Hobnob’s monthly improv night an encouraging community
The show at Hobnob Theatre Company Friday night, Feb. 7, appeared to be completely unrehearsed — actors were breaking character, the hosts’ monologues overlapped with one another, and people in the audience yelled to the cast throughout.
The chaotic ensemble of rotating “players” still had everyone laughing in the black box theater on Butler’s Main Street — many people even laughing at themselves. Being unrehearsed was the point. For a year now, Hobnob has hosted First Fridays Improv, an improvisational jam night where everyone is encouraged to play along in the comedy “games” or give suggestions on what the players should do next.
The environment at First Fridays Improv is slapdash, but supportive, making the monthly tradition a good place for people to stretch their comedic muscles, or dip their toe into acting and comedy, said Daniel Williams, who hosts some of the improv nights.
“I think for a lot of people it has been a really liberating thing,” Williams said. “You enjoy playing the games. You laugh at yourself. You laugh at other people. It's all cheers and clapping and really encouraging as an environment. That's why we've sold out every night for the past six months.”
Hobnob Theatre Company commemorated one year of First Fridays Improv on Feb. 7, having started the monthly tradition in an effort to provide more theatrical opportunities to people in the Butler area. Ken Smith, one of the founders of Hobnob Theatre, said Butler Little Theatre used to host improv nights, but it has not been having them in recent years.
Smith said while he initially had hoped about 15 people would attend improv at the theater regularly, the theater would typically be full with about 40 people the first Friday of each month, which was better for entertainment value, as well as the communal aspect of the event.
Seeing people get up and participate in the games themselves was an even better reward for Smith, he said.
“There's quite a few people who get up, which is great. We didn't know how that would go,” Smith said. “We're glad that as many people come and are participating and not everyone just comes and sits and watches.”
Smith said improv is appealing for the same reason that it scares people — players are in front of a crowd with no script, no director and have to rely on quick thinking to create a story and get laughs.
While the players have nothing but their wits to use to make an entertaining performance, improv hosts suggest games for them to play, and the audience will usually give suggestions on what to do.
Smith said the 1988 game show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” is a good example of improv for those who have never been to a live show before, but the organizers of Hobnob’s events also help people get acquainted with the concept.
Smith explained some of the games he and the hosts use to put players in a comedic tone, which usually involves putting them into unusual scenarios. Williams and Laura Crago, who normally take turns hosting improv nights, but cohosted on Friday, choose the games the players participate in throughout each month’s event.
“I try to describe a couple of the games. You have to accomplish something like explain why you're late for work. In a lot of the games, it's like one person doesn't know what's going on, they have to figure it out,” Smith said. “Everyone knows what charades is, you're trying to act something out and someone has to guess.”
Each First Fridays Improv usually starts off with a warmup game; one that demonstrates several aspects of improv at once, like the dating game or quirk party. The host normally picks regulars to play. Other games involve little to no acting and can be played by almost everyone.
“’The dating game” is like three people and they all have unique characteristics, and you have to guess who they are,” Smith said. “Or ‘party quirks,’ it's the same thing, everyone comes to a party and they each have quirks. ‘Dr. Know-It-All,’ everyone says one word, it's really accessible.”
Other games in Hobnob’s regular rotation include “what are you doing?” in which a player performs an action, is asked by the next player what they are doing before saying an action which that player has to do; and “living props” in which two players become objects for other people to use in a sketch.
Angel Rosen, of Armstrong County, has become a regular attendee of Hobnob improv, but didn’t play in games there until a few months after going to the first show in 2024. A writer of poetry, Rosen said she also enjoys comedy and wanted to find ways to get better at performing, which started by getting her out of her comfort zone.
“The first night I came here I was like, 'This is something I want to be able to do.' Get out of my comfort zone,” Rosen said. “I joined a musical after this — they gave me the confidence to do that.”
By attending First Fridays Improv, Rosen said she has become better at being confident, and now regularly gets up to play games there. However, she avoids “survivor,” a game where four players play out a scene, and one at a time, they are eliminated until one player has to act out all four roles.
“I always do Dr. Know-It-All, and I like watching other people do survivor,” Rosen said. “I would never want to do that one.”
The black box theater that makes up Hobnob’s home studio turned out to be a great place for improv, because of the intimacy of the space. Smith said that with no real stage and the seating arrangement of theater in the round helps take the pressure off people who want to try improv without any experience.
“If you're getting up in front of 20 or 30 people, people are more likely to get involved because they don't feel like they're up in front of a lot of people,” Smith said. “People like audience participation, that's good, people want to come and feel like they're part of the show.”
Elizabeth Smith, one of the founders of Hobnob Theatre and Ken’s wife, said First Fridays Improv has helped expose the theater to more people, and expose more people to the art of improvisation. She said she didn’t expect it to take off as much as it has.
“It is amazing to see the growth,” Elizabeth Smith said. “There are staples who come here because this is their community.
“It has obviously been a need and we're glad to fulfill it.”
The number of people who attend improv nights at Hobnob and have never acted before also surprised the Smiths, who each said the response has been exciting. Ken Smith said it is nice when he sees a person get out of their seat for a game for the first time after attending an improv night once or twice before.
Smith said he has hopes that the monthly event encourages more people to try acting in Hobnob’s productions in the future.
“It's a good exercise for performance in general,” Ken Smith said. “People that may not be very good at acting, improv comes very natural to them.”
As one of the hosts of First Fridays Improv, Williams gets to express his own humor, while also helping people find their funny bones. Whether people attend to play games, or watch others get up, Williams said the improv environment is good for a laugh.
“That's a lot of what they're trying to do wit Hobnob right now, get as many people as possible involved in different things,” Williams said. “If you just want to come up on stage, just come have a laugh, play some silly games, we give you the directions you need. It is an awful lot of fun.”
First Fridays Improv takes place at 7:30 p.m. the first Friday of each month at Hobnob Theatre Company, 134 South Main Street in Butler. Tickets are $5 per night, and are available on Hobnob’s website, hobnobtheatre.com.
