I followed this thread closely out of habit since it used to be my job. I’m like a ghost that watches all, unknown to you though you are known to it, and yah… it’s creepy for me too. Thanks for doing these numbers Kevin, it was impressive to see. I would like to add some insights of my own to add to the post. I’ve had a lot of interaction with the indie groups in NY over the last 4 years. I am a very analytical person, and based on patterns I see in show line-ups, show invites, and through the various interactions I see on my overly large improvisor network on social media, I have a pretty good handle of how the social circles in improv are overlapped, what and who the cliques are (generational, regional,the jammers, house team fetishizers, ‘the cool kids’ etc) not only at UCB, but at the other theaters as well. It’s an interesting thing to see it from from the top-down perspective. Being kind of a loner, it’s like I’m watching from a hot-air balloon. It can be beautiful. Like looking at a sunflower field where the seeds were all planted at different times using different fertilizers, like when you see great people and teams getting noticed and succeeding at various points in thier career timeline, but also it can be ugly, like watching a wasp colony swooping in to kill all the bees in that field. Seeing how the architecture of the improv scene works really does expose how human beings can work socially while at the same time self-servingly, which is a lot of times sad or maddening since it often is at the expense of somebody else getting a deserved spot on a show, a team, a faculty or just some nod of recognition in a performance from a new set of heads..
While I don’t have any inherent problem with this list, just know the sample that it is derived from is very specifically comprised of one particular social circle and I would wager people largely are supporting friends and trends here rather than abiding by putting thought into any personal artistic preference or by Kevin’s criteria which was pretty clearly labeled but not so adhered to. Many of the teams listed are not very active, and I’d be curious as to how many practice every week, or do more than 4 shows a month or produce 1 fully well thought out, original and professionally prepared for monthly show, and would certainly want to know if a team was managing to meet all of those criteria because that to me is a baseline for being considered in the exceptional category. There are many, many, many more great indie teams out there that got no mention.
But enough bullshit tenous poetic analogies and trademark skepticism. I just wanted to build and add some info to contextualize some more. I won’t pore through every stat, and I may leave a team out here and there by example so please forgive, working quickly and focusing on active teams with more than just a handful of mentions.
Since Kevin has largely worked and helped build the UCB theater over the years, these teams unsurprisingly are comprised ~95%f UCB students. Specifically UCB students who have been in classes for 3-7 year range.There are some younger exceptions I think, like Debaser or Pluto for instance. Most of the teams are less than 3 years old and were formed through meeting at UCB or were formed through Supernova. Almost all the teams are less than 5 years old, again with some exceptions (Formed outside of UCB Context that I know of- JFK Rowling, Punctual Drunks, Area 52, Funkle Todd +5 years include Funkle Todd, USNIT, Mannequin Room, Curtains, and of course Thank You Robot.)
This should tell you a little about how long indie teams typically last. Also, I could confidently say that this list of 135 probably represents somewhere around 20% of the total amount of teams that are currently active and playing right now. It’s a fucking big scene ya’ll.
Some stats and insights I can add are this (based on my experience):
QSIC had over 200+ players on 26 teams just from what we considered our house teams alone in three years. I estimate in the 3 years we were running, all told we had over 500+ different indie teams play there and literally thousands of performers.
The UCB generates the most indie teams by far, with the PIT and the Magnet distant seconds. I think this has to do with theater culture, personality, and real estate (2 stages at The Pit and less ‘comedy celebrity’ shows for instance means less need to play elsewhere for indie teams) The Annoyance is fledgling and has very few, however Mutual Slayer Bruzas and Hunks R Us were all mentioned on this list.
I noticed over time that the life cycle and health of teams that were playing weekly shows was much more robust than average, and those teams tended to either disband quickly after a run (a good thing I think, wastes less time for everybody figuring out if the team is worth the investment) or stayed together and either produced their own show or gigged hard if not hosting one.
I think this is important to note, especially if your team does not practice (which I imagine has a similar effect) If you don’t practice weekly, or perform weekly, your team is probably a waste of time and resources as it is very highly likely to disband or put up very erratic quality shows. (It was fairly obvious to me which teams practiced regularly and which did not.) I would encourage performers to play on less teams but on more serious teams. Debaser is a perfect example of this. Success in improv more about quality and growth as a unit and less about quantity of personal opportunities.
But that is where the self-serving thing comes in. I feel like a current trend is to play on way too many teams. This is a way to network. I think of it like panning for gold. If you end up landing on a golden team, I guess that is good. But I think this dilutes the overall quality of work going on. And a team can only get so good without its players fully investing in each other. This is a trend that I don’t think can last. There was an indie renaissance that happened over the last few years where the numbers just exploded and playing opportunities abounded. But with the still rising prices in real estate, and now with QSIC on hiatus or permanently gone, Treehouse turning into an official PIT space, and a number of bars and venues closing to performers, I don’t think that is going to be sustainable again in a way that is good for the community.
(Too many teams/by not enough venues)+ the ratio of not enough rehearsing:dispersion of improv team investments-lower life expectancy(not enough venues)= Watered Down Improv
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