Four improvisational comedians say the pressure of performance has boosted their workplace skills.
By BENITA D. NEWTON
Published December 31, 2003
Rob Schreiber has been promoted twice in the last year in his job as a Verizon ad sales consultant, and he attributes it to a good attitude, hard work and a steady diet of Wild Rice.
Wild Rice, as in a four-member improvisational comedy troupe that pokes fun at life once a month at the Tarpon Springs Cultural Center. Schreiber, 27, believes his weekend gig gives him and his comrades an extra edge on the job.
Most comedians dream of the day they can dump their day job to concentrate on a life in entertainment. But this band has flipped that model around, using skills honed on the stage to improve workplace performance.
Similar to ABC's Whose Line is it Anyway?, the troupe performs skits, games and songs that they make up entirely based on audience suggestions. They say their unscripted antics during such exercises as "Gibberish Translator," "Three Ways to Die" and "Song about your Bad Day" have boosted their professionalism.
"Almost immediately, I started noticing positive differences in the way I did business," said Schreiber, a Brandon resident. "Doing improv really helps you to sharpen your social skills."
Schreiber, a self-described "goofball by nature," said being a part of the improv troupe has helped him become a better listener, one of the most important things he can offer his customers.
"It's vital that I understand what my customers' business needs and goals are," Schreiber said. "During the shows, I have to be listening all the time, to pick up on things that the other players are saying so I can build off the environment they are creating."
Troupe member Paul Soleo, who works by day as an education assistant at BayCare Educational Services, says Wild Rice has helped him hone his ability to pick up on verbal and physical cues from other people at work.
"If we're doing a scene and I'm thinking, "What am I going to say next that's funny?' instead of paying attention, then it falls apart because there's no connection there," said Soleo. "The same thing can happen on the job." He hopes to insert an improv-based program into BayCare's internal training.
Verizon sales consultant Tracy Parker cofounded the group early this year after some of the members split from another bay area troupe called the UnProfessionals. Parker says she has become more of a team player.
"After making yourself so vulnerable on the stage, it makes it a lot easier to work with other people," said Parker, 33, who lives in Clearwater. "It also helps you to be more accepting of other people's ideas and not be single-minded."
The fourth member of the group, Eric Hoegstrom of Seminole, says he was groomed for the improv stage by "growing up in a sarcastic family." But now as a part-time teacher, he finds the skills he's gleaned help keep him on his toes with his students.
"Being comfortable in front of an audience and having that openness and creativity is important in the classroom,"said Hoegstrom, 25, a biomedical engineering student at USF. "I know how to deal with a tough crowd."
Doing improv means being ready for the unexpected. At Schreiber's first show, for instance, only two people showed up to watch - a tough situation for a performer who relies on audience input.
"It was very nerve-racking because I didn't even know what the group expected from me," said Schreiber, who provides the music for the group's skits. "But I just went out there and did it the way I thought I should, and it was one of the best shows I ever had."
Parker often starts the shows by reminding the audience how important they are.
"You guys are so important because we get so much of our energy from you," she told the crowd at their December show. "And if we have a crappy show, we just blame it all on you."
Of course, that audience energy can turn on you sometimes, when the onlookers take a bit too much glee in trying to trip you up. Just ask Parker, who after getting audience suggestions for a karaoke skit during the November show, found herself on stage making up a little ditty called, "Kiss me, honey. It's just a cold sore."
"Sometimes when people know it's a show where they can interact, they go a little too far," Schreiber said. "It's a challenge, but you just have to roll with it."
While none of the members are sure that they will ever be able to give up their day jobs to pursue improv full time, the group plans to keep making people laugh until they don't enjoy it anymore.
"It's not about making money or being famous or anything like that," Schreiber said. "It's just about having fun and being with friends."
People who work with the group have come to rely on their aptitude for thinking on their feet. Soleo's supervisor at BayCare, Katherine Springfield, said she's been impressed with his ability to entertain both socially and professionally.
"We'll be involved in a tedious e-mail flurry, and he'll come up with a limerick or some funny way to get the information out," said Springfield, who said Soleo has also performed at the company's monthly birthday parties. "We work in a very fast-paced environment, so it's great that he can come up with creative things right off the top of his head."
Parker said she would like to see the group evolve into a business by expanding their corporate work. The troupe turns its improv games into team building exercises for businesses that are hoping to improve communications or other skills.
"The key thing is to get them out of their comfort zone and help them to work on trusting each other," said Parker, who said cost of a 90-minute session starts at about $1,500. "There's a lot of interaction and discussion on what can be learned from the exercises."
Even when a scene goes down the tube, there are perseverance lessons to be learned, Soleo said.
"If you let it show, then the audience starts to feel embarrassed for you," said Soleo, 25, who lives in Clearwater. "You just have to maintain your energy and tell yourself that it's the most important thing in the world at that moment. Otherwise, it'll just get worse."
Although Schreiber says their show is an art form built around the "truth in comedy," he believes that anyone can dig out their improvisational side.
"From the moment you get out of bed, you're improvising your way through your entire day," Schreiber said. "We never try to make the show blatantly funny. We just take regular situations in life and act them out, and eventually, there will be something funny about it."
