Open improv jams are tricky. Despite the very good intentions, they can be more frustrating than helpful.
The good side: All are welcome! They’re generally free! You gain experience on a stage!
The (potential) bad: People with vastly different experience levels do not understand each, other resulting in a lot of hurt feelings and demoralized players!
Ask people their worse ever experience on an improv stage and MANY of the tales you hear will be from a jam.
Essential: Good players running it
Number one essential to even have a chance of a good jam: seasoned players running it, who can keep any bad play reined in.
Let’s shout out all the people who run a good open jam. It’s hard work and it can do the community a ton of good. Even if the jam is not well attended, just seeing it on the schedule can make an improv school feel friendly. And if the hosts bring the right positive energy, you can assure new people that improv stages are a safe place to be.
Ideally: the same people run it each week. Lots of people come to a jam and don’t even put their names in the bucket the first week; they just want to see how it works. If those folks come back, it’s nice for them to see the same people running it.
Themed Jams
An interesting alternative to open jams are jams with a very small amount of pre-selection. Let’s call them themed jams.
The most well known of these address a demographic: jams for women and female-identifying improviser, jams for POC improvisers, jams for Asian improvisers.
Cooperation is often much higher in these jams than open jams. Sometimes these jams will be more well attended than your house improv shows.
I would pitch that you could also theme the jams for categories besides just demographic categories. Perhaps:
Jams for people with two levels or less
Jams for people with four levels or more
You have to have taken at least a few classes from the school that is hosting the jams. This would not be to force people to take classes but to make sure the people jamming have some shared knowledge.
If you’re community isn’t big enough to segment this much. Maybe schedule SECTIONS of one jam to be for: beginners, intermediate, advanced. “Let’s get just people who have taken only one class up here.”
Drop-Ins
A great alternative to jams are cheap drop-ins. Everyone pays a small amount — like $10. A seasoned teacher leads a series of short exercises with minimal notes. I think there’s way more to be learned in this environment.
Level “Zero” Workshops
Rather than an open jam, maybe some level “zero” workshops, which are meant to be introductions for improv classes. People can come learn a few warm-ups and simple exercises. Priced as cheaply as you can (which means a new teacher who’s willing to work for a lower rate).
“Blender” Teams
At my school we do “blender” teams, where we pre-approve some seasoned people to be in a mash-up pool, then mix up them up into teams that do shows. You might not know everyone in your group, but you know they’re gonna be solid players. These shows are some of the most fun ones that we host!
Yoga School Model
I predict improv schools are moving to a yoga school model. It’s going to be less about ‘levels’ and more sessions that are aimed at difficulty level. You don’t (usually) take “level 3” yoga. You go to a yoga workout aimed at a certain difficulty level. You pay for them a la carte, or in a batch at a discount.
Improv schools will start to sell classes in that manner. You subscribe, like to a Patreon, and attend whatever drop-in session is the difficulty level you want.
Plugs, Ongoing
High Functioning - Ian Roberts and I do an hour of improv EVERY SATURDAY 7pm at the UCB Annex. See this video for Ian and I showing you where the UCB Annex is.
Screw It, We’re Just Gonna Talk About Comics - Comic book podcast, hosted by my brother Kevin and I. We are going over some John Byrne-created issues of Fantastic Four from the 1980s.
Clubhouse Fridays - WGIS’ weekly improv show. Fridays 7pm at The Clubhouse. Free!
The World’s Greatest Improv School: The improv school I run with Jim Woods and Sarah Claspell. We’ve got classes online, in LA and even a few in NYC!
How to Be The Greatest Improviser On Earth - My improv book, available at Amazon. Kindle or print. It’s a hodge-podge of advice I wrote in 2016 about doing improv. If you’re broke and want a free PDF version just email me and I’ll send it over.