This interview was a little different than the others, because we ended up talking a lot about what it’s like to run the business of a small improv theater. I really like how Lillie talks about her performers. It’s obvious that she has a lot of respect for her performers and trusts them in ways that not all improv directors do. It’s not surprising that several years after she first held auditions, seventeen of her first hires still work for her.

It’s been years since we’ve seen each other, but we still have a very strong connection. Lillie and I had similar sensibilities and even more similar ambitions. We both wanted to run our own theatres, we both loved improv and we were both frustrated by ImprovOlympic. Don’t get me wrong, it was a wonderful place to learn and grow as performers. It was the kind of frustration you feel when you love something and feel it could be even better if only you were in charge. A feeling that many, many performers have felt over the years as they passed through iO.

In a way, I got my chance to run a theatre in New York for the UCB, at least for a little while, and Lillie is getting her chance now. Last year she bought the Chicago Comedy Company, both it’s corporate improv wing and it’s theatre in Schaumburg. Although she has been running the place for a year now, and rebranded the theatre as the Laugh Out Loud Theater on January 1st, her official opening is just now happening on June 13th.

It’s interesting to see the different choices that she made. Instead of a small ensemble, she cast a big one. She has around 20 performers that rotate into the show (only 4 do each show). Her shows are short form rather than long form. Although the shows are doing well, the financial engine of the company will likely be the corporate shows and workshops they will be doing.

She is fulfilling a dream that I share, to run my own theatre. And even though she shares many of the same values as I do about performing, her theatre looks very different from the one I would start. I would focus on long form, rather than short form. I’d probably want lots of different ensembles and/or shows, not just the one consistent show. And the very last component I would add to my theatre would be a corporate outreach. It’s the part of the improv theatre business that I’ve liked the least, teaching workshops and doing shows for companies.

There are lots of little differences between us, but I still feel like we are peas in a pod when we are together. It’s funny too, because between her husband and her, they share almost all my major interests in life. After chatting with her all day about improv, I spent nearly all night talking to Scott about the internet and Second Life and other geeky topics. I think if I could pick a couple to be a permanent third wheel to, it would be them. I’d only need a break from them to go play poker every once in a while.