ImprovBoston and the Summer of '98

After having received the news from Artistic Director Ron Jones at a TheatreSports show on Friday night, I showed up at the Inman Square space the next Monday night ready for my first rehearsal. I have vivid memories of alums Brian Robel, Aaron Crutchfield, Eddie Mejia, Jan Davidson, Greg Wymer and Michelle Proude hanging out before rehearsal as Ron, Eric Gearheart and Mat Gagne worked on one of the lighting instruments. One of only four lights the theater had at the time. Along with Don and Amy, this was to be my new performing family.

Back then, the ImprovBoston cast performed on Fridays at 8pm and Saturdays at 8pm and 10pm. The shows were great but the size of the audiences didn't necessarily reflect that. We were cancelling half of our shows and when we weren't, we were at maybe 50-60 percent capacity. Then, something serendipitous happened.

In the late 90's, the show "Whose line is it anyway?" made the jump from the UK and was becoming very popular in the US. I feel like you could see it on four different channels at any given time. It was verbally funny, physically hilarious, family friendly and with just enough sexual innuendo to keep all types of audiences interested. It was perfect. Thanks to "Whose Line", the public became re-aware of live improvisational comedy and of how much fun it could be while also setting a new bar for the improv comedy ensembles around the country, like ImprovBoston.

Beginning the spring of 1998, with audiences emerging from hibernation after the winter, ImprovBoston started to become a very popular destination. Audiences wanted to see those same games that they saw on television and we wanted to meet the demand. Ron Jones ironed out the basics so that we became a more orderly crew and the cast at that time gelled at the perfect time.

I'll never forget the summer of 1998. We were slowly moving away from cancelling half of our shows to having consistently sold out houses. While the cast had about ten members at the time, there was a core of us that was there just about every weekend performing every show. Don, Amy and I were still the newbies of that core; Brian Robel added handsome acrobatics; Mat Gagne played an amazingly diverse array of characters; Greg Wymer had a depth of knowledge that was able to make a connection with any suggestion that was thrown at us; Eric Gearheart was the everyman landscaper who would sweat through two shirts in every show; and the newest member was Jen Kirkman, an attractive young actress with a rapid-fire sense of humor.

We felt like superstars! We went from cancelling half our shows to having consistently full houses. Our touring gigs went up, more classes were being taught, everyone wanted to see and do improv and we were one of the main places to do just that. We put on some amazing shows that summer that became a catapult for the success yet to come for ImprovBoston.