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March 1, 2005

In the Beginning

There was snow. I was trapped in the great white north at Michigan Technological University studying Computer Science (CS). After a semester a friend convinced me to come out and meet a group that he was working with.

They were an improvisational and sketch ensemble that were tackling two one act plays that they had seen at ACTF the previous year (Dancing Lessons and Dogs-Do if you're wondering).

They needed a body to play a dogs reflection. I could do that. More importantly, they accepted me into their ensemble without me having to audition.

They were, and are, the single most important group of people that I have ever had the pleasure of gracing the stage with.

They were, and are, directed by the wonderful and talented Sue Stephens.

They were, and are, the Troupe.

Sue Stephens taught me how to listen, play, take a ride on my body, masks, and Commedia. She taught me who Paul Sills and Viola Spolin were. She made me think. Sue Stephens gave me the gift of improvisation, showed me how to plant it not just in myself, but in others, and, despite my best efforts, taught me how to make it grow.

While at MTU I also had the pleasure of meeting and working with Tim Hardy (RSC) on Peter Schaffer's Royal Hunt of the Sun, and watching a professional the like sof Tim work even a college ensemble of actors was life changing.

Also while at Tech, I met Pete Nowasad. A talented singer, songwriter, actor and (I think) civil engineer. We worked together on Scapino as actors, on A...My Name is Alice as Assitant Director and Stage Manager, in Royal Hunt and he also invited me to be his assisstant instructor for the Theatre Exploration in Tech's Summer Youth Programs, where, after our first year together, I coninued as head instructor for three more years (I also met my wife in the program, but that is a sordid tale for another day).

Sue had planted something in me that I couldn't avoid or deny. After my time at Tech, I moved back into troll country and got a job in the real world as a front end software programmer and technical support for a small software company. But the seed began to grow and I also matriculated at Oakland University and began to pursue a degree in theatre (with a minor in East Asian Studies). I had the opportunity to work with some of the most talented actors that I have met to-date while at Oakland, and the directors and instructors there are in-freaking-credible. Karen Sheridan can describe physically what might take paragraphs verbally and brought my understanding of my physicality to yet another level, Michael Gillespie has such an academic eye in his analysis of script(ure), and he can tell exactly what it means to be an actor, Kerro Knox III is a technical creative genius, and my fellow students there never failed to make my experience in the theatre interesting, challenging and unforgettable. I also continued my improv training, taking classes and seeking out shows and ensembles.

I went to Japan for a year in 1997-1998 and when I returned, I actively persued joining a troupe, which is when I found (all at one audition) Drinking Buddies (soon to be The Royal Oak Baking Comapany and then Big Fun Limo) and Mr. Rogers' Sweatshop.

Drinking Buddies was an ensemble that was a little loose in the strucutre, but they had a permanent space at the Wunderground and MRS, well, MRS was something completely different.

Drinking Buddies soon became The Royal Oak Baking Company and then, one night, a guy by the name of Jim Nemeth poked his head into our midst, brought up longform and changed my improv yet again.

Under his tutelage we became Big Fun Limo and we tackled the Harold. We went to Chicago and competed in a Cage Match at the Improv Olympic. We lost, but we only lost by one vote. At the time, it was a new record of the smallest loosing margin ever. It was that night, sitting in the hallowed halls of IO, that I decided.."This, this is what I want to do."

I, too, started the long commute from Detroit to Chicago to learn at the feet of the Guru. Up the stairs to Charna's class, through the curtain to Craig's and Liz's. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was to learn.

With Jim Nemeth and Planet Improv we have performed all over. Clif and I created this duo to accent two very different ways of attacking improvisation while proving that improv is just improv and it all works on the same stage. We have toured the country and gone to foreign countries, we have taken classes and workshops and philosophized with the great and small over coffee, beer, absynth and the dingy smell of the 'L' at 2am.

I know that I don't know everything I need to know about this art yet, so I continue. Sometimes I teach, sometimes I perform, but always, I am learning.

Posted by Chuck Charbeneau at March 1, 2005 4:07 PM