Menelaos Prokos

The power of improv cannot be contained. When Hideout student and performer Menelaos Prokos moved back to Athens, he decided to start his own school of improvisation. Using all his Austin based experience and The Hideout’s curriculum as a starting point, his new school, ImproVibe, has really taken off.

Hideout Co-Owner Jessica Arjet decided to interview Menelaos to find out the hows and whys of ImproVibe.

1)You have a huge community of people that love you here, why did you decided to go home to Greece?

It’s true, I had built a life for myself in Austin. However, I felt I was lacking a lot of things that I could not find in Austin (or in the US, for that matter). Being a traveler at heart and having moved from continent to continent many a time, I decided it was the right moment for me to move on. The decision was not to move back to Greece though. At first, the plan was to spend a couple of weeks here and then keep traveling. I found lots of new elements here and, after having lived abroad for 13 years, I decided to stick around and re-discover Athens.

2) Why did you start an Improv School in Greece?

Having made up my mind about staying in Athens, I was not going to give improv up. I looked around for improv theaters, schools and troupes, but I found practically nothing. Bursting with desire to continue practicing it, and knowing how beneficial it can be to anyone who gets involved with it, I decided to take the leap and open Greece’s first improv school.

3) Are there differences in the Greek culture that make improv there any different than improv here?

It’s kinda hard to say, considering the fact that there simply is *no* improv here in Greece. There are some scattered classes here n there and a couple of troupes performing every once in a while, but there is no sense of community. I’d say that’s the biggest difference. In Austin, you start taking improv classes and you don’t just learn something new. You get instantly integrated in a massive, constantly growing, vibrant community of people who all know that they have at least one thing in common. My goal is to inspire the same kind of community here.
Other than that, the sense of humor is different, but since I’m familiar with both, it was never a hurdle for me.

4) What was it like starting your first class?

TERRIFYING!!! I did a dry run of a free intro class with my close friends and it went great. But then, when I held my first free intro class in front of 16 people I had never seen before, I tried (and luckily succeeded) real hard not to show how nervous I am. It all gets better class after class, but more than anything, it was the words of two people that helped me not be afraid. One was Jason Vines, who pointed out that not knowing how to do something is not a reason not to do it. The other was Keith Johnstone. While reading his book, Impro, I saw how he was often in a similar situation where he was often assigned to do tasks he had zero experience with. This gave me immense courage to move forward.

5) What has the reception been like?

Surprisingly huge! Before teaching the very first intro classes, I was thinking I’d need to add some friends of mine, along with whoever would sign up, in order to have a solid class of 12-14 people. After all, I was trying to convince people to get involved with something they knew nothing about. However, after only two free intro classes, I immediately had close to 30 students, that I had to divide into two groups. From that point on, it’s been going upwards. I now teach a total of 49 students, divided amongst 4 groups and it’s only been 4 months since my first class.

First crop of ImproVibe students, ready to do their first show.

Of course. My students are excited to start performing, even the ones that got in the classes without any intention to perform. Some groups have even named themselves. ImproVIBE’s new space is ideal. Not only can we do shows in our class space, but we also have a rooftop available which I will soon start converting into a bar with a stage. Greeks love rooftops, socializing at bars and watching performances. ImproVIBE’s space is able to combine all three and I am mega excited about this prospect.

7) Has the world wide improv community been helpful for you?

What I love is the fact that many improvisers from around the world have taken the time to record videos that show how various games and exercises work. Every time I’m stuck with something, I look for it online and I almost always find a video that explains what I need. In fact, many of those videos, come from Austin’s own, Shana Merlin. The AIC itself has certainly been incredibly helpful. When I decided to start an improv school, I tried to avoid mentioning it to many people for fear of how they would react to it. After all, I’m a fairly new improviser, with still lots n lots to learn. To my surprise, every single person that heard about it embraced the idea and congratulated me for it.
Other than that, The Hideout Theater’s assistance has been priceless, with good vibes, excellent advice and huge help with material. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.

8) Can I come and play in Greece when you get a stage? Can I stay on your couch?
You better!!!

Hideout Theatre performer and director, Kaci Beeler.

By Kaci Beeler

As an actor I’ve auditioned for countless plays, films, commercials, and improv shows. I’ve also been on the other side of the process and have held and watched auditions for several years now. Being on both sides of the situation has given me some insight that I’d like to share with aspiring actors and improvisers looking to book a part in an ensemble improv show.

At The Hideout Theatre, we hold auditions for our Mainstage productions 6 times a year, in addition to occasional auditions for other shows like the Flying Theater Machine (our improv show for kids) and Pick Your Own Path.

We have no prerequisites for auditions. Absolutely anyone can come and audition for a slot in our shows. That said, we are often looking for actors with specific skills who can improvise. For our Mainstage shows we have a limited time frame in which to mount the show, and our directors like to be able to hit the ground running. This isn’t said to be discouraging, it’s just the truth of the situation. Most of our shows have a mix of experienced performers and newer performers that we feel have potential.

Auditioning is a skill, and there are things you can do to make your experience easier and more fun for everyone involved.

Preparation

Before signing up for an audition, make sure to check your personal calendar to see if you can actually commit to the rehearsal and show dates. If you’re not available for a large majority of the dates, it’s unlikely you’ll get cast, and you should probably consider waiting to audition when your schedule is more flexible or open. When an actor drops out of a production after getting cast, it looks bad. No one wants to work with a flake, no matter how good they are, plain and simple.

Thoroughly read and re-read the audition notice. Does the call mention certain source materials or inspirations to look at? Is the director looking for certain skills? Do your research. If you’re auditioning for improvised Shakespeare, for instance, it would be a good idea to actually read some Shakespeare, watch some films or a play, and really get a feel for the subject. At worst, you’ll learn something. You might even learn you don’t like the source material…in which case, you might not want to audition for the production after all. Just because the show is improvised doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be prepared. Some people are very good at winging it, but those people are few and far between. For the rest of us, it’s nice to at least have an idea of the style and tone we might be portraying in case the director wants to see it.

Punctuality

photo by Michael Yew

Charles Dickens Unleashed, 2011.

Show up on time for your audition slot, or better yet, early (sometimes there is paperwork to fill out). When it’s your audition time, be ready to go. Make sure to eat your sandwich or snack beforehand and have everything in order.

Presentation

When coming into an audition room, play it cool. Be friendly, but not loud and boisterous. The manic energy in a group improv audition can be infectious and fun, but it’s rarely going to help you stand out in a positive way. Save the squeals with friends for later and focus on listening to the director. They’ll usually tell you exactly what they want to see happen.

Speak loudly and clearly. This is HUGE. HUGE!! If you can’t be heard, you might as well not be in the room. Stage work requires projection and speaking in a normal volume is not enough. Our downstairs theater at The Hideout in particular is a space that absolutely requires our improvisers to project loudly and clearly all the way to the back wall during a performance. A director can always believe that you will be able to speak more softly, so speak loudly and clearly (no muttering unless it’s intentional) from the beginning.

Be a team player. The director is often looking for someone who plays well with others. Even if an improviser is the funniest person in the room, if they ignore and step on every scene partner they work with, it’s unlikely they’ll get cast. Improv relies on a strong ensemble and listening and leaving space for others is just as important as taking the stage yourself.

Hideout Directors Andy Crouch and Troy Miller.
Photo by Steve Rogers.

That said, take your time to shine. We want team players but we also want improvisers who will claim the stage when it’s their time to shine and be the star. Are you delivering a monologue? Plant your feet, be bold and speak out! Take risks! If you’re a part of a group of people onstage working together, make sure you actually get out onstage. If you don’t go out onstage in an audition, how do we know you will in the show? A hesitant improviser can be as much of a detriment to an ensemble piece as a showboat.

How do you act as a team player AND a star? Pay attention to what’s going on around you. If you haven’t spoken in awhile and you are inspired by an idea – put it out there. Make it happen! If you’ve been putting a lot out there and making a lot happen, it might be good to reign it in and pull back for a little while and give someone else a chance. Better yet – set someone else up for success.

Confidence & Calm

Don’t apologize. Have you ever heard the phrase, “Fake it until you make it?” It’s a good one. Most people in this world are faking that they know what they are doing. You can also be one of those people, especially in improv where everything is pretend!

Everyone is a little shy, a little nervous, and a little self-conscious. At an audition, absolutely everyone is a bit anxious – even the director. It’s okay if you feel that way. It’s normal. Don’t let this feeling get in the way of your work. Don’t e-mail a director after an audition to tell them that you had a bad day so you were in your head during the audition, it won’t help. If you think you were in a weird or bad scene, just try to have fun and ride it on through. Failure and weirdness is a part of improv. It’s something to embrace, not fear. Directors know this, don’t worry. In improv auditions, we’re looking for how improvisers deal with perceived failures and hiccups.

I personally find that a mantra helps me when I feel apprehensive and anxious. I repeat it in my head whenever I felt a little bout of panic set in when I’m put on the spot and feel watched. For example: “The moment that is happening right now is the right moment.” I like that mantra because it reminds me that there is something perfect and unchangeable about the present moment. The people. The place. The energy. It’s all something to work *with* not against. Let go of expectations. They don’t really serve you. Make eye contact with your scene partners. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re actually confused. Have fun with what you have right in front of you. Life’s too short to not enjoy your pursuits. Enjoy the process.
Another mantra I like is, “How fascinating!” Feel yourself thrown off by someone else’s actions? “How fascinating!” that is. Now you have an opportunity to really improvise and try something new.

Spirited, 2011.

Flexibility

A director is often looking to see a range of abilities within one audition. I don’t mean that everyone should change voices or characters every 3 seconds, but being able to take direction is of huge importance to the theatrical process of putting up a new production. If a director asks you or your group to try a specific approach, like, “quick, fast-paced scenes” or “slow, patient moments” or even, “acted as serious as possible”, it is to your advantage to do your best to execute the direction. Slow down if asked. Try an accent or character if the direction is suggested. Even if you think you have a better idea, or a funnier idea, the director is looking for something else in that moment. If you don’t understand the director’s notes or set-up, you can always ask for clarification. If you don’t like the director’s ideas and don’t want to follow their advice, then this production is probably not for you (and it’s better to know this early instead of later for all parties involved)!

Improvisers Jon Bolden and Hugo Vargas-Zesati.

Compassion

Imagine you have to sit in a room for 3 hours and watch 60 different people, many of whom you know and like, vie for a part in a piece you care a lot about. Imagine that you have to pick only 10-12 of them to be in your show, even though at least 40 of them could do a good job in it. A director’s role in a production is not an easy one. Sometimes it’s a matter of numbers. Often, 40 people can’t be in one show. Sometimes it’s a matter of playing style. Maybe the director is looking to work with improvisers who bring a certain skill-set to the table. Whatever their decision, it wasn’t an easy one. Don’t take auditions too personally. The more you enjoy the process, the less painful all aspects of it will be.

If you want to know how your audition looked from the outside, most directors are cool with giving personal feedback BUT it’s best to wait several days after the audition before asking this of any director.

The more often you audition, the better you will get at it! It’s a skill, just like anything else, and it’s something you can work on.

Break a leg!

*If you’d like to know about our upcoming auditions hover over the “classes” tab above and click on “auditions” from the drop-down menu.

The Process on Strange Worlds –the Hideout Theatre’s latest main stage show– has involved firstly understanding what Pulps actually are.

Because, despite being well versed in nerd knowledge, I had no idea what they were exactly. Comic books but older? Right?

So in scouring the information available from the infinite internet and the even more infinite nerd mind of Jordan T. Maxwell (The Director. And I mean “Nerd Mind” lovingly. He’ll take it as a compliment, I swear), we discovered what Pulps were:

Magazines popularized in the 1930s that were printed on cheap, wood pulp paper (hence the “Pulp” name) and featured stories of flawless heroes, fighting crime and tyranny often in strange or exotic locations.

They were simply novels.

Chapter after chapter of two fisted justice cleaning up the dirty city streets, or of a bronze pinnacle of masculinity venturing the remote locales of this world to save lives.

Superheroes are like the descendants of these characters. You can see obvious similarities between The Shadow and Batman (Both strike fear into the criminal that threaten a city they devote themselves wholly to) or Superman and Doc Savage (Both have a Fortress of Solitude….both places literally called the Fortress of Solitude).

We read. A lot.

And viewed films that contained pulpy elements, like The Rocketeer, to lay down the base knowledge and understand the language. And being that there is a great deal of action involved in these stories, every rehearsal included a portion of stage combat training. A little difficult for me, because I come straight from real fight training to rehearsal. So I half expect some bar brawler to square off with me, indicate with eye contact that he’s gonna swing, and throw a safely paced haymaker whilst yelling, “This oughta straighten you out but good, criminal!”

In addition to the combat, we’re using prop guns, which have the weight, look and feel of actual weapons.

Learning to combine these action elements with the operatic and heightened dramatic tone of the Pulps has been exciting. We’re not selling out for a camp factor at all here. The dialogue and overly optimistic outlook of the heroes are played as straight and big as we can play them. Which is what I’m looking forward to portraying the most, since people are over saturated with satire of campy heroes like the 1960′s Batman (And I LOVE 1960′s Batman, but you see what I mean).

But most exciting is that each of the cast members were tasked with creating our own Pulp hero. Every Saturday in March and April, you’ll be presented with two different pulp stories, each featuring one of our original pulp heroes. There’s a fantastic amount of variety between our chosen hero archetypes, too.

I took my inspiration from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Martian series that began with A Princess of Mars (more popularly know as the John Carter of Mars books). Maybe it was the lure of an entirely new planet to adventure on, or the excuse to wear a loin cloth on stage, either way, I can’t wait to explore that Science Fantasy world.

We always come back to the fascinating novels written by these authors for inspiration. The heroes are so unflinchingly noble that it’s refreshing. The conflict and dynamics are so big, it’s impossible not to get swept away. It’s going to be a look back in time, before drawn comic book panels and spoon fed imagination. Because back when it was just words on a pulpy page, those words could trigger images and places in your head that are much wilder than anything an artist could draw. Wilder, brighter and dare I say it, STRANGER.

Get your tickets to Strange Worlds here.

Look for our triumphant return in 2013.

As of writing this, there are 26 tickets left to the last show. Get them while you can!

How did this happen? Let’s hear from one of the directors, Marc Majcher:

Last Saturday, Eric Heiberg and I directed an unprecedented Maestro experience at the Hideout Theatre. I’ve personally directed almost a hundred Maestros, and I’ve never seen anything like it.

Eric and I have had many conversations about our improv philosophies, and one of the things we like to emphasize when playing or directing is this idea of “anything can happen”. Literally anything. Being comfortable with not being safe within whatever format or structure we’ve chosen to play with, but following our impulses to do whatever will be the most fun for us, for the other players, and for the audience.

So, this week, one of our twelve players – #10 – wasn’t able to make it to the show, and we couldn’t find anyone to fill in at the last minute. Eric and I decided to leave the chip for number ten in the bucket that we picked random players for games and scenes from, and figure out what to do when the time came.

The first time it happened, in the third scene of the night, I asked for an audience member to come up and play a scene at a restaurant, and gave them a bell to let them call back anything the other improvisers did that they didn’t like. After the scene, I asked him if he’d like to stay up on stage and play the rest of the show, or have us pick a new person each time number ten came up, and he chose the latter.

Game on!

Usually, a scene with an audience member will score a bit higher than a scene without, because we really love to see people going up on stage and taking risks, having fun, and being supported by the other improvisers up there.

So, over the course of the evening, we had three more audience members performing with us; a woman aggressively trying to cheer up Brad Hawkins at his birthday party, someone playing Chris Allen’s guardian angel giving him advice as he tried to work up the courage to hit on a beautiful woman at a bar, and a gentleman valiantly acting out and lip syncing a two-person Shakespearian scene that Peter Rogers provided all the dialog for.

Looking at the final scores after the last round, we saw that number ten – the audience – was tied for first place with Peter, so Eric and I had to come up with a tie-breaker that would provide a fitting end to this extraordinary night.

We sent the entire audience on a speak-in-one-voice date with Peter Rogers.

Peter sat at the front of the stage, we asked the audience what their name was, and they responded as a whole. He made small talk with them, and they came back with pleasant one or two word answers. We eventually asked them to tell Peter the secret they’d been meaning to tell him, and together, they all said “We’re pregnant!” Brilliant. Afterward, naturally, we had to have the audience score the two sides of the scene, to decide who would get the bonus point and win the title of Maestro for the evening, and of course, they voted for themselves. The show was over, and we invited the entire audience up on stage to receive their Canadian five dollar bill, and accept their victory.

I can honestly say, in all my years of playing and directing improv here in Austin and around the country, I’ve never seen anything like that happen, and probably never will again. But I can also honestly say, as long as we embrace the spirit of true playfulness and let go of whatever worries or fears we have of “doing it wrong” or trying desperately to be interesting or funny or following a structure too closely, as long as we accept that truly anything can happen, and it’ll be okay if we embrace the fun and roll with whatever comes our way, then we’ll see many, many more amazing things happen that will surprise and delight us, things that we could never have anticipated or planned.

What’s going to happen next week? We’ll see.

Maestro happens every Saturday at 10pm.

We then did TWO on Dec. 15th, a 6pm and an 8pm show.

Here are the slides we used from all three shows:

As of writing this, there are only two Austin Secrets shows left. Please join us!

It’s a year of growth and change, as we expand into the larger downstairs theater, and begin to integrate the theater with the coffee house more (aka drink specials!).

So as the first of the big, good things for the new year, here is the 2013 Mainstage schedule.

I’m super excited for this year.

In many ways, we’ve been leading up to a show like Fandom for YEARS. We love taking on different worlds to improvise in at The Hideout… from Hitchcock to film noir to Star Trek to Twilight Zone, to name just a few. Our goal is always to do them justice… to truly live in those universes, and not to make fun of them. In Fandom, we’ll be tackling a different, but much-beloved creation each week, with the same cast… and deconstructing what it means to be a fan along the way.

I’m excited for Strange Worlds for two reasons. For starters, the world of the pulps is rife with rich characters and dramatically painted vistas of the imagination. But even just as exciting, Jordan T. Maxwell will be the director. A staple of the Austin Improv scene all the way back to the days of the Well Hung Jury, and known for his boldly heroic style, Jordan is the perfect person to helm this project.

You probably know that we put on a competitive improv show called Maestro every Saturday. This format was created by Keith Johnstone, the man whose improv teachings form the basis of the work we do at The Hideout. But what you may not know is that Keith’s most popular and most performed format is not Maestro, but Theatresports. I love Theatresports. It’s more than a competition, and much more than an improv game show. In the perfect Theatresports show, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. And it’s in that spirit that this year’s run will be put on.

We’ve done our fair share (2 seasons) of improvised Shakespeare in the past. It’s a fun, challenging show that seems impossible to do. But we’ve never done a show like this one before. For the first time ever we’ll be starting with a scripted play. For a month leading up to the normal run of Fakespeare, we’ll be putting on an honest-to-goodness scripted Shakespearian play (to be determined). Then the same cast will roll over and throw out the script… and make up their own plays for the next 2 months.

Austin Secrets will enter its 4th season in a row. Ordinarily I would feel weird about bringing the same show back year after year, but the shows continue to inspire and thrill audiences and performers alike. Personally, I also feel like we’re still breaking new ground. It’s a learning experience, in the best way possible.

Finishing out the year will be a delightfully macabre show, directed by Valerie Ward. Inspired by the works of Edward Gorey, A Bedtime Gorey will combine elements of Victorian parlor games, gruesome story telling, pantomime, and the Christmas spirit.

Oh, and it’s definitely worth mentioning that many, if not all of these shows will be in the larger, downstairs theater.

It’s going to be a crazy, exciting year, and this is only the beginning.

Wanna join us? We’re offering season passes, good for a ticket to each of our six 2013 Mainstage shows for only $55 ($60 after Christmas).

You can purchase a season pass here.

See you in 2013!

Roy Janik
Co-Owner & Artistic Director

This past Thursday we mashed up two of our Mainstage shows… Austin Secrets and The Black Vault (improv in the style of H.P. Lovecraft). The show took the basic form of Austin Secrets, but all of the secrets were in the Lovecraftian vein…

Um, you’ll see what I mean. Behold:

That’s the Free Fringe for you. Never a dull moment.

Here are the secrets that were used in the show.

Austin Secrets runs through the end of December.