Company Members Robb Coles, Becca McLarty, Katie Hammond, Rob Schiffmann, and Robert Z. Grant with some of the most important people in the room in Athens, Ohio
Dear You,
When you hear that we do an improv comedy show, you probably don’t want to come. Or, you may want to come, but you wouldn’t want to sit in the front row. You’re afraid to get picked on, you say. We know where you’re coming from, but this couldn’t be farther from what actually happens. As improvisers, we wholeheartedly believe that you are the most important person in the room. We want you to feel as comfortable as you can so that when we ask you to make up a song title and write it down you don’t mind writing “The Cottage Cheese Goliath."
We completely rely on you. Yes, there is the universal truth for all performers that shows are meant to be shown to people. And in order for the show to happen, you have to actually be there in a seat. But we rely on you for another reason. We can’t improvise without you getting us started. Like little kids on a swing, we can pump our legs, but we just need you to give us that push. The shows we do are made up on the spot. The characters, the relationships, the settings, the songs, the choreography. It’s all made up right then and there before your eyes. Once we read your suggestion, we can create an entire world in a split second. But if asked to start the show ourselves without a suggestion, the show would probably start with a long and awkward pause. Our brains just couldn’t compute that many options.
So, please don’t worry. Sit in the front. Sit wherever. In our show you can rest assured that you are the most important person in the room. Your suggestion sparks a wildly over-ambitious imagination from which anything can — and often does — happen. It will have never happened before and it will never happen again. And that is all because you had the courage to write something down. And get us started.
See you at a show,
The company members of Broadway's Next Hit Musical
