Off The Top - improv troupe

Members Alumni History Resources

The backstory: Dan,Drew,Geoff,Kam,and Vince all met at Carnegie Mellon, as members of the No Parking Players improv troupe. Around December 1999, Dan, Drew, Geoff, Kam toyed with the idea of forming a sketch/improv troupe "Improv Ninjas". But nothing serious ever came out of the idea... By around November 2000, most of the guys had left the troupe, for various reasons. When Geoff finally left, it only took a couple of weeks without improv before he finally decided to actually form the new troupe. The guys had kept in touch, and improv was always at the heart of their friendship. He held some auditions, and our troupe was formed January 28th, 2001. The original seven members were: Geoff Plitt, Dan Zapp, Drew Pavelchak, Vince Giarnella, Joe Hocking, David Camillus, and Jason Boxerman. Off The Top rehearsed and performed for three great semesters of growth and artistic exploration, and on May 2, 2002, we strengthened our position at CMU by being recognized as an organization. The rest is history. The philosophy: Knowledge of good improv techniques and improv/acting theory separate the good, the bad, and the ugly in improv. We heavily use the techniques of Keith Johnstone, Del Close, Viola Spolin, and other improvisors, and we strongly encourage anyone interested in improv to read their books. They don't just change your approach to improv; they will change the way you see the world. A scene must not be about accomplishing a task, making funny jokes, or being "wacky". You will honestly not be funny and the audience will be bored. A scene is about relationship; this doesn't mean one actor says "hi dad" and the other actor says "hi son". Relationship is how you feel about each other. Find this as early as you can in your scenes, and commit to your choice. Deliver humor with a straight face, or the audience won't buy it. Practice makes perfect, or at least it helps a lot. Our focus is on the benefits of using exercises that build the underlying skills used for good improv. We treat our shows as showcases for what we've come up with in practice, rather than treating practice as a way to make our shows better.