Offsides Improv (L to R): Richard Paul, Stephen Kadwell (Director and Co-Founder), Jenni McIntire, Greg Yates (Artistic Director and Co-Founder), Jamie Bridwell, Steve Sherrill (no longer with the group but probably still funny), Jose Rodriguez (Managing Director and Co-Founder). Not pictured: Ron WeaverOffsides Improv is a relatively new and unknown Orlando-based improv group that's already traveled to Miami, Atlanta and Gainesville representing Orlando in improv festivals, without even having a home venue in Orlando to call their own. I had the chance to speak with Stephen Kadwell, Director and Co-Founder, about the group, the improv scene (or lack thereof) in Orlando, and the group's move into sketch and online comedy.
The Daily City: What is Offsides improv?
Stephen Kadwell: We're an improv/sketch comedy group homed in Orlando. We love all things funny.
As far as the name goes I don't remember entirely how it came about. I know we threw a lot of things out there when we were getting organized - some were better than others. I like Offsides; though, because it sounds like it could mean something but doesn't have to.
The Daily City: How did it get started?
Stephen Kadwell: I was asked to do some improv at a Halloween party at a local church. Wanting to do the best show possible I asked Greg Yates and Jose Rodriguez to join me for the occasion. They were both in classes I was taking at SAK Comedy Lab in Orlando and we played well with each other. The show went well and we started discussing possibilities for other performances. That was back in 2004. Soon after we added Jenni McIntire who is by far one of the funnies females I know. She is severely underrated at other venues around town. I think almost every women who does improv is underrated. For some reason women have to be twice as funny as men to get noticed. Jenni is at least four times funnier than most men I know. Steve Sherrill rounded out the initial group though he isn't with us any more. He got married to something called Mona Vie which he swears isn't a pyramid scheme though we have our doubts. We now have Jamie Bridwell, Richard Paul, and Ron Weaver in our group as well. I serve as Director, Greg is our Artistic Director, and Jose is Managing Director - overall a pretty good arrangement.
The Daily City: Where do you perform?
Stephen Kadwell: So far wherever we can and whenever we can. Once a week we can be found in someone's living room work shopping with and enjoying each other. I wonder sometimes how much great art occurs behind closed doors. If Michelangelo were alive today would he have painted his own ceiling as an angst ridden teen working at McDonald's only to be promoted to manager just before he had enough to quit and try his art? I guess we'll never know.
We'd love to have a home; a more permanent home, we just haven't found one yet. Until then we are content to perform when and where we are requested.
The Daily City: What's the improv scene in Orlando like? What do you like/dislike?
Stephen Kadwell: First word that pops into my head is limited. I love the venue Orlando does have and think it's an awesome place but Orlando is, for the time being, a one horse town. This isn't a bad thing necessarily - they've earned the love and respect they now have - but there aren't many theatres available for improvisers. This is even more true now that Pleasure Island has closed. I've performed with Six Degree's as well who used to have a weekly gig at a coffee shop - Absent Minded Improv performs every Monday at Taste and I'm sure there are a couple other smaller troupes in town, but other than the occasional coffee shop and restaurant, there aren't many venues.
(The Orlando) Fringe festival is a great place to see some unique and potentially ground breaking stuff but that comes and goes so fast. Orlando is a strange town in that regard. On the one hand there are plenty of people around who would potentially enjoy your art but who are so busy making a living and performing their own stuff that it is hard to get them to come and on the other hand you've got the tourists who might not be interested in the same type of stuff. It's a tough row to hoe as they say. (they being my ancestors who farm)
I think Orlando could become another name in Improv and I hope it does. There are so many wonderful performers down here doing so many wonderful things. Many times we are doing those wonderful things in a monkey suit for a paycheck but there is still so much potential. I don't think being known as a tourist destination and being culturally and artistically interesting are mutually exclusive. Well maybe on International Drive.
The Daily City: Where do you see your group in five years?
Stephen Kadwell: I'm horrible with five year plans. Hopefully many of us have gone on to the careers that we should have. Everyone should know who Jenni and Greg are for instance. (if you haven't listened to Greg's Hero Iglesias you need to). People don't know what they are missing by not know who those two are.
I'd love to have a space. We've been toying with long-form improv really from our inception and have been performing it for a couple years now. We feel that what we have to offer could really complement what SAK does and what is already established in town. We're just looking for the right place and waiting for the right price (both the right offer and for us to have the funds to meet it)
I also want us to delve into sketch a bit more. We've got some stuff up on you-tube and we've got a lot more scribbled on napkins and on voice recorders. Check us out on youtube. That is a good example and you can find the others from there. I want to get more stuff up and experiment in that realm. Jenni, Greg and I have also written some scripts for a more episodic type thing that is mostly improvised. I'd like to get that on it's feet in some form as I think it's quite funny and has a lot of potential. Keeping in mind I'm not unbiased.
More than anything I think we'd like to establish ourselves as improvisers. We'd like to be a part of making Orlando a place that is synonymous with improv.
The Daily City: You gonna do Orlando Fringe in 2009?
Stephen Kadwell: We are not. I do think Fringe is in our future but we've dedicated the the funds we do have to other things right now. In the end I think the show we mount at Fringe will be better served by our present absence.
The Daily City: Didn't you do Miami Improv Festival? How was that experience?
Stephen Kadwell: We did! They've changed the Festival a bit this year and are bringing people down monthly and having mini-festivals all year, or rather the "festival" never really ends. Just-The-Funny has an amazing space in Miami and any troupe wanting to play down there should email David Christopher and let him know. David is someone who loves improv and improvisers. Our hosts were gracious and we had a good show. We were a little shaky at first but hit our stride pretty quickly. If you're interested you can watch it. We posted it so we could digitally submit to festivals as the video quality isn't the best. If you can forgive the grainy quality it's pretty good show. (incidentally we now know what a neutral density filter does)
Miami was actually our second festival as we had done Gainesville Improv Festival last year (2007). We learned a tremendous amount from GIF though that show wasn't our best. We are hoping to go back this year and kick a little ass.
We also just got back from Black Box Improv Festival in Atlanta. One of the biggest lessons we learned form that festival is to check the area we are going to and make sure there isn't a gas shortage. Our concierge called 15 gas stations with no luck one night. Luckily we were able to find some the day we were scheduled to leave and only had to wait in line 20 minutes to get it. Whew. BBIF was an interesting experience. Lots of fun but not as logistically savvy as GIF or MIF. We were introduced to some great groups up there as well and had a great workshop experience.
The Daily City: You wanna travel with the group to other festivals?
Stephen Kadwell: We do and we've been investing our money in this a bit. We really want to play at different festivals for a variety of reasons. We want to get the word out that we exist, sure, but we also want to expose ourselves to other types of improv. We love our improv heritage here in Central Florida but we realize there are other traditions and other ways of doing things. What and how we go about things differs from the other groups in town so we realize that other groups from other towns are going to differ even more. We never want to close ourselves off and think that we have discovered the be all and end all in improv theory or technique. As a whole there is a restlessness with Offsides that I really appreciate and am proud of. We aren't content with where we are. We want to be better. We see going to festivals as a part of obtaining that goal.
The Daily City: Finally, why y'all so funny?
Stephen Kadwell: I think the short answer is we like each other. I think that allows us to be funny as a group. We care for each other on stage, which helps more than some would think.
I think we are all individually funny as well which is harder to figure out. I think relationships are very important when it comes to humor. Much of what we find funny comes from what we've experienced. I think a good sense of humor is a gift initially - some people have it, some people don't. Some people develop a sense of humor as well and I think it's one of those things that needs to be fostered. Greg's wife Sara, though not an improviser, is a very funny person and is good at recognizing funny. Even though Greg is by nature funny his relationship with Sara helps keep his sense of humor sharp and alive. Some relationships we have, be they at work or at home, tend to drive the humor out of us. At the end of the day I would have to say funny is all about perspective and how you view the world. I think it's easy to be depressed by things and by people - it's harder to find the comedy sometimes but I think it's infinitely more rewarding. Who cares if the glass is half empty or half full - that water is a spit take waiting to happen.