Spotlight on Brian McManus

Brian McManus is a regular performer at Denver’s Impulse Theater. He spent five years in New York studying improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade, the People's Improv Theater, Armando Diaz and more. Over the last 15 years he has performed in more than 1500 shows and continues to perform weekly with Impulse Theater. In addition to teaching classes at the Bovine and directing various community groups, Brian has provided customized workshops for the Colorado Improv Festival, Colorado High School Thespian Conference, the Young Actors Institute and others. For the past two years he has been directing improv at Lakewood High School and Smoky Hill High School, working with students to put together improv shows performed at the school.

How were you first introduced to improvisation?

I was in college studying journalism and trying to stay away from theater (I was done with all that). One day I decided to just poke my head in and check out the theater building and taped to the front door was a crayon-drawn poster of two crude figures standing next to each other asking “Do you want to meet your alter-ego?” and giving details for a meeting time and place. I had no idea what improv was, but I wanted to meet my alter-ego for sure. This was the first meeting of the group that became the Lords of Misrule – a group that performed pretty regularly together for more than 10 years. And of course, I ended up getting a degree in Theater. Journa-what?

How did the group Lords of Misrule originate?

The two guys who started it had tried to start an improv group several other times and for whatever reason, this iteration stuck. When I think of the faces around the circle during the first few meetings, it’s remarkable how many of them played a major role in my life over the next decade (including my future wife). The thing I appreciate about the groups origin is that we were autonomous and self taught. We used Keith Johnstone’s IMPRO as our bible and pulled in acting exercises to supplement what we were getting from Johnstone. Arbitrating our own training forced us to respect group dynamics and strengthened our core – we relied on each other to keep moving forward, rather than an outside source like a director, or coach.

But I would say the more definitive group was born a couple years in when we discovered long form. The group attended the Big Stinkin International Improv Festival II in Austin in 1997. We did a short-formish game that we made up called “Impossible Mission” which lived up to its name. It was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had on stage and it forced us to reevaluate what we were doing and why. While there we saw groups doing long form and everyone’s eyes lit up. Seeing improv without the strict short form sturctures attached to it really cracked our minds open. Our transition from short to long form was, for some reason, a dark time for the group. We became very serious about it all and we lost several (great) people who were like, “Dude, this is supposed to be fun.” But we came out the other side doing some amazing, different stuff.

What was the group's objective and experience in NYC?

That would have been a great question for us to ask the group before we moved. I think our moving there was more a sense of following each other, following the family. The group was bolstered by the chance to play frequently at the newly opened Bovine Metropolis Theater. Sara Alan and Perry Daniel (Ladies of Misrule) were performing with Impulse regularly and the 3 of us lived within a few blocks of each other on Capitol Hill. The Denver improv scene was so easy and fun; it created a sense that we should try our luck in a bigger city. One of the guys that started the Lords was already living in NYC. I had just started dating Sara and she told me on the phone one day that she and Perry were moving to NYC. I was like, “uh, yeah…me too.” Five of us moved in together into a 3 story brownstone in Brooklyn – there had been talk of a Lords House for a long time. I suppose our goal was to find somewhere to perform regularly so we rehearsed in our living room and started booking shows anywhere that would have us. The main place that would have us was called ‘Above Kleptomania,’ a theater on the second floor of a peep show place in Times Square. And by theater I mean a small room that was used for strip dancing before Giulani’s Disney-fication of Times Square. The room hosted a double homicide in the late 80’s and was replete with mirrorred walls and some pretty cool stains. It was only moderately satisfying so we started writing more and put together a couple sketch shows that were for the most part pretty mediocre. So we were getting on stage with fair frequency but there was some dissension on how useful/meaningful that was. After 18 months of that, we started straying towards our greater strengths. Sara and Matt focused more on writing, Perry delved into other types of theater, and I started taking classes at UCB and the PIT. For me, that’s when things really started ramping up.

Over the next 3 years I was in 15-20 different groups that sometimes wouldn’t even last long enough to hold their first show. After 7 years with the Lords, it was crazy looking into people eyes on stage and not knowing what they were going to do. Eventually, I settled into a couple groups that I was a part of for a while - a house team at the PIT and another rogue group that did stuff anywhere (including CBGBs). By the time we left I had completed all the formal training at UCB and the PIT and was performing 3-4 nights a week at the PIT. The last year or so my focus during classes shifted to how improv was being taught. My notes shift from talking about what I got out of each exercise to how exercises were introduced and what they were for, different teaching styles, and methods of elucidating good improv. So, though not exactly what I set out to do, I basically spent my time there studying improv.

How would you describe the vibe of the different improv theaters in New York (Magnet Theater, People's Improv Theater, and Upright Citizen's Brigade)?

While I was there, UCB went from being your standard improv traning center to a talent farm for NBC. This transition caused a more competitive edge to develop at the theater. Good for increased quality in material and performances, bad for building community. I’m more of a community person, so I headed over to the PIT. The PIT was similar to the Bovine in terms of fostering the improv community, giving people a chance to perform and get their chops up. It was lead by Armando Diaz and Ali Faranakian - they had a solid training program and great instructors to back it up and they were consciously working to create the kind of Improv family that UCB had lost. After a year or two, Armando Diaz split off and started the Magnet. The Magnet felt more experimental to me. The shows there seemed more avant garde than what was on stage at by UCB and the PIT. It hadn’t been open that long when I left but I have the sense that it’s now a staple of the scene there as much as either of the other two.

Where do you get inspiration for your characters?

I’m emotionally driven into characters. Often times, I develop a strong general emotion before anyone speaks and let that drive my reactions. If I’m entering a scene I’ll look for characters that can fill the gaps and build off what’s already on stage. I wish I was stronger at physically manifesting characters – it’s fun when those work out.

You perform long form as well as short form at the Impulse Theater. Does your approach to both forms vary?

The two go hand in hand. Sometimes when the wheels come off duing a short game it heads very quickly towards long form, usually because relationships in the scene commandeer the structure of the game. But in the super short games like spelling bee, or arms expert, I go in with more abandon. You don’t have to maintain your character or their reality for more than 2 minutes and if it sucks, it’s over soon. I think you can still play with abandon in long form, but it can’t be as reckless. You’re more accountable for your choices and that slows things down for me. Impulse is a blend of both. You go from Spelling Bee, which couldn’t be gamier, to Three-Act-Play with theatrical entrances and exits (as opposed to sweep edits). I call it schlong form.