The small, dimly-lit studio shook with the boom of stomping feet as the Syracuse Improv Collective, a local troupe specializing in improv comedy, began its Tuesday evening class. One of the students participating was tasked with an improv exercise: naming “ways to leave a house besides a door.”

The entire class shouted, “Those are 10 things!” as she finished naming them. Many descended into laughter as the group continued stomping.

SIC has offered classes like this to the Syracuse community, as well as staged performances with its own troupe since 2011. The organization was officially incorporated as a nonprofit at the beginning of this year.

Jill Tibbett, president of SIC, said the group hopes to bring improv to the greater community through its classes. Tibbett was first introduced to the artform through Toastmasters International, an organization designed to enhance public speaking and leadership skills.

“While it’s a great program, I found improv was a fun way to do that,” she said.

Lauren Esposito, a co-chair of SIC’s education committee, agreed. As a master’s student at Stony Brook University, Esposito wrote her dissertation on how improv can be applied to real world communication.

“It’s a tool that’s very adaptable to different contexts,” Esposito said. “It doesn’t just have to be in a theater. It moves beyond the theater.”

SIC offers six-week courses in improv at three different levels: one is an introductory course, the next focuses on scene work and the final level introduces a classic improv technique called “the Harold.” This technique begins with presenting three random, improvised scenes and then revisiting them over the course of a show.

The teaching techniques SIC uses focus on creating a supportive environment for students, Esposito said. Once students feel comfortable, many of improv’s challenges — such as finding courage to take risks and embracing failure — often fall away.

“When we’re onstage, we have each other’s backs,” Esposito said. “We’re there to make each other look good and support each other, no matter what ideas come across.”

Phil Gross, a co-chair of the education committee alongside Esposito, said SIC takes pride in being “very accessible.” Diversity has long been a sore spot among improv groups across the country, Gross said, and SIC plans to address the widespread problem.

“We believe that improv is one of those art forms that anyone should be able to do, regardless of your background or your income,” Gross said. The organization also hopes to become more visible in the community, as well as to Syracuse University students.

Jeff White, an instructor at SIC, said he partially judges the success of the program based on what he calls the “date night test”: if one of SIC’s shows is an event somebody would attend on a date — even with little to no knowledge of improv — that is a good sign.

“It’s kind of a signifier that you’ve got some clout in the community, and it gives improv a voice in the artistic community,” White said.

Esposito added that in many ways, improv has an edge not present in traditionally scripted theater and allows the audience to be as much a part of the production as the actors themselves. For Esposito, the art form can often be like “walking on a tightrope.”

“They don’t want to see you fall because you know that you’re trying this out at the same time they’re seeing it, and they’ll never see this exact show ever again,” she said.

The SIC’s next show is on Dec. 8 at the CNY Jazz Central at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.

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Published on December 2, 2018 at 10:50 pm