Taking a Step Back to Grow
We had the first round of shows for our Highwire Repertory program last weekend. In short, this new initiative puts people on teams for a fixed, short term. This initial round will provide three practices and three shows. We had planned a fourth show, but bad weather scuttled that plan.
Since we don't have house teams, this serves as an opportunity for folks to get the team experience without a long-term commitment or the pressure that can sometimes come from house teams.
We simply wanted to let people focus on having fun and getting reps in a structured manner. And, you know what? It worked. The teams clicked well after just two practices and put up solid sets.
Sometimes I think we overly complicate things. Auditions that everyone admits are flawed. Performance systems that mimic other theaters instead of meeting the needs of our community. Searching for a new form instead of just refining the tools we have at our disposal.
In improv terms, I think we need to rest the game. Get back to the base reality. Check in with your scene partner.
Something like Repertory won't make an earth-shattering impact, but maybe it will show performers that having fun and making incremental improvements outweighs advancing to some hypothetical heirarchal level.
And maybe they will find the people they want to work with in order to make that next big move.