Groups from Japan, Israel and New Zealand grace the Improv Fest line-up
BYBECKY BRETT
North America, particularly Chicago, is the motherland for improvisational
theatre. Although improv is frequently used throughout the world as a
rehearsal or teaching tool, improv as performance has in recent years
expanded beyond our borders. The fifth annual Chicago Improv Festival
(April 1-7) featured three pioneering groups from overseas: Lo Roim M’Meter
(Israel), Yellow Man Group (Japan) and The Improv Bandits (New Zealand).
Each group is approximately eight years old, and they are the only professional
non-competitive improv groups in their respective nations.
The growth of narrative improv in these countries was fueled by Keith Johnstone, founder and creator of Theatresports, a series of short-form competitive improv games developed in Canada. Members of all three companies attended workshops by Johnstone at an early, influential stage of each group’s development. At about the same time, Lyn Pierse, an instructor from Australia, also introduced Theatresports to Tokyo and to the people who formed Yellow Man Group (YMG).
They performed together in a jam session on the opening night of the Chicago Improv Festival (CIF), along with improvisers from the U.S. and Canada. Even while practicing in the green room, their shared love of play and process was evident.
Lo Roim M’Meter—the name roughly translates to "Can’t see farther than a meter" and refers to the idea of leaping before looking—is Ilan Popko, Amitay Yaish and Alon Margalit. Popko had been teaching drama in school and running a nightclub, when he realized the potential in combining the two. They’ve taken classes with Johnstone and also trained at Le Coq in Paris. As working actors in other media, they find it important to do improv to feed themselves creatively. Surrounded by terrorism and outright war, they utilize improv also as communal therapy in the hope that laughter can help ease the fear and anxiety.
Wade Jackson formed The Improv Bandits in November 1997, as he was finishing up his post-graduate work in drama at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He says, "Theatresports had had a monopoly on improv since the early 80s," but that they kept a closed shop. The Bandits took the competition out of Theatresports and created shows focused on narrative improv.
Their first season was four nights long and took place at a little fringe theatre in Auckland. After several national tours and appearances at festivals around the world, they now have their own home in the center of Auckland at a 50-seat café and bar called the Covert Theatre. In addition to Jackson, Jason Webb and James McLaughlin made the trip to Chicago.
Yuri Kinugawa, Naomi Ikegami, Masato Irioka and Masahiko Iino, the members of YMG, became intrigued by improv when Lyn Pierse, author of "Theatresports Down Under," taught classes in Tokyo. There was nothing like it in Japan, and when Pierse left, so did the only improv instructor in the country. So Kinugawa and Ikegami went to Canada to learn from Johnstone and brought games and techniques back home. YMG has developed a strong physical style, due in part to the language difference, but also because the Japanese theatre tradition is highly physical.
Improv is not quite as ubiquitous in Israel, Japan and New Zealand as it is in Chicago, and these groups really launched narrative improv in their respective nations. Each group established a new relationship with actors and audience and has worked to integrate themselves into the community.
Always turbulent, Israel has seen more than the usual amount of upheaval recently, though according to Popko, it seems much more dangerous from the outside than it is if you live there. All three members of Lo Roim M’Meter have served in the army (a national requirement) and have developed a healthy skepticism for all things politically correct. In what might be a difficult time for improv comedy, Popko notes that actually, "the best show for us is the news." They enjoy the freedom to comment on current events, no matter how difficult, and to explore more timely issues. "We don’t like to feel that we have to walk on glass," he adds.
Popko has noticed that American and European audiences seem to prefer familiar topics–family, home, divorce and other personal subjects–to big issues of the day. Suggestions from audiences in Israel might include settings such as Gaza or a cave in Afghanistan, and one of the "expert" scenarios suggested was architects of gothic buildings and their influence in the 1960s. Their audience’s favorite game is "Paper Chase" in which they write short sentences that the improvisers have to periodically incorporate into a scene. Although Popko says, "We have to beg, BEG them to do this," Lo Roim M’Meter now enjoys strong audience participation.
In New Zealand, the Bandits have effectively replaced Theatresports in public improv performance. According to Jackson, "Theatresports has kept their tight circle and as a result are dying." He noted that Theatresports has canceled their live show and only do corporate entertainment now. The Bandits also do corporate entertainment but "never lose sight that its function is to pay the bills for us to do what we want to do."
Their signature game is "Musical Prompt," which mixes different games in which they replay an audience member’s day and break into song whenever prompted by the guitarist. They frequently get "sky diving" when they ask for an audience member’s unfulfilled ambition. Surprisingly, though, the Bandits find U.S. audiences less reserved than audiences in New Zealand.
YMG tours frequently and also finds American audience less reserved than those back home. They note that American audiences like to see "Kabuki Style" scenes, and other forms that utilize YMG’s strong physical performance style. Japanese audiences like the Paper Chase game "because they can join the game very definitely," says Kinugawa. "Japanese kids love 'Puppet.’"
Developing new improvisers and audiences is difficult in Japan because of the fierce competition for the entertainment dollar (or yen). However, in the eight years since YMG imported improv to Japan, they’ve grown quite popular and have performed all over the country. Other improv groups are finally starting to form, but they are still at the amateur level. Kinugawa and Ikegami have begun training the next generation of improvisers, teaching workshops to established and aspiring actors, coaches and young students.
Lo Roim M’Meter and the Bandits also run improv schools. Popko enjoys teaching younger kids (ages 8-10) because "you still have a lot of influence on them." Improv is taught a little in theatre classes in school as well, but there is no Second City-type school to study improv.
The Bandits have set up a nonprofit, The Improv Society Incorporated, to teach in schools, run school holiday programs, and teach at-risk youth. They also run a school similar to Second City. "People start with us and we provide free workshops in return for them to do one duty a week (box office, ushering, lights, etc.)," says Jackson. They’ve also opened another theatre in Wellington.
Kinugawa is working on a book–the first improv book in Japan–that she hopes will increase the visibility of the art form.
One could say it was only a matter of time before the primal urge toward storytelling would find a modern global outlet. But as Jonathan Pitts, executive producer of the Chicago Improv Festival, said, "It was still a golden moment to be able to see all countries playing together. It’s a realization of Viola Spolin’s dream, of Marty de Maat’s dream, of Del Close’s dream."
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