The Blog My Improv Addiction by Hal Peller

My Improv Addiction by Hal Peller

How my addiction started...

I was doing stand-up in the 70’s which had been a lifelong dream since I was 4 years old. I wanted to learn how to write new material so I took a Comedy Class with Joey Novick at the Learning Annex in 1980 and he told me about a book that completely changed my life; Improvisation for the Theater by Viola Spolin.

I read the book cover to cover as if it were a Stephen King thriller. My wife, Janet, gave it to me for Christmas that year. I read it every day on the train; the dust cover got lost and the old blue linen binding got worn. I would try to figure out the POC before reading what Viola would say what the POC should be at the end of each game. The POC, Point Of Concentration, is what Viola called it back in the first or Second Edition and I think Paul Sills, her son, changed it to simply “focus” in later editions he edited. This was all so well organized all you would have to do is to play the game with full energy and focus on the one point of concentration. There was nothing to “teach” because you would have “aha” moments when you were doing it “right” and know intuitively what needed to happen if it didn’t feel quite right. The process was amazing and I fell completely in love. I internalized most of Viola’s philosophies and theories which she had added within the text.

1980 - I was studying improvisation with Joey Novick 1 or 2 nights a week, we would work out with the games from the book and then we would perform on the weekend. I told Janet that if we were going to be able to see each other maybe she should start taking Improv workshops too. So, under the direction of Joey Novick, ComedyWorks was born. With the help of David Shepherd we competed in the New York Improv Olympics and then we all flew to Chicago… February, 1981, ComedyWorks was going to compete in the Improv Olympics in Chicago with the finals at Second City. Second City is the Mecca for Improvisational Theater in the USA. We didn’t make the finals because the judges said we were too New York… This was an international competition and we were the only team from New York City… WTF… of course we were from New York “EF’in” City. However, we had the time of our lives. Every single one of us had the best time ever and it only got better.

The group decided we needed a new direction, while we were in Chicago, and made me the Artistic Director (I had no idea what that was) of a new Improvisation Group called “The Port Authority Theatre Ensemble” or PATE for short.

When I finished the first reading of Spolin’s book, I thought to myself, “I can facilitate this-I can teach this process.” Within six months of completing the book, I had my first public workshop. I still have my first typewritten 5 week syllabus with the POC’s all spelled out for each game for each week. I was hooked.