There are only three rules in improv: Be mentally present in the scene, always make your scene partner look good, and approach every scene with a "yes and..." mentality.
While each performer may have their own guidelines for the stage, Blue Door Theatre Board President Jim Mohr believes these three tenets are vital. Frankly, he says, anyone off-stage could benefit from these rules, too.
Having a "yes and..." mentality is conducive to everyday problem-solving. It makes someone think critically about a situation to find a solution that makes sense. Being present in the scene relies on a listening ear and effective communication. And ensuring that your partner looks good is really just everyday teamwork in disguise. As Mohr says, there are no stars in improv.
"A lot of the principles of improv you can use in everyday life," he says. "It just creates a more accepting, inclusive community."
The Blue Door Theatre, which moved to downtown Spokane at the beginning of this year, has been using these guidelines to build community for nearly 30 years. When the nonprofit improvisational theater opened in 1996 as Unexpected Productions: Spokane, it was known for weekly performances at a variety of venues around town.
Mohr, who's been working with the theater for nearly two decades now, says that it just kept growing, prompting a move to the Garland District in 2002. Once the group had its own space, it was able to do more regular performances and even add youth and adult classes to its repertoire. The BDT, as it's also known, was based in Garland for 20 years before outgrowing the space.
Today, the Blue Door Theatre is known for two types of performances. The first is what Mohr calls long-form improv, which is basically an hourlong show during which the players carry a specific theme throughout the night.
"So we have a show called 'No Clue' where the players have characters that are trapped on an island and then murders start happening," he explains. "They're creating a play right in front of your eyes, really."
The second type of show is more akin to Whose Line Is It Anyway? The fast-paced improv comedy relies on suggestions from the audience as the players try to make up a scene on the spot.
Additionally, the theater opened the Spokane School of Improv last year to increase the number of classes it could offer. In these sessions, instructors are able to focus on more specific elements of improv, such as character development or narrative scene work. They've even branched out into adjacent forms of the craft.
"Of course, we've got 'Intro to Improv,' but we've also expanded into other realms, where we have improv for lawyers, improv and self-care, improv and poetry. Oh, and musical improv," Mohr says, listing all the ways the craft can be adapted. "So we're branching out into more types of spaces."
The theater has even started a program at Airway Heights Correctional Center to teach improv to incarcerated individuals. Through that, Mohr says, they're teaching these folks about communication, self-esteem and how to build strong relationships.
While Blue Door's growth has been exciting, Mohr says it also caused a strain on its small Garland District space. The theater's new downtown Spokane location, inside the Benewah Creamery Co.'s historic milk bottle-shaped building, is more than three times larger.
"For a long time we could only do one thing in that theater at a time," he says. "If we had a class, it was a class. If there was a show, there was a show. Now we can run three classes at one time, or we could have a show here and a class in the back that won't interfere with each other."
The new space includes two theaters, multiple classrooms and even a gallery space to showcase local visual artists. Mohr says the move was also enticing because the theater is now centrally located.
"We try to be supportive of those who don't have a place to perform in town, so this location provided an easier space to do that," he says.
Though a larger space is vital to the Blue Door's future, there've been a few unforeseen challenges preventing the theater from actually using it. These issues are mainly focused on safety and accessibility. For example, Mohr says they need to remove a garage door in one of the theater spaces and replace it with a fire escape door.
"We're an all-volunteer organization," he says. "None of us do this for a living or run any business, so these unexpected things came up that are going to take longer than anticipated."
The theater also needs to create a safer path from its parking lot on the building's south side. Currently, someone using a wheelchair needs to maneuver up the driveway where cars enter to get onto the sidewalk.
Barring any further hiccups, Mohr believes the theater will reopen its doors to the community by mid-October. In the meantime, the Blue Door players have been performing at guest venues around town, including Lumberbeard Brewing and the Grain Shed Cedar Taproom.
"We love this space," he says. "We just want to create another place in Spokane where artists can be themselves, or where they can find themselves in community with other artists, no matter what."♦