blog

may 20, 2010

Brady Guest Blogs for USS Rock n Roll!

The Career of a College Improviser

           by Brady O’Callahan

I’ve spent the last three years of my life pouring my entire self into my college improv group.  8th Floor Improv was still fairly young when I auditioned in the fall of 2007.  Since then, we’ve grown exponentially, to a point where I am enamored with what we’ve accomplished, all because a group of friends with a similar passion worked their asses off to put us where we are.  We worked as a cohesive unit on and off stage, but you all know about that.  That’s what makes improv great.

No one was really there to hold our hands through the process.  We figured it out on our own, any way we could.  So, to all you college improvisers out there in similar situations, I’d like to share a little bit of what I’ve learned in the process.  I’m not saying it’s the right way to do anything.  I just want to share what I’ve found valuable and rewarding during my career as a college improviser.

Travel.

 

What a hell of a way to celebrate the thing you love.  You’ve got this passion, and you work to share it with your campus, but why should it stop there?   Traveling with 8th Floor has produced some of my fondest memories and most beneficial learning experiences.  There’s tons of ways you can go about traveling:

• There are festivals everywhere.  Look into them.  Do your research.  Apply.  Road trip!
• Contact other college groups about traveling to their campus and collaborating on a show or, if nothing else, to let them know you exist!  When the time comes, they could think of you.
• Drive to NYC, LA, Chicago over spring/winter/summer break and just watch incredible improv.

If you need to, talk to your university about funding.  It’s worth a shot.  There’s so much to gain from trips like these.

Group Mind will improve.

 

I’m serious.  It will!  Last summer, 8 of us jammed ourselves into a 7 seat minivan and drove for 9 and a half hours to NYC for the Del Close Marathon.  Was it probably unsafe?  Yes.  Was it horribly uncomfortable?  Absolutely.  Was it ultimately rewarding?  More than anything.  When you are forced to spend that much time in that little space with your teammates, you’ll start to get incredibly comfortable with each other.  You’ll make jokes, share experiences, and develop an identity as a group of friends and performers.  In my experience, the performances following these excursions benefit enormously.  You’ve been having fun with each other the entire time.  All you need to do is bring that energy to the stage!

Do I necessarily advocate piling every member of your group into a single vehicle?  No (Yes).

You will establish a sense of community.

 

I’ve seen and met incredible groups and individuals that I never would have had I not traveled with my group.  I’ve actually made personal friends across the country with whom I still communicate (What’s up Tutino?).  8th Floor has met other college improv groups that we make a point to see and work with every single year.  These relationships will persist as long as we make a point to travel.

It’s enlightening and interesting to find out how other groups practice improv on their campus.  You can learn a few things from each other.  And why shouldn’t you?  This community is big, but you can make it feel a lot smaller.  Help each other out.  We’re all learning, and we are each other’s best resource for growth.

You will learn, just by watching.

 

I can’t emphasize how much I’ve learned from sitting in the audience.  I’m sure you’ve all gotten to a point where you feel stagnant in your development.  Watching improv is, in my opinion, the best thing to shake your foundations and make you fall in love again.  It can be the simplest insight that sets you on a course for rapid growth.  For me, some notable instances were Northwestern’s Titanic Players (Matador Now!) doing an incredible style of edit I’d never seen before, DC Pierson and Dominic Dierkes of Derrick Comedy in a classroom scene where they jumped around to play different characters initiating a slow clap, and, most recently, Now? with Annie and Levin (you know, from that one blog) showing me an intensely personal relationship develop for a half hour on stage.

Go out and expose yourself to things you’ve never seen.

It’s fun.

If nothing else, travel because it’s fun.  It’s vacation.  It’s comedy.  It’s friends.  It’s worth it.

So please, travel.  See the world.  Come home, and share what you’ve learned.

I love that we do this.

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