do the right scene
Shows, workshops, diversity scholarships and more for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic improvisers.
Hoopla are working to improve the numbers of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in improv and comedy.
To help this we host a monthly show with the Do The Right Scene team including Tai Campbell (BBC Comedy Writer’s Room Winner), Athena Kugblenu (BBC New Comedy Award Finalist), Monica Gaga (Hoopla main-stage host and core teacher) and more. These have been growing over the last 5 years and have now moved to become one of our main weekend main-stage events!
They also run the Crash Landing workshop before the show to help support new people into improv, and the brand new Culture Flow course to inspire Black, Asian and POC performers to bring their identities and experiences to the stage.
This is more than just a show. The team have built up an entire community of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic improvisers that are now connecting to the wider comedy and TV industry. This includes recent BBC3 sketches written, directed and starring Tai Campbell from Do The Right Scene and filmed at Hoopla that have received millions of views.
Many of the performers at Do The Right Scene’s Special Delivery show and teachers with Crash Landing workshops have credits writing and performing on BBC1, BBC3, Radio 4, The Guilty Feminist, TED talks and more.
Hoopla work with the team and community to help cast our other shows and bring greater diversity to the wider improv scene. This has recently included improving diversity across all of our house teams, with over 20 people from Black, Asian or Middle Eastern backgrounds joining our existing and new house teams.
We have also have Black and Asian teachers and corporate trainers are keen to recruit more to help inspire future generations of improvisers.
Hoopla also provide diversity scholarships to encourage more Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in improv and help them become professional performers.
We have also recently launched a new Diversity Improv Outreach Worker project to bring the joy of improv to more people from all backgrounds.
I love improv, but it needs shaking up. I see improv as something for everyone. So I would live if it truly represented a slice of society. If you don’t see yourself represented we need you!
DTRS at Hoopla are all super friendly; they make you feel instantly at ease and really included; if you're looking for a clique full of mean girls this is the wrong place. I felt completely supported on stage and there is a really different experience from performing with others from a similar background to you.
Stumbling upon a BAME improv night was encouraging as somebody new to the scene, as I was able to watch experienced performers who looked like me and whose content was often more relatable than the main circuit.
Do The Right Scene at Hoopla host one of the best comedy nights in London. The atmosphere onstage and off is always electric. It’s always a joy to perform alongside their stellar lineup of talented stand-ups and improvisers.
I've been going to DTRS at Hoopla for about a year and it is consistently one of the most welcoming places to perform and watch improv. I didn't know many Asian performers before joining and feel incredible comfort that there's a space for us too.
I can confidently attest to how much I’ve grown and how grateful I am for the friends I’ve made. Improv is transformative.
One drop-in class with Hoopla and four and a half years later I have gone from student to an improviser who performs with multiple groups.
I just think there’s something so special about these monthly nights that allow me to want to continue to perform improv.
Improv can be transformative and thanks to the work of a few dedicated black women, the scene is opening up and becoming more inclusive.
The black women transforming London's improv theatre scene.
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SHOWS: Do The Right Scene - Special Delivery
Do The Right Scene's monthly show for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic improvisers! Now performing WEEKENDS on Hoopla's main-stage!
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WORKSHOPS: Do The Right Scene - Crash Landing AND Culture Flow
Do The Right Scene's monthly Crash Landing workshop for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic improvisers, PLUS a new longer course Culture Flow!
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DIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS
We have diversity scholarships available on all levels of our courses, including accelerator scholarships to help Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic improvisers reach a professional performing level.
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DIVERSITY & INCLUSION OUTREACH WORKERS
We have Diversity & Inclusion Improv Outreach Workers available to help bring improv to everyone including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.
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BLACK AND ASIAN TEACHERS
We work with a number of Black and Asian teachers across our public improv classes, corporate training and jams.
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COMEDIASIANS
Additional new show! The UK's first pan-Asian improv troupe! With shows and workshops at Hoopla and across the UK.
contact the do the right scene team
For details of upcoming workshops and shows, and if you’re interesting in performing, please check out the Do The Right Scene social media or send them an email:
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/dotherightscene
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/dtrscomedy
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/dtrscomedy
- Email: [email protected]
we can help improve the diversity of your show
If you run an improv group and would like to improve the diversity of your cast we can help you by recommending people and introducing you to people in our community.
If you’d like help please email the following people:
Monica, Tai and Athena, Do the Right Scene Team, [email protected]
Angela Pollard (Producer), [email protected]
Jessie Rutland (Training Manager), [email protected]
Monica Gaga
Monica Gaga is a British-born black African queer improviser, facilitator, host and scripted actor and performer.
Monica is the host of Hoopla’s main-stage shows every Friday and Saturday night and also hosts our Pre-Party nights for up and coming new acts. She is also one of Hoopla’s main teachers.
She produces Do the Right Scene, London’s leading comedy and improv night for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic performers and is the co-founder of Hoopla’s Crash Landing workshop.
Monica performs improv in Do The Right Scene, Derek’s Mojo, Tightrope, The Yes Queens, The Playground, The Comedy Store Players and in shows across the London improv scene.
She has also recently appeared in comedy sketches for BBC Three as well as appearing on ITVBe, London Live, BBC History, BBC Radio London, Global Pillage and more.
She trained in Community Theatre at East 15 Acting School, and her boundless love for improv stems from time spent at Second City in Chicago.
When she is not performing, hosting or teaching, Monica is championing diversity in improv and trying to get as many people involved as possible.
“I love improv, but it needs shaking up. I see improv as something for everyone. So I would live if it truly represented a slice of society. If you don’t see yourself represented we need you!” – Monica Gaga.
Tai Campbell
Tai is a writer, director, editor, comedian and celebrity impressionist.
He is a winner of BBC’s Comedy Writer’s Room with credits on BBC One, BBC Three and Vice.
Tai recently wrote, directed and starred in a number of sketches for BBC3 Comedy, achieving millions of views online.
He is the producer and co-founder of Do the Right Scene, Hoopla’s regular night for Black and Asian actors, comedians and improvisers. He also teaches the Crash Landing workshop, Hoopla’s regular workshop for Black and Asian improvisers that supports them onto the improv stage.
How Tai got into improv:
“I got into improv accidentally while researching my favourite actors and realised they all had something in common – an improv background. One drop-in class with Hoopla and four and a half years later I have gone from student to an improviser who performs with multiple groups that include short funny scenes, narratives and musicals, I co-run a monthly night Special Delivery as well as teach workshop Crash Landing.”
Tai’s Tips for First Time Improvisers:
“First time improviser? My first piece of advice is to have fun, it’s a wide world full of great people and creative opportunities. Improv is a great way to get out of your head space and have fun as well as meet new people. If you’re a creative it’s also a way to enhance all of your skills – as a writer, director and actor it definitely has enhanced mine.”
Tai’s 3 Top Reasons To Do Improv:
- Fun!
- Great way to meet people!
- Enhance your creative skills!
Athena Kugblenu
Athena is a BBC New Comedy Award Finalist and nominee for the 99 Club Female Comedians’ Bursary. She’s a member of the BBC Comedy Room 2019/20 and was awarded the BBC Felix Dexter Bursary for BAME up-and-coming comedy writers in 2020.
She has written for Radio 4’s News Quiz, Newsjack, The Now Show and is a lead writer for multi cultural sketch show Sketchtopia. In she 2017 she performed at the Johannesburg international Comedy Festival and followed that with her debut hour, KMT, at the Edinburgh Fringe. Her second celebrated hour was Follow the Leader, a political show with a personal twist. She’s supported Daliso Chaponda, Nish Kumar and Fern Brady on tour.
A regular co-host of The Guilty Feminist, she’s made panel appearances on Radio 4 staples such as Comedy Club, Museum of Curiosity, Loose Ends and Arts Club. She’s also a regular on BBC Scotland’s Breaking the News.
She’s the host of podcast Keeping Athena Company, interviewing interesting people whilst eating fried plantain. It’s a great excuse for her to eat fried plantain for work.
Athena is managed by TROIKA Talent.
“When Tai Campbell and I started Do the Right Scene, it wasn’t a political statement. We just wanted to play together as black people. But we quickly understood the value of both of us being two black people in a very white world which is why whenever we did “two-prov” we just smashed it. It was just two people who have a shared shorthand and that’s what white people have. So Tai and I got on because we could create a whole world that wouldn’t have necessarily been available with white players and so we wanted an all-black group to experience that.” – Athena Kugblenu
When you’re too scared to say black (BBC3)
Written, directed and starring Tai Campbell from Do the Right Scene, Crash Landing and Hoopla.
Featuring improvisers from across the Do the Right Scene and Hoopla team.
Over 2.5 million views on facebook.
The Black Women Transforming London's Improv Theatre Scene
Hoopla and Do the Right Scene in Black Ballad Magazine
Along this journey, I’ve watched some phenomenal black female improvisers who are part of Do The Right Scene (formerly known as a Nu Z Land), a black improvisation troupe for African, mixed race and African Caribbean performers. Do The Right Scene hold monthly workshops for BAME players known as Crash Landing followed by Special Delivery, a performance at Hoopla London. Stumbling upon a BAME improv night was encouraging as somebody new to the scene, as I was able to watch experienced performers who looked like me and whose content was often more relatable than the main circuit.”
>> Read full article from Katasi Kironde at Black Ballad Magazine