George Floyd, Whiteness and Improv

PAINTING OF GEORGE FLOYD

Bright Invention unequivocally denounces the murder of George Floyd and stands with those who are protesting for an end to racist policing, institutional racism and the systemic oppression of people of color in this country. It may seem odd for a small, creative non-profit based in improvisation to make a statement like that. But in my opinion we would be complicit in Mr. Floyd’s murder if we did not.

It’s worth noting that performed theatrical improv is a white male world. As such, theatrical improv more often than not fails to represent the diverse experience of people of color (and, it’s worth noting, other marginalized populations, such as the LGBTQ and disability communities.) This week has made it clear to me as a leader of an improv group that only intentional and focused work by straight, cis-gender white people will make this change happen.

Yesterday I took part in a short online focus group through the weekly online Open Space facilitated by the Applied Improvisation Network, which I am a member of. AIN is a worldwide collective of professional practitioners of applied improvisation, which means using improvisation for ends other than the delight it brings when performed. We are therapists, workshop leaders and trainers. And for the most part, our clients are white and well-off, as are we. The focus group I was in was about white privilege. I wish I could report that the 12 of us white people in that focus group came away with a unified response to the inequity we represent. At best, we had 30 minutes to have frank conversation and experiment with one exercise. It was paltry, but it was a start. I thank Mallory Penney for having the courage to offer this space for us.

PROTEST IN PHILADELPHIA, MAY 30,2020. PHOTO BY SARAH BLOOM.

My goal for funding a more diverse application of our work uses money made through our Creative Corporate Training program to subsidize workshops offered to marginalized communities. Last year, we were able to offer an eight-week structured improv class to The Village: Hope in Action for Children and Families as the beginning of this vision. Kiersten Adams (one of the two people of color in our ensemble) and I led this class for 20 - 25 young women, predominantly black and latina. In order for Bright Invention to be a force for diversity, equity and inclusion we must offer more programs like this to marginalized communities, and continue to diversify our ensemble of performing artists.

Today I will participate in board and staff meeting for Bright Invention. We are considering ways to raise money to get us through the pandemic, which has put our organization in jeopardy. I intend to raise up the issues described in this post, and to suggest that a funding priority for money raised be on diversifying our ensemble and subsidizing workshops offered at little or no cost to marginalized communities. This is the only way we will lift those voices up and hear the stories they tell. This is the only way we will begin to dismantle institutional racism and awaken to the roles we as white people have played in preserving it.

PROTEST IN PHILADELPHIA, MAY 30,2020. PHOTO BY SARAH BLOOM.

TJ Jagodowski is one half of the legendary longform improv duo TJ and Dave. I heard TJ interviewed on a podcast once and he was asked about the famous improv exercise “Yes, and . . . “ This exercise is usually described as one that teaches students to accept their partner’s offers, and build a story based on it. In this interview, TJ described his slightly different take on it. He said he feels that the “Yes” part is about acknowledging that “this is really happening”, and the “And” part is about going more deeply into what is really happening.

People of color are being systemically oppressed, and sometimes murdered, by a white majority culture defended by racist policing. This is really happening. Let’s go more deeply into it, so we can begin to come out of it.

PROTEST IN PHILADELPHIA, MAY 30,2020. PHOTO BY SARAH BLOOM.

Sarah R. Bloom is a professional photographer that takes our ensemble portraits. Please check out her remarkable photos of the Philadelphia protest here.

Improvathon wrap! Or give us money so we can give it to someone else

OWEN COREY PLAYING MY BOYFRIEND WHILE MY FORMER BOYFRIEND ERIC WALKER WALKS AWAY, DEJECTED.

A performing arts group spends a couple of months preparing for a big fundraiser. It’s the biggest event they do all year. The Executive Director involves the board and the staff in various levels of preparation. There is a venue acquired specifically for the event, and a multi-week promotional campaign is launched six weeks out. The organization spends it’s own money on food & drink for the fundraiser, and on the the day of the event most members of the organization are on site to help set up and execute the fundraiser. The gimmick? They will perform nonstop until the make their goal. Obviously, this is a standard yearly gala the organization puts on to raise money for itself, right?

L - R: AIMEE GOLDSTEIN, OWEN COREY, SPECIAL GUEST RALPH ANDRACCHIO AND KIERSTEN ADAMS IN HOUR FIVE OF THE IMPROVATHON

Wrong. The organization in question - Bright Invention - isn’t asking for money for itself. It is asking asking for money for a different nonprofit, one selected by the ensemble of artists performing in it. We call this event the Improvathon, and we do one every year as part of Theatre Philadelphia’s Philly Theatre Week. Crazy? We think not . . .

But we don’t mind if you think it’s crazy. Because then, you might peer in a little further to ask, just what kind of nonprofit would work this hard on a fundraising event in which it loses money? The answer is, a nonprofit which doesn’t rely on donated income for the majority of its income. This is the new nonprofit paradigm Bright Invention is . . . well, inventing! It’s a paradigm that monetizes the powerful creativity of our ensemble to solve problems in the world, and frees us to donate our creativity to those in need.

Our business model depends on the success of our Creative Corporate Training (CCT) program, which employs an innovative, scenario-based approach to team-building, customer service and workplace culture enhancement. We use structured improvisations we design specifically for each client, which embody issues or themes the client wants their team to examine. This work lies squarely within Bright Invention’s mission: to use improvisation to empower people and organizations to unlock their potential.

SPECIAL GUEST JACK PRESBY WITH ENSEMBLE MEMBER SHEA SONSKY IN HOUR ONE

We have been offering CCT since 2016 and it has grown an average of 30% compared to the previous year. We have worked with large multinational companies like GlaxoSmithKline and Merck Pharmaceuticals, and small nonprofits like The West Philadelphia Skills Initiative - the recipient of the $1,000 raised in this year’s Improvathon. We scale up our fees for the larger companies serve, earning significant income for Bright Invention and our ensemble members participating in the workshops, while remaining competitive in the learning and development consulting marketplace.

Eventually, this income will subsidize a substantial part of the expenses of our Ability In Action program, which has been serving people with disabilities and other marginalized populations since 2014. Imagine being able to go to a worthy if impoverished nonprofit, serving (for example) homeless youth transitioning to independence, or adults with disabilities training to enter the workforce, and be able to say, “we’d like to bring you an eight week program in creative dramatics and structured improvisation and all we need from you is a space to offer it in and a group to receive it.” Imagine not having to wait for a grant to come through to bring the transformative power of performance creativity to teenagers recovering from trauma (as we did last summer). Imagine the sense of meaning, empowerment and joy experienced by the actors in our ensemble, who are gaining professional skills doing this important work while they earn $50 - $100 per hour.

And yes, we still raise money through individual donations, and we still rely on philanthropic support. Indeed, we wouldn’t exist if it weren't for the Wyncote Foundation, who has taken a keen interest in our development of this new paradigm since 2013. But our fundraising lacks the beggarly, anxiety-filled desperation felt within so many nonprofits. We still have to meet our goals, we still need to cultivate and engage our donor base, we still need to be strategic and organized in our grant applications. But our goals are more modest, and our attention is more on the ways these activities grow and strengthen our community as a whole. We ask our board members to cultivate connections and leads for CCT, as opposed to meeting fundraising goals by asking their friends for money (although we don’t mind if they do that too!)

AIMEE GOLDSTEIN AND KIERSTEN ADAMS WITH SPECIAL GUEST MARY CARPENTER.

The priority for us is earning money by demonstrating this value proposition: that applied improvisation can transform workplaces, teach emotional intelligence, strengthen sensitive communication, improve customer service, and navigate challenging interpersonal management relationships. All of our work is based on the following priority sequence:

1. Our work has to be safe.

2. Then, it has to be fun.

3. Then, it can be meaningful.

The greatest joy for me participating in this year’s Improvathon wasn’t meeting our goal (which we did with minutes to spare in the final hour!) - although that’s a close second. My greatest joy was the way our ensemble of extraordinary actor-improvisers threw themselves into this madcap experience, with grace, with joy, with enthusiasm from start to finish. Special shout outs to Owen Corey, who I believe is the only member who performed in all eight hours of the Improvathon; Kiersten Adams, who performed in seven of the eight hours, and then got up the next morning to teach our class for people with disabilities; Shea Sonsky who performed while sick; and Francine Brocious, my assistant who took endless short videos and pics of the event and posted them to social media.

L - R: KIERSTEN ADAMS, BENJAMIN LLOYD, OWEN COREY, AIMEE GOLDSTEIN, SHANNON HILL AND SUZANNE ANDERSON PERFORMING “TELEPHONE”, A GAME BETWEEN ACTS OF OUR LONG FORM CALLED A HAROLD.

Why were they so upbeat, getting up early on a Saturday to perform for free so a different organization could make some money? I think it’s because that, in the midst of the sometimes vacuous and chaotic life of the professional performer, they were grateful to participate in something meaningful with people they love. In the words of Victor Frankl, “being human always points, and is directed, to something or someone, other than oneself--be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself--by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love--the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. “

What a great quote for improvisors, who spend their creative energy actualizing themselves by focusing on the other person. What a great event. Please join us when we give it away again, at our March show!

HAPPY AND EXHAUSTED “INVENTORS” AT THE TRADITIONAL DIM SUM MEAL POST IMPROVATHON. L - R SHEA SONSKY, FRANCINE BROCIOUS, AIMEE GOLDSTEIN, OWEN COREY, BENJAMIN LLOYD.