Welcome to our interview with Eric Christensen. Eric helped start the first So. Ill. Improv Festival back in 2007, and this year it has grown to Southern Illinois largest comedy festival. The festival has even attracted the attention of the prestigious Improvised Shakespeare Company — that group, which is hugely successful in Chicago — will be headlining at So. Ill this year.
The So Ill festival is now in its 4th year – the festival has grown quite a bit since 2007! Can you talk about your role in the festival, then and now?
Man, it sure has! When I created the festival in 2007 I started out with the mission statement of, “To make Carbondale aware of the art of improv and leave the city with something that improves the community even after I am gone.” I feel that we have accomplished that goal and continue to do so. Today I have more responsibility as an Assistant Producer than I did as the Executive Producer and that is due to the fact that the festival has gotten so big and so much more involved with the community.
What have you learned about producing an improv festival?
I have learned so much from producing this fest and that is one of the big reasons that I continue to stay so involved. I have dreams of owning my own theater some day as well as my own festival in another city and this has been an invaluable way to gain that experience and meet new contacts. I guess one of the most important things I have learned is how to work with the city you are in to make your goal possible, whether that be through sponsorships, locations or resources.
What advice would you give to others who were looking to start an improv festival of their own?
This is a fun question for me as I had a long phone conversation with Greg Tavares who is in charge of the Charleston Comedy Festival about how to run a festival. One issue that is always going to be the hardest to navigate through is the financials that come along with putting together such a wide reaching event. You have to have a plan when it comes to compensating your teachers for their workshops and your performers. For us, being a small town, that meant bringing in one or two paid headliners and setting up a revenue sharing program with the teachers.
Any comedy festival you produce is going to evolve and change from year to year so it is important to try new things to not only keep things fresh but to see what will work and what won’t. For example, we found having a visible location did wonders for us even though we had to shell out a lot of money for it. On the flip side, we found that we needed more information on the theater to operate the show smoothly. We were not able to get into the theater until an hour before the shows started and we were not prepared with the hundreds of people that attended. This year we will be more prepared because of our mistakes there.
How do you go about attracting talent to the festival?
The original festival was put together all through my own personal contacts and contacts in our local improv groups. Today we reach out to improve groups around the country through contacts, forums, email and social networking. This will be the first year in which we, unfortunately, will have to turn down a large amount of groups. The good news is the talent is getting more diverse and polished each year. Giving teams a packed house, a small intimate festival and perks like cheap workshops and food is what we have used in terms of incentives. Also, getting repeat teams like Fusebox has always been important so we can grow that relationship.
Over time, many festivals develop their own specialty or personality – what do you envision the So. Ill festival becoming as time goes on?
To be honest, this is a question we haven’t really addressed until this year. This year we have decided that we wanted to make the festival a community event. The most noticeable change we have added is a children’s show on Saturday afternoon that is being sponsored by the Parks District. We have an amazing group in Hogwash from Chicago coming down to put on an improvised fairy tale in which the all the proceeds will go to The Boys and Girls Club here in Carbondale. We have talked about adding sketch and stand up to future festivals as well.
One thing that many improv companies struggle with is marketing. What you doing to raise awareness about the festival?
Hosting the festival in Carbondale, Illinois (pop. 27,000) can be both a blessing and a curse. We struggle at times with marketing because of the sheer fact that not many people around here are familiar with improv. Where we have really cashed in is the lack of events like this in the area. The university here hosts the longest running student film festival in the country and we have tried to take some queues from them. That means marketing in cities outside of Carbondale that also do not have an event anything like the SO ILL. It also means appealing to both the college community and the residents of the city by offering a range of times and prices. One of the biggest boons in terms of attendance is finally finding a central theater that people can easily locate.
Do you have any insight into what people in a small community like Carbondale (or Nashville or Richmond) can to do grow their improv scene?
This is a very tough question because even now there are peaks in valleys in the Carbondale improv scene. I think the two best things you can do in a small community is to, number one, find your style. When I go to other cities like Austin, Minneapolis or Carrboro, I find it simply fascinating that the improv has its own unique flair and texture to it. The second most important thing a community most do to survive is get out and see what everyone else is doing. Every time I am on the road I look for a chance to see an improv show so I can witness what everyone else is doing right or what is not quite working. This also goes hand in hand with taking workshops and attending these festivals that provide a great experience in themselves.
If you had to start the So Ill festival all over again, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?
Oh man! Everything! It is funny to me to think that the festival is getting so large now and I am not even in Carbondale to run it. I now have so much more insight into how to put a festival together that there are things I wish I could redo for THIS year’s festival. Every year we start the planning and organizing earlier and earlier but it never seems early enough. Right now we are starting to understand how we can provide more of a product to local sponsors instead of just a donation as well as what needs to be done to get butts in seats when those shows start.
As I finish this thought, I don’t think that the first festival would have had the same charm had we started out big and bold. Looking back at it all, the natural progression has been very fun to watch.
Why should people come to the So Ill improv festival? Why should people come to see any improv, anywhere, ever?
Well, ultimately people should come because they want to laugh and have a good time. We often talk about the “art” of improv, which is great, but I think you still have to look at it as, you are there to make people laugh and enjoy themselves. I have seen a lot of good teams try to hard or panic on stage because they seem to forget that the audience really just wants to laugh. I also hope people come out and support the festival because it is such a unique experience, one that you can’t get without traveling more than five hours.
Is there anything else you would like to say about the festival?
One interesting little tid bit: The festival’s home is now the Varsity Theater which was an old movie palace from the 40s. The reason it is interesting has to do with the fact that I produced a documentary about the history of the theater and why it was vacant. In fact, one of the main goals of the documentary was to raise awareness to save the theater. It was donated to the city a couple years ago and the So ILL Festival were the first renters to ever put up a show there.
About Eric Christensen
You’ve been living in Chicago for while now. What is it like moving from a city like very little improv to the improv mecca?
Pretty crazy but the Chicago improve community is pretty nurturing. It is not the cut throat place you might expect from the LA actors scene. I was just talking about how weird it is because I am doing shows every week at iO Theater but I still feel like the student I was when I arrived.
You’ve had great success with your team Michael Pizza in Chicago – even winning last year’s cage match and having multiple runs at iO. I’ve had the pleasure of performing with you guys in Nashville, too. What do you think makes Michael Pizza so special?
Yes we have been very fortunate in terms of the shows that are getting booked these days. We have a run at iO Theater coming up that we are very excited about and that is opening for TJ Jagadowski and Rush Howell, two of the biggest names in improv right now. I think what makes us so different from other groups and what has given us all these opportunities is our chemistry on stage and our ability to just follow the fun stuff. We had a fellow improviser come up to us after one of our shows and tell us, “When you guys are on stage I just want to jump up there and be part of the fun.” I think that quote really sums up what makes Michael Pizza great. When we are up there having a blast with each other the audience can’t help but get caught up in the joy of it all.
What are your thoughts on Ensemble size, work ethic, and rehearsal schedule?
I think that to be really successful as an ensemble you have to keep things fairly simple. It really gets tough to keep things together when you have ten people on stage. The longest running shows at iO seem to be smaller ensembles. With Michael Pizza we are not the most talented improvisers in all of Chicago but we put in the work by rehearsing and not selling out for the joke. I think this is critical and something that our director David Montgomery has really instilled in us.
How do you think you’ve grown as an improviser over the past couple of years? Since being in Chicago?
I honestly don’t think I am the best one to ask on this one. I know I am much improved, but I couldn’t tell you why for the life of me. When I ask people who have seen me through the years they tell me that I am light years ahead of where I was in college. I guess I can also kind of feel it when I perform with friends I used to perform with and they seem a step slower now.
In your opinion, what makes for “good improv” ?
Gosh, that is a loaded question. I always find it funny when people talk about the “rules of improv” and that if you just follow those rules you will do well. The reason I find this funny is because when you delve into there a hundreds of “rules” you should know and also you need to know when to bend them or break them. I guess that is what makes “great improv”. The biggest thing for me that I know I need to work on and that I see in every great group is total and utter commitment to whatever is going on in the show. So I will make that my rule #1.
You recently married Tamira Brennan, another improviser and friend of ours. In fact, I watched your propose to her on stage at the 2008 So. Ill Festival during a game of Freeze Tag! What is it like to maintain a marriage and live the Chicago improv lifestyle? Does it help that Tamira is also an improviser?
Haha! Yes, this is all true. In fact, if you really search for it, the proposal is on YouTube. I will not lie, being a married improviser with a full time job is very difficult and a can be a strain on your relationship. You have to carve out time in your busy schedule to really be with each other and stabilize the marriage. It does help that Tamira is also an improviser from the stance that she knows what I have on my plate but it also is tough to schedule around both or our shows and rehearsals.
Is there anything else you would like to say?
Just that spell check keeps changing the word improv to improve. So if you find that word in here a lot you will know why.
Do you remember how we met?
Yes! Of course! It was at DSI 7. You were there with Improv Nashville and I was there with Date Night. I am not sure why we stuck up a conversation, maybe you had seen our show or vice versa, maybe it was just the twinkle in your eyes when I first met you, either way the connection was formed quickly.
Do you still love me, even after all these years?
I don’t know John. To be honest it has been tough being apart for so long. But….of course I do! That is why you are the only out-of-town performer who has not only been at every festival, but been there with three separate teams!
