I have lived in Jackson for 22 years. For most of those years, I bemoaned the lack of Improv Comedy here. When I was in high school I saw improv shows at a local club, and I heard of my friends at state colleges getting to perform. I even found out that Union University had an Improv team, but I was too old to join them.
One day in October of 2022 I received an email from my friend Leaana that said she was directing a brand new Improv team. I knew that I had to audition.
Later that month, I walked up the stairs to the offices at the Ned. I was nervous.
That evening, seven strangers met in an upstairs room at the Ned and pretended to be YoYo competitors, backstage rivals, giraffes, televangelists and an assortment of other characters to audition for the first ever non-collegiate Improv team in Jackson, TN. Many of us had little to no experience, but we found ourselves chuckling and amazed at how fun it was to play pretend with each other. Thus began director Leaana Rangai's (nee Cargile) debut Improv Team for Hub City Theatre Company.
Our first show was free at Turntable Coffee Counter and served as a means to raise awareness about Hub City Theatre. We packed the house and were amazed by the positive responses we received.
One of the cast members, Ashley Davis, had prior experience on an Improv team in her hometown of Chico, California. She led a second round of auditions for another show with a new team of players. I made the team again! Hooray!
Yet the nerves were at a new high because this season, people would actually PAY to be at our shows. Would people actually come if it weren’t free? The proverbial rubber was meeting the road. We were all thrilled to see that Jackson did want to come back. We continued to fill seats for a whole weekend of shows at Turntable Coffee.
Hub City Improv went from being a means to raise awareness for the theatre company to being its own quickly growing art form. Fast forward through another season of shows in 2023 to the beginning of 2024. Leeana, the director I spoke of earlier, was back at the helm, and she asked me to help her lead auditions for what we hoped would be a long-term team.
This time our team had five cast members (including me) who had worked together before and five brand new cast members. During 2024 we had four weekends of sold out shows. Our final set of shows featured music from Lolo and Brad Montague! After each of our shows, people would ask "When are you auditioning new cast? I want to be a part of this!" I also found out that Jackson has the only Tennessee Improv Team west of Nashville. My wheels were spinning with thoughts of what could be.
In my hometown, Kansas City, I often went to Comedy Sportz, an Improv Club (the home base of SNL great and Ted Lasso himself, Jason Sudeikis!). Each time I went, there were different cast members and different types of shows offered. As you walked down the halls, you saw pictures of current and former cast members lining the walls. Now, as people continued to ask about Improv in Jackson, I could imagine something like Comedy Sportz. Why not us?
So, I called my friend Alex Russell, a new and excellent 2024 cast member, and asked him if he would be interested in helping me start a new team. With his enthusiastic, "YES!" we began planning our next round of auditions.
During planning, we jokingly called the new team, the "B" team or "Hub City Improv Junior," but when FOURTEEN people showed up to audition, we realized they were not a "B" or "Junior" team. Many of the auditionees had former experience in both Improv and theater, and all of them were witty, open and present with their scene partners. We went in thinking we might have a leg up with our small amount of experience, but this group, delightfully, blew our hair back and humbled us.
With that, I am pleased to announce that we have a second Improv Team in Jackson. This team will be opening the shows for the pre-existing Improv Team (that sounds like a disease, but I promise we are great) on March 7-8, and we would be SO honored and excited for you to come and see this talented and smart group of people.
What I see for the future of Improv in Jackson goes well beyond my own capacity. It requires time, finances, volunteers, lots of training, team leaders, directors and a lot of teamwork. I'm hopeful that this art form will continue to grow and become a major form of entertainment for West Tennessee and beyond.
