Improv Thunderdome Recap

Well, Saturday night came and went and I am still having a hard time believing that it all actually happened.  

For a show where i would have been happy with 40 reservations, we sold out 6 hours before show time.  We had at least 40 reservations 4 days prior.  Not something that I expected.  The crowd was pumped and the improvisers delivered.  All three teams presented formats that were completely different from one another, and each individual performer shined at one point or another throughout. 

The local (and only) improv reviewer in the entire city said that it felt like being in New York or Chicago, where most shows consist of a variety of different troupes doing shorter sets. Which is a great comment because that is kinda what we were going for.  

As one of the guys that put this whole thing together, it's hard to really see this as a success because we still have 3 month to go. Technically, there was a lot to work on.  If there is anything I hate about a performance, it's looking sloppy.  And i think there were some sloppy moments.  None having to do with the performances.  All of them were on Ed and I's side of the table.  Here is a couple of things that i think need tweaking:

• Breaks Between Sets.   It was very hard to figure out what to do here.  For a complete show that is roughly an hour and 45 minutes, you need an intermission.  With three different groups going, it didn't seem right to let two groups go, then have a break, then let the third group go.  It's possible that doing this would give the last team an unfair advantage some how.  So we planned on having a little break in between each set, but not calling it an intermission.  It was chaotic at best, but i still think this can work.  It's all in how you tell the audience what is going on.
• The Voting System.  Again, this was something that was very hard in figuring out how to go about it.  Since the voting is the climax of the whole show, it has to be quick and fair.  We went with a 1 to 5 count.  It ended up being a "who got the loudest applause" vote, but that was not how it was intended. The intent was for the audience to determine if each group was a 1, a 2, a 3, a 4, or a 5, by clapping and cheering.  They would start clapping quiet at 1 and grow louder with each number.  Not how it should have gone, and again, it's all in how you explain it to the audience.  They should be their loudest at 1 and sustain that volume until they reach the number in which they believe the team deserves.  This will work, it might just take some time explaining it.

There were a few other little things, like sound cues and whatnot, that will just get better and tighter the more we do this.  

In the end, the show was better than i ever could have imagined.  All the teams and everyone involved should be proud of themselves.  It is going to be hard to top this next month, but we're going to try.

Oh yeah, Loaded Dice won.