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Improv light shining bright

BY DAVID NIGEL LLOYD, Contributing writer | Wednesday, Dec 16 2009 06:29 PM

Last Updated Wednesday, Dec 16 2009 06:29 PM

Who knew Bakersfield was such a hotbed of improvisatory theater? You did, if you were lucky enough to see several of the brightest lights of the form performing here in the last 20 years or so.

Alex Marino, part of that stellar class of improvisers, is now a respected teacher of improv in New York. He performs and teaches -- often nightly -- at the Magnet Theater there in the Chelsea District. Bakersfieldians eager to jump into the deep end of this harder-than-it-looks art form would be well-advised to sign up for the workshop he will be giving at the Empty Space Theater on Saturday.

"There will be stuff for character creation, confidence-building, idea generation," said Marino from his home in Brooklyn.

"I might introduce a little bit of light telepathy if the mood feels right. It's going to be a greatest hits of all my favorite exercises that I've gathered over the years."

The workshop will not be just for improvisers and comedians, he said, "but for writers and actors, laymen and chaos magicians -- if there are any in Bakersfield." (Whatever they may be, a quick Google search indicates that there probably are some here.)

Marino should know. He's from Bakersfield and began his training in improvisatory theater here, as did some of the biggest talents working in the form today. Country music and nu metal are not Bakersfield's only cultural exports.

"It was just harder coming from Bakersfield. Not impossible," Marino said. "Lots of places will teach you how to improvise better than I learned when I was just starting out, but there aren't a lot of places that will teach you how to fight for it."

Bakersfield's improv story more or less starts in 1989 when the Bakersfield chapter of Comedy Sportz was founded. "It was an affiliate of a Milwaukee group," explained Marino. "They changed their business structure years ago, which made requirements that many chapters, including Bakersfield, couldn't meet. So Chuck (Cupani) and Jeff Lepine changed the name to Major League Improv."

From Comedy Sportz/Major League Improv, with its emphasis on short form theater games played competitively (Think "Whose Line Is It Anyway"), a steady stream of young improvisers set out for the big cities, where they encountered long-form improv.

Michael Lewis, another Bakersfield improv alum, now now lives in Truckee, but will always have roots here. "It's my hometown," he said in a telephone interview. "I was in the BHS high school league (sponsored by Comedy Sportz) from '95 to '97. Rob Long (who now teaches theater at Highland High) was one of my teachers."

Two years ago he founded the Empire Improv Company in Reno because "the mountains of L.A., Chicago and New York are lame." Not much to argue with there, but he's the only Bakersfieldian improvisor not to have remained in one of those three major centers of the form.

For the last three years, former Bakersfield resident Adam McCabe has written and performed with the L.A. branch of the Upright Citizens Brigade, founded by SNL's alum Amy Poehler.

Another of Rob Long's students, Blaine Swen now teaches in Chicago at Second City, which in the 1950s became ground zero of the improv world. From Bob Newhart to Stephen Colbert, the list of performers who got their start at Second City is long and stellar.

And then, of course, there's Derek Mears. He performed and taught during the early years of Bakersfield's Comedy Sportz and now works with L.A.'s franchise. He also starred as Jason in Paramount Pictures' 2009 horror blockbuster "Friday the 13th," the "reboot" version.

Jeff Lepine, originally from Toronto, also trained here with Long. Lepine went on to run the Empty Space with Bob Kempf. Shortly after playing George Milton in the Empty Space's successful production of "Of Mice and Men," Lepine set out for New York, where he is now the artistic director of the People's Improv Theater.

JT Seaton, perhaps better known in Bakersfield as Geoph Seaton when he was a teacher/performer, is now an independent filmmaker in Los Angeles. Among other improv alumni, Gary Kramer founded the National Comedy Theater in New York; Glenn Packman plays for Comedy Starz in New York; Jeff Perkins is involved with the L.A. improv scene. Other Bakersfieldian improvisers out there are Kym Canfield, Doug Cheesman, James Kopp and Garret Willingham.

Other Comedy Sportz teachers include Johnny Mansbach, Robert Chan and Dave Moten. Rob Long has posted his first-hand recollections of Bakersfield's improv scene -- those who left and those who stayed -- at myspace.com/theamericangentleman.

"It is crazy how many of us came out of Bakersfield and now are running or helping run some of the major institutions in improv," Lepine said. "Just about every improviser in New York City knows Alex (Marino), and the entire improv community knows Blaine (Swen) and respects the quality of his shows. It's ... something Bako should be proud of."

Marino will combine the tools he was taught starting out with what he's learned along the way at Saturday's workshop.

"A lot of what I was taught (in Bakersfield) was totally valid -- all the basics of improv: how to build an environment out of nothing, how to define a scene and move it forward. But I'm calling (Saturday's) workshop 'a re-introduction' because I really do hope to show an approach that I wish I had known when I was living there -- one that is transformative and personal and meaningful; the aim of which is to achieve honesty above laughter. Which is not to say there won't be laughter. There will be. I just find that laughter is always stronger when it's honest."