Still Learning & Growing After All These Years

Mopco Improv Theatre in Schenectady, NY celebrating 30 years with local luminaries and company members

As The Mopco Improv Theatre recently celebrated 30 years, we’ve been reflecting on where we go next. It feels clear that the future of the company begins with opening up control, opportunities, and leadership to our ensemble.  So we’ve invited more members of the collective to take on leadership and shape what comes next.

New ideas are surfacing

Put simply, projects that sat quietly for years suddenly have champions. People are taking on roles with energy and joy.

This isn’t really surprising. We knew that the company was bursting with creative, skilled, committed folks. I have been surprised, though, by a couple of one-on-one conversations I’ve had that showed me how folks have already been taking care of each other behind the scenes in ways I was unaware of. Members surfaced concerns, needs, and possibilities I had completely missed. It reminded me how much wisdom lives in the team when we, as leaders, are open to hearing it.

At heart, these insights and opportunities, I realize, come from living offstage what we talk about onstage.

Some of the improv principles at play:

🎧 Listen deeply

— with an attitude and presence that allows others to feel comfortable making offers and sharing their authentic needs and vulnerabilities.

🌱 Serve the energy of the scene

— instead of steering it back to your own plan.

🤝 Make your partner look good

— by noticing not just what they’ve offered but what will delight them.

💡 Say yes to possibilities

— even when they arrive from unexpected places.

Leadership and feedback programs help because they are team practices. They grow stronger when more voices are invited in. We do not always succeed at practicing what we preach, but when we do, the rewards are immediately apparent.

I am excited for what is emerging at Mopco.

I am grateful for the people who keep saying yes to each other.

Here’s to the next 30 years!

The question is: where do you succeed at practicing what you preach? I’d love to know.