From the basement of his childhood home, where he would perform on the stage his grandfather built for him, to founder of Atlanta’s Basement Theatre—one of the top improv theaters in the Southeast—performer and teacher Jstar has had a considerable 20-plus year career. Here, he talks about the critical role improv plays in acting, why “The Office” has made casting directors seek actors with an improv background, and what the future holds for The Basement Theatre.
Tell us about the Basement Theatre.
I opened the theater to be on stage! Shows are Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm and 10 pm. For the 8 pm show the audience throws out scenarios—it’s called “Short Form Game” improv. The actors get a suggestion for each scene and either do it alphabetically or in rhyme, or they do it while someone changes the emotions on them. Every scene is its own little thing. The 10 pm show is “Chicago Style” improv. They get one or several suggestions at the beginning and craft a whole story off of that. They don’t break it up into individual scenes, it’s more like one long story.
My colleague Dave Hammock and I teach the classes. The workshops are Monday through Wednesday. Classes are eight weeks, then the students graduate and put on a show.
How do you teach improv?
Improv is like a sport. It’s like going to baseball practice. You learn how to play the game, you practice, you run drills, you don’t know how the game is going to turn out, you don’t know what the other team is going to do, but you know all the moves that you can make and it will be a different game every time. You learn the rules and skills. That’s how I teach it.
How does improv help an actor?
It’s huge. And now more than ever I get so many calls from casting directors looking specifically for people who can do improv because they know that an improv person is going to be ready for anything. They know they can get into a character and deal with it whether they have a script or not. I get calls for everything, all kinds of crazy stuff. I just had a game show call looking for fun people who are quick on their feet, improv, nothing scripted, just looking for that skill set. It’s become huge in the industry. It has a lot to do with shows like “The Office.” “The Office” is all improv people. “Parks and Recreation” is all improv people. Most of them started out at ImprovOlympic (iO) in Chicago, which is where I also studied. This is what people want, it has a natural, honest approach. It affects the actors really well because they learn to just go with anything, there’s nothing that can trip them up.
Is there timing involved in improv? I mean how can you teach timing for something that is improvised?
You learn natural timing. Learn putting the timing in your bones as opposed to in a script.
Is there a delivery that comes along with that? Like in comedy, it's so much about your delivery?
That’s more like standup and how to deliver a joke. But in improv we don’t tell jokes, we act. And what we also do is deliver the truth of society. Like in the 1500s when commedia dell’arte started, traveling bands of improv actors would go to the towns and get information from the butcher and the baker, and that night perform based on those stories. They were holding a mirror up to society. So we have to be truthful and honest to our characters today—what they would really do, what would really happen. And that makes the audience laugh harder. We always say even if you’re playing a terrible character you have to play it from his or her point of view. They think they’re doing the right thing—but keep it that their point of view is demented. We can’t play these characters as a joke or it will come across as fake and therefore not funny.
How is the Basement Theatre is starting to get its name out there?
We just were on VH1’s “Atlanta Exes.” They filmed three episodes here. Kevin Hart’s ex-wife, Torrei, is trying to make it in Atlanta in entertainment and comedy, and took classes here and put on a show. The more the industry builds up here the more it will happen. I need it to be more proactive.
They actually called me for the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” to come here. They haven’t come yet, but they asked if I’d be willing to have them come and see a show. And we’ve been trying to produce a reality show here—behind the scenes, what goes into making up stuff on stage, and how we interact. We've gotten close several times. One day it will happen. But right now I'm concentrating on finding a new location. We need more space!
What do you see for yourself and the Basement Theatre?
At iO in Chicago, Lorne Michaels comes to shows and watches and listens to what [owner] Charna Halpern says. She’ll tell him she has people she wants him to see. I want to be that for Atlanta. I want The Basement Theatre to be the place where agents come to look for talent.
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