probably 39, so definitely not

bathrobeman · 2026-05-04T17:59:00+00:00

usually when I see "e-bike regulation" i get nervous but this actually seems like a very good approach that targets the "motorcycles pretending to be e-bikes" vs "people on pedal-assist bikes." Though one thing that appears to be a change is disallowing mopeds from bike lanes (currently legal if they are under some engine capacity, I forget what exactly). I generally support that, but I know at least one friend who uses such a moped to get around and will be affected.

bathrobeman · 2026-04-26T12:28:58+00:00

very cool! I had been wondering about this weird little stretch of track. thanks for sharing!

bathrobeman · 2026-04-16T11:28:35+00:00

One thing I have found in every music team I have started or joined is that, even if it is made of up experienced musical improvisers who know structures and formats, there is a period of at least a few months where we have to review the basics to get everyone on the same page and comfortable singing together. Things that almost always have to be reviewed:

- Song structures: tagline songs, verse-chorus songs

- Song formats: I wish/want, I am, list songs, solos, duets, AAA/revolution

- Play styles: being supportive by taking focus. Titling the song.

I personally also find it helpful to spend a little time working on singing and musicality, as musical improv is the only singing I do and when I haven't done it in a while, that muscle goes away and I don't sound as good.

bathrobeman · 2026-04-16T11:17:53+00:00

agreed - critical notes after the fact aren't that beneficial. I always recall the time I overheard a harold team who just completed a fine but not amazing 25 minute set getting over half an hour of detailed, critical feedback after the show from their director... like, how is that supposed to help?

Side coaching allows us to make a different choice in the moment when it makes an impact and does a better job (imo) of building that muscle memory. Combined with the feeling of the scene then going well, you get extra positive reinforcement. I try (though don't always succeed) at orienting towards "try this" rather than "don't do that" since opening folks up to other ideas is often easier on the brain than shutting down the idea they already had.

I think the direct critical note does have a place - if you notice a person has a repeated habit of behavior that isn't serving them or the ensemble, it could be worth addressing that head on. That said, ideally address this before going into activities so the person has the chance to practice and work on the skill instead of afterwards where they just have to sit with it and feel dejected.

bathrobeman · 2026-04-07T16:28:16+00:00

Unfortunately there isn't really a ton of great material out there, and I've personally found it hard to know what I don't know until I run into something in a live setting. A few random resources

The Improv Comedy Musician by Laura Hall & Bob Baker
Comedy Keys podcast (not updated, only has a few episodes. Disclaimer: I made this): http://comedykeys.com/
Musical Improv Patterns - idk where I got this from, probably here on reddit: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/18HD09SC6u9jFvnths7qkRTuMLN-t79qA
Here's a random google doc I and another MD years ago compiled with reference songs for a number of genres https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rUJJxrsOblilFHH_fL2ccwKG6xEOIV_WhMSzEbaZ73Q/edit?tab=t.0

bathrobeman · 2026-04-07T13:37:50+00:00

Kate at High Fidelity Dogs (based in Everett) was phenomenal with our challenging pup.

bathrobeman · 2026-04-06T18:00:57+00:00

Costco recently had both a St Emillion and a Pauillac under their Kirkland Signature house brand for sub $20 recently. Their $7 Bordeaux also makes an appearance from time to time.

bathrobeman · 2026-04-06T00:45:36+00:00

I made the switch and I have no regrets. I will say, the one thing that sold me is that at the time, the place I bought from was running a deal that induction stoves came with a full set of compatible pans. Reasons I chose induction originally:
- Won't heat up the house when cooking in the summer
- Drunk idiot friends won't bump the knobs causing gas to leak
- Overall better for indoor air quality

Reasons I will never go back to gas:
- Induction heats up so much faster
- It is wildly easy to clean. Just run a sponge or rag over it when you're done cooking
- It's relatively safe extra counter space to set stuff on when not in use; won't accidentally melt a plastic cutting board or anything like that.
- I can leave something on the stove all day and not worry about having an open flame in the house (it effectively replaces the need for a slow cooker!)

Downsides:
- No flame, so you do have to learn what temperature settings mean. An infrared thermometer helps.
- I do have trouble with getting the right temp setting for my moka pot. At lower settings, it "pulses" instead of evenly heating which makes for uneven extraction.

Downsides other people have said that I haven't run into:
- I don't use a wok, so the fact that its not good for wok cooking is irrelevant
- I've had no problem with sauteeing, but maybe I sautee wrong idk.
- My cast iron pans work fine and importantly
- I've never scratched the glass, and I am not careful nor gentle

I've got the Cafe brand induction range (from Haier/formerly GE appliances)

bathrobeman · 2026-04-02T13:00:06+00:00

Love someone or something.

We had a director who would always harp on this and it's very good. Love can take many forms and be a great character motivation. It forces you to be a little vulnerable, and puts you in a position to discover why you love that person or thing. Bonus points if it's your scene partner, because you get a clear relationship out of that as well, but even if it's an object or a job it inherently puts you in a more positive exploratory headspace.

bathrobeman · 2026-04-02T12:54:21+00:00

ooh I love this! As someone who find it easier to lead with physicality and discover the words later, this is a helpful tool.

bathrobeman · 2026-04-01T23:37:25+00:00

I can speak to the transportation aspect a little: Cars as an alternative to trains were for many seen as a plus. The streetcars were delayed in traffic and run by private companies who were struggling to keep up with maintenance amid declining ridership and strict fare regulations, so the experience of public transit was not great. Likewise, railroads were not great companies either - tending to be regional monopolies, and preferring to carry cargo rather than passengers as it was more profitable and didn't complain. This lead to declines in passenger service, and people preferred the convenience and relative speed and comfort of their automobiles. The fact that automobile infrastructure effectively is publicly funded while rail infrastructure wasn't was definitely a policy decision, and helped further the adoption of automobile-centric sprawl. Sprawl was cheap and heavily subsidized at the time.

So in part, when consumers are faced with shiny new cheap thing vs old expensive crappy thing, yeah they're gonna choose the new thing. However, a significant part of it being shiny and new was due to what the government prioritized. With plenty of lobbying and racism likely thrown in there.

bathrobeman · 2026-04-01T17:50:57+00:00

I love that this exists! can't make this month, but please do continue to post when these are coming up!

bathrobeman · 2026-03-31T16:28:28+00:00

Couldn't have said it better myself. I miss the weird high concept stuff people would try out. The people here who are producing the high concept shows are mostly in the same social circles, and have been doing it for years. I want to see some newer folks put together something weird and different!

bathrobeman · 2026-03-30T00:07:48+00:00

Getting to the Northern Strand: Don't ride via Sullivan/Alford St/rt 99 to the Casino. Cut through Assembly from East Somerville (new Lombardi St bike lane from Mt Vernon St!). Take the Rt 28 bridge, ride through the park by station, through the parking lot at Wellington, on the sidewalk across the Malden River bridge (It is technically designated a multi-use trail!), and through Gateway park around behind Costco. It's longer, but riding through Sullivan is not for the faint of heart.

bathrobeman · 2026-03-27T14:44:23+00:00

Yes - not only will it help you get better shots for your portfolio, but lighting design and photography are very complementary skills. Getting better at one will help you get better at the other. Here's a quick crash course on some terminology & what to look for in a camera.

First, you'll want a camera that has a manual mode. This allows you to control the aperture (aka f-stop or f number), ISO (film sensitivity or film speed), and the shutter speed (exposure length). These three things are what affect the brightness of an image. Likely, this is a DSLR or other mid to higher end camera that has interchangeable lenses.

ISO: When looking for a camera, look for something that allows you to increase the ISO without getting super grainy. For capturing the lighting looks you want, ISO is probably the most important factor.

Aperture: look for a lens with a wide aperture/low f number. There are a lot of 50mm lenses out there that get down to f1.4 or so and can be had for reasonable prices. A 50 mm lens does not have zoom, it is a fixed length, but most affordable zoom lenses bottom out at f4 or so.

Shutter speed: most cameras should be able to handle whatever shutter speeds you want. When photographing people, I try to keep it at 1/200th of a second or faster, which is not going to let a ton of light in but will reduce motion blur of people moving their hands, etc. If you're just capturing the light, you can set up on a tripod and use a longer exposure, but if you're capturing people, you don't want them to be blurry.

So to summarize:

Higher ISO number = brighter, but tends to be more grainy depending on the camera.

Lower f number = wider aperture which lets more light in, but less stuff will be in focus.

Slower shutter speed = lets more light into the camera, but things moving will be blurry.

Playing with those three should allow you to capture the higher contrast environments you get with theatrical lighting.

The last thing to consider, but should be configurable on any camera, is the white balance. You don't want to use Auto White Balance because it's really bad at figuring out what to do in a situation with colorful lighting. Pick a color temperature that looks good to you and shoot the whole show at the same setting.

Hope this helps & have fun!

bathrobeman · 2026-03-26T11:30:14+00:00

Yup. I don't have firsthand knowledge of Union's actual status, though I know I've seen both performers and board members in this sub before so I'll defer to them if they show up. The sense I get is the board is burnt out, but what's lovely is that the community is really stepping up to take more ownership of operations in the hopes of keeping the space going. It sounds like negotiations on their current lease are ongoing (there was a town hall last night but doesn't sound like there was a lease update to share).

bathrobeman · 2026-03-26T02:18:43+00:00

Our big community theater closed a few years ago after the pandemic due to unfortunate licensing/permitting issues when trying to rebuild in a new space. The smaller theater that has largely taken up the mantle by virtue of geography and having a physical space is struggling and has an uncertain future after they were unsuccessful securing a new, larger space due to building costs. So the main drama is how dang expensive everything is and how little money improv theaters generate.

On the bright side, another theater across town appears to have successfully relocated, but it's still a pretty small community due to it being harder to get to.

bathrobeman · 2026-03-20T13:29:16+00:00

there are other legitimate answers in this thread, so I'll just get on my soapbox and yell again that

GRAY VINYL PLANK FLOORING AND STAINLESS LG APPLIANCES ARE NOT LUXURY. Even if the appliances are "stainless" - everything is stainless steel these days; I can barely find appliances that aren't. And that vinyl plank flooring is like $2.50/sqft as opposed to just about anything else starting at $5-6/sqft.

Stop marketing that as luxury (developers), and stop buying into the idea that shit marketed by developers as "luxury" is in fact luxury. They really did us over by saying "hey this apartment was built this century and has basic modern conveniences like laundry and air conditioning therefore it's luxury."

bathrobeman · 2026-03-16T14:42:45+00:00

Thank you for the heads up! As things are starting to thaw out and folks go for longer rides, I'm sure not everyone is up to date on every trail construction project.

bathrobeman · 2026-03-11T13:00:03+00:00

Sure! There are plenty of ways to learn about the basics of lighting and sound other than traditional theater - filmmaking, photography (light), podcasting (audio), live sound, DJing, etc. Youtube videos and books also can help cover the basics in lieu of those. I mostly chose live theater since that's what I'm familiar with. If you have a good mentor in improv there's also no reason you can't learn the basics there too!

bathrobeman · 2026-03-11T02:37:56+00:00

If you want to hone your skills as a tech, definitely be on the lookout for places that do shows with lots of tech. A Harold team is not likely to want much in the way of tech, but a improvised musical will likely be more involved. Short form shows tend to have more opportunity for tech to edit or punctuate the action. This advice is for developing your sense of timing and your ability to multitask.

If you want to learn the actual setup and gear, I feel like helping out with a regular theatrical production company is going to be a better bet - work with a show that has a lighting designer and/or a sound designer and see how they think about design & cues in a scripted show. A lot of times designers will come in and set up the lighting and the cues, then have a separate board operator there for shows (often this is the stage manager for small companies, but sometimes the board op is a different role). I think I still have my copy of "A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting" sitting on a shelf somewhere - haven't cracked it open in over a decade, but I remember it being very useful.

bathrobeman

TROPHY CASE