If I join your mailing list, you're not going to send me spam, are you?
Perish the thought. We at inDecision Theater believe that you are already beautiful. We will not waste our time sending you emails offering pills, infusions, herbal preparations, instructional videos, Caribbean voodoo ceremonies, prayers or devices (mechanical, electronic, hypnotic, bionic, megaphonic or tectonic) that purport to reduce, enlarge or otherwise alter the size, shape, quantity and/or quality of your body parts. Neither will we send you offers for genuine fake R0lexx watches, V!@gra, instant credit, or videos of the sort your mother wouldn't approve.
Furthermore, we don't rent, sell, trade or publish our mailing list. And if you ever want to be removed from the list, just let us know.
C'mon, you guys don't really make all that stuff up, right?
Wrong. We do make all that stuff up. The form, i.e., the type of piece we're doing, is a template of sorts. And there are rules for how one interacts with others in doing improv. We know the rules, but beyond that, we don't know what we're going to say or do, or even whom we're going to be. The suggestions that our audience gives us inform the characters we become, so if we had come to the theater that evening saying, for instance, "I'm in the mood the be a Latvian accordion player tonight, I'll make sure to work that character into my performance," we might very well be given suggestions that include such things as being surly, effeminate and serendipitous, thus blowing our plans to heck (actually, come to think of it, that describes most every Latvian accordion player I've known).
No, improvisation means that we improvise. We come up with a character and relationships to other characters right then and there. We've been together as a troupe long enough that we know and trust each other on stage. That's what makes fertile ground for the magic of improv. And it's way easier than memorizing lines.
Aren't you guys a little old to be playing make-believe in public?
As a wise man once said, "You're never too old to rock-and-roll if you're too young to die." We're not just older - we're more experienced in the vagaries of the cosmos, so we have more insight into the troubled workings of the human condition. Besides, it's fun.
You're not going to get naked or anything like that, are you?
The only clothing being shed is make-believe. We're sorry, but to see more nudity, you'll have to either provide it yourself or pay a whole lot more than we normally charge.
Can I bring my child/children/teenager to the show?
Of course! They are generally the perfect size to use as a nice ottoman.
Seriously? This is a difficult question for us to answer because a lot depends on the parent (you, presumably) and what you think is OK for your kid(s) to see. We can tell you this: we don't like violence and it's difficult to stage convincingly anyway. For instance, our murder mystery "Eeek! Bang!" is so named because that's how the "murder" takes place -- the victim shouts "Eeek!" and someone else shouts "Bang!" and that's as gory as it gets. One can see much, much worse on television.
In some shows we talk about sex a lot (sex is funny!) but we never act it out on stage. We sometimes touch on or delve into other age-sensitive subjects like drug use, infidelity, etc.
Now, a young person accustomed to the humor in formulaic sitcoms and the like might become bored by our show because we're more interested in exploring life's inherent humor than in telling jokes. Also, although we play characters of all ages, most of us are in our upper 30s and 40s and we tend to focus on grown-up concerns (work stress, whose turn it is to do the dishes, finding a good babysitter for little Cayenne, etc.).
Having said all that, we generally advise you not to bring someone under 12 or so, and whether or not the show would be appropriate for and interesting to a teenager depends on the individual.
If this doesn't tell you what you need to know, then please feel free to contact us.
I went to see a Dirty South Improv show and a Transactors show. Are you anything like them?
No. We're much better looking.
Can I expect to see anything like on Whose Line is it Anyway?
Absolutely. Just like the more famous improv'ers on TV, we are all adults who speak English most of the time. Just like them, we also start with a structure and suggestions from the audience and see where they take us. (We just can't seem to convince Drew Carey to give us his big hat.) Just like them, we get paid an obscene amount of money and have a huge professional staff backing us up. Oh, no, wait - that isn't us.
Will you expect me to get up on stage?
Only if you're willing. Improv is not a pastime for the unwilling or faint of heart. Everyone has a lot more fun if all the people on stage are there voluntarily and are ready to play along. We have a few forms where a member of the audience gets up on stage and participates - everyone who's tried it so far has had a great time so we invite you to volunteer.
What if I want to get up on stage and I'm just too scared?
Then shout out a suggestion, baby! You don't have to actually be on stage to steer the direction of a scene. We will always ask for one suggestion (or seven) at the start of a piece. Whatever comes into your head is okay! We've dealt with wildlife, bodily odors, the meaning of life and lack of what the ads call "a quality, lasting experience". All in 15-30 minutes segments. Even if you just want to see how we use it - go for it!
Okay, this isn't an exact description, but it'll do for a start.
Imagine for a moment: you're juggling. The items that pass your slippery hands are a tennis ball, a bowling pin, a feather, a flaming baton and an annoyed cat. There is a lot going on, things feel a bit unbalanced and maybe even a trifle dangerous. This situation is a lot like performing long-form improv; you're constantly listening for clues to inform your character of their makeup, looking for opportunities to help your stage-mates and hoping desperately that what you say makes sense!
Our basic tenet is "Yes, and". This means that the actors are in agreement even if the characters are not. We try to build on the ideas presented and also try to allow the story to come forth in a natural way, without force. Believe it or not, we have to practice being spontaneous! (It would sure help if everyone in the troupe were psychic.)
Our definition is this: a long-form is a play that hasn't been written yet! While each line we speak is unscripted and original, we work within a predetermined framework for each long-form. These provide the bones of our work, allowing us to flesh out each scene within the context of the form. There are many standard long-forms that have been performed by us and by other improvers. Our troupe has also created two original long-forms: Couples Therapy and WakeJaw.
In Couples Therapy, we start by asking the audience for a suggestion for each actor: what drives us nuts about our significant other. We don't know yet to whom we'll be attached OR what our personal annoying habit will be. This is revealed in our shrink's office, and at work or the ball game or the beauty parlor. Will the relationships survive? Stay tuned.
In WakeJaw, an audience member will provide us with a question that has been burning in their mind. The competent employees of WKE-JAU (pronounced "wake jaw" and standing for "We Know Everything - Just Ask Us") guarantee that your question will be carefully considered.
Don't you putzes know that it's spelled "theatre" and not "theater"?
We beg to differ. After questioning it ourselves, we turned the matter over to the Pedantry Subdivision of the prestigious inDecision Theater Research Department (their motto: "We know everything, just ask us"). Their findings are below.
With the exception of theater as referring to an area of military operations, the "er" form is almost exclusively American. As with most words in international English, the rest of the world has adopted the British spelling theatre. The Brits -- originally "er" spellers themselves -- wouldn't be using theatre if things had gone differently at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. But while England's Anglo-Saxon defenders were busy thrashing their Norwegian kin, the theatre-loving Normans slipped into England from the south, and pretty much overnight it just wasn't fashionable to spell like an Anglo-Saxon anymore. (Not that many of them could write.)
The "er" form was popularized in America by the dictionaries of Noah Webster (1758 - 1843) who advocated more phonetic spelling for English. As any student of English will tell you, the language could certainly stand some improvement in this department. Webster's worthy goal was "a simplified spelling...which would be appropriate to a republic in which all the people must be literate in order to fulfill their political duties." It is chiefly due to Webster that we have not only theater, but also center, program, color, liter and catalog (as opposed to the British centre, programme, colour, litre and catalogue).
This, anyway, is the simple answer. Those who thirst for The Truth -- and this certainly includes the inDecision Theater Research Department -- will be gratified to read an October, 2004 Chicago Sun-Times article which goes into greater detail on the theater versus theatre debate. According to that article,
The English borrowed RE from the French in 1380 at the Francophile court of Richard II. But the Germanic languages, of which English is one, generally spell it ER. In fact, the prevalent British spelling from about 1550 to 1700 -- which includes Shakespeare's lifetime -- was ER. By 1750, it was pushed out by RE.[Steppenwolf] original ensemble member Jeff Perry [says of the RE form], "...it connects you to the European precedent and grounds you in a older tradition. When America feels insecure, it looks to England or Europe or Rome or Greece for gravity."
Some argue that it's that search for gravitas that leads the majority of new companies to the RE spelling. We may be inexperienced, the companies are telling us, but we know what we're doing.
But what does the man on the street think? A sampling of conversations on the Internet shows that not everyone agrees with Jeff Perry, Noah Webster, or one another, for that matter.
A theater is a theater all the time, but there is no theatre until the audience shows up. (D. Hardy)
Theatre is used when referring to the stage kind, Theater [sic] is used when referring to the movie kind. (CBoy1477)
When referring to a building I have always used theater. When referring to an art form I have always used theatre. (L. Chandler)
One might think that educational institutions might provide a disambiguating beacon in the murky darkness, but one thinking thusly would be out to lunch. For instance, the Office of Communications at St. Olaf's College says this:
When referring to the dramatic arts in general or to theatrical performance spaces, use the American spelling "theater" – except where a formal name uses the British spelling, "theatre," e.g., the Shubert Theatre...The name of the academic department at St. Olaf is the Department of Theatre or Theatre Department. When text refers to activities of the department or of its faculty and staff, use the British spelling, usually with a capital letter. When text refers to the department's discipline or to the places in which performances occur, use "theater."
The University of Louisville disagrees, saying,
Use "-er" unless "theatre" is part of the formal name...While this can be confusing [Editor's note: not nearly as confusing as the Office of Communications at St. Olaf's College] (especially as U of L's theater department uses the "-re" spelling for its formal name), it becomes much more simple if you remember that the only time the "-re" spelling should be used is for instances in which "Theatre" is capitalized.
Amidst this confusion and doubt, we of inDecision Theater remain firmly committed to our, er, decision. We refer those yet unswayed to this passionate and patriotic defense (note: not defence) of theater:
Are the English who spell it "theatre" better than us? Is their spelling somehow right, while Americans are wrong? The willingness that some have to denigrate American spellings in favor of English, speaks just as much of shame for our American heritage as for theatrical snobbery. We do not do each other "favours;" we do not take "colour" photographs; why do we need to go to the "theatre?"
So there you have it. One explanation, then, for our use of Theater in our name is that it refers not to our art form but to the theater of inDecision in which we operate, here using theater in the military sense of region. But frankly, that explanation is a load of horsepuckey. We at inDecision Theater have wrapped ourselves in the linguistic flag, as it were, by choosing theater over theatre. We are American, populist, and damned proud of it. However, we have also registered inDecisionTheatre.com as a concession to those who, for whatever ugly, elitist, America-, God-, Mom-, Anglo-Saxon- and apple pie-hating reason, prefer theatre.