How to form your own improv group

Where to form a group

Extending a house team run

Our house teams have a set run with a Hoopla director. After that many of them put the effort to keep going as an independent group. In fact many of our main weekend groups started out like that including Michelle, The Descendents, Gamez and more.

At a course

Lots of our improv courses have performances at the end and many people stick together after a course and decide to form a group, either all of the course together or a couple of like minded people in a new group.

At improv jams

Getting out there and performing whenever you can at Hoopla’s jams is a good way of meeting fellow improvisers who are also interested in forming a group.

At an improv networking event or social

We run a couple of improv networking events and multiple socials each year and they seem to be quite successful at connecting people together and forming new groups.

Asking improv chums

Met some people you like and share the same improv joy with? Form a team!

Running auditions

If starting a show from scratch you can also run auditions to find suitable people with a shared interest, and we can help spread about them too across our social media.

 

Where to perform

Our pre-party and mixer shows are the best place to start out. They are designed for new groups to build up stage time. If the show takes off we also have many other performing opportunities at Hoopla.

 

Group Structures

Number of people

Groups can be any size, we’ve seen anything from 1 person improv groups to 20.

Small numbers have the advantage that it’s a lot easier to administrate and get everyone at rehearsals, but we tend not to book in groups of just 1 or 2 people so we’d recommend having more than 2.

Larger groups have the advantage that you can cover most show bookings and there is a lot more energy to the group, but they can be hard to organise due to differing levels of commitment and creative differences.

The most popular improv group size seems to be around 5 or 6 people.

Levels of commitment

The biggest challenge facing groups is different levels for commitment. It is therefore worth agreeing as a group what your expectations are, creative aims and rehearsal times before starting work on the show.

Ongoing vs Short Run

Some groups decide to run ongoing, with rehearsals and shows on a regular basis. This has the advantage that the group get to know each other and develop the show over the time. The disadvantage is that often the group ends up dissolving over time due to creative differences or different levels of commitment.

Another option is to do a theatre style short run, with the group meeting for a set number of rehearsals, doing a set number of shows, and then ending. This has the advantage that it’s easier to agree levels of commitment and creative vision before starting, and you get to end on a high rather than fizzling out. It also gives people a chance to try out different ways of working and shows instead of being stuck with one.

Rehearsals

Most groups rehearse about once a week, although if you can do more that’s great too. Building up to a big festival or similar groups often try and do a couple of weeks of more intense rehearsals. The more you rehearse and get to know each other the better.

Directing and Coaching

If possible we suggest having someone directing the group who is not then performing in the shows, as it’s helpful to have an outside eye and is also helpful to have someone to unite the group together in one creative vision.

If you don’t have someone in your group who fancies doing that we can recommend a selection of coaches from our teaching team.

 

Running Your Own Night

Running your own night means you get to perform when you want on your terms, and learn loads. Find a room above a pub, or book a small fringe theatre, rehearse a show, invite people along and go for it!

 Running your own night and putting your own show is when you really learn and find who you are as a performer.

London is blessed with spaces to perform, so find a space you like and book it in, develop an awesome show, promote it, perform it, repeat. We’d also recommend booking in an awesome guest act each time too, as it keeps it different for returning audience.

 

Dedication

To get good at something and to create an excellent show takes dedication. To be at rehearsals reliably and on time you have to not be somewhere else.

“Hey guys, I can’t make rehearsal today as it’s my BBQ, have a great time though?”

Why are you putting your BBQ on the same time as a rehearsal that you’ve known about for 6 months? Sacrifice the BBQ and do the rehearsal. Just do the BBQ the next day.

Your group whatsapp thread should be less filled with these messages:

“Running 15 minutes later everyone, see you soon.” (get an earlier train).

“Can’t make it this week I’m still in Amsterdam.” (why did you book a trip that clashed with a rehearsal you knew about for ages?)

And more filled with these messages:

And more filled with these messages:

“Can’t wait to see you all again!”

“I’m there early if anyone fancies a coffee before I’m in the cafe next door.”

“Looking forward to the rehearsal!”

Otherwise the whatsapp thread become a cultural death spiral where being late or not there is ok.

If you want to make something good, you need to be there and on time. If people have different commitment levels you need to learn how to have difficult conversations and ask them to leave or split and start something new.

Tough talk, but you do need to put time into things to make them work.

 

Money things

Many banks do Groups and Organisations bank accounts which can work well for sorting out things like show payments received, paying for rehearsal rooms and other things.

“But I don’t want to do the admin I just want to do the creative stuff.” Sorry, it doesn’t work like that, you are going to have to get good at both. Dolly Parton is great at admin. Find joy in both.

 

Promoting Your Show

To come to your show people have to know about it in advance, and they have to want to come, and then they need to have a reminder. Here are some other tips:

Why would anybody want to come and see your show?

Ask yourself this question. If you don’t know the answer you haven’t thought about the audience, so why should they think about you? Answers to this question could be: it’s really funny, it’s new, it’s exciting, it’s a party, it’s good, it’s got a fun guest, they like the genre, they’ve heard good things.

 What is your show?

What is it? What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Yes I know it’s improvised, but there are loads of different types of improvised. How would you describe your show in one line, title and image?

 Audience Shoes

Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience member, from when they first hear about the show, decide to go, travel to it, arrive, see it, leave. What was that experience like and how can you make it better?

 Who are the audience?

Who do you want coming to your show? What do they expect? What do they want? What do they need?

 There’s nothing wrong with friends and family as audience

This is a great start, what a positive thing to do in life, get together to entertain friends and family. And it’s a great beginning. Friends who like the show lead to Friends of Friends and then Friends of Friends of Friends, which is otherwise known as ‘The Public’.

 Work

Promoting shows is hard work. If you don’t do anything there won’t be anybody there, because they don’t know about it. If you do lots, there will be more people there. It takes ages listing shows with press and all the listings websites, up to you if you do it. Nobody said that being a successful performer is easy.

 Make a quality show

This is the best marketing tool out there. If your show is amazing people will hear about it eventually, and more people will come.

 Every audience is important

You’ve just started out, just about to go on stage, and realise that only 5 people are in the audience. Don’t be disappointed that only 5 people turned up, be over the moon that 5 real life humans have come to watch. Give them the best show ever. Those 5 people tell 10 people at work the next day about what a great night they had and your audience has gone up to 55 over night. It’s the same show for them anyway, and actually they get a better view. Make it special for them.

 

Also please contact us if you want any help forming your own group. We have a producer employed to help support our students with performing opportunities.

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