History of Laughing Gas Improv
Laughing Gas, South Florida's premiere comedy improvisational theatre troupe, is now in its nineteenth season! Not bad for a group of actors who started out without money, publicity, or even a theatre to call their own.
Let's get this out of the way up front: improv is an accident. It was never meant to be new performance artthat just sorta happened. Improv was really just intended to make actors better actors. Almost half a century ago, a Chicago director named was looking for a technique to make actors more spontaneous, to force them to connect with each other. What she stumbled on was improvisation. If the actor had no script, she reasoned, the actor wouldn't be able to plan ahead, so the performance would be fresh and real. And the only way for the actor to survive in the improv is to actually pay attention to the other actors' emotions and behavior! It offered a ready antidote to the overly internal acting techniques coming out of New York's Actor's Studio.
Spolin's system caught on, and in the late 1940's, some of her students noticed something. Improv was entertaining. Improv was funny! Maybe people would pay money to see it! And so The Compass Players, the first modern improvisational theatre company, was born. They devised the model that improv troupes have used ever sincethe actors would take random suggestions from the audience to create absolutely unique shows every night. The original Compass Players broke up and several Compass troupes sprang up in various cities as the players spread the gospel of improvisation. In Chicago this evolved into something known as The Second City, the improv and sketch comedy theatre with operations in Chicago, Toronto and elsewhere, that spawned two generations of comedic talent including Stiller and Meara, Alan Arkin, Mike Nichols, Barbara Harris, Robert Klein, John and Jim Belushi, John Candy, Gilda Radner, Tim Farley, Mike Myers and many more. Soon, improv companies sprang up all over the world (click here for an interactive directory of other improv companies around the country).
And in a little town called Miami, actor/director Sandy Mielke founded a troupe called Mental Floss in 1986. It thrived for six years and even had its own theatre in the heart of Coconut Grove until Hurricane Andrew brought it to a suitably cataclysmic end. The audience stopped coming (having things like fresh water, food and shelter on their minds rather than light entertainment), so, unable to cover the rent, the old company folded. Thus, in 1992, several ex-Mental Flossers took it upon themselves to found a new company, which came to be known as Laughing Gas. Now headed by Gerald Owens, it was (and remains) a vagabond troupe, renting other companies' theatres, but it has lasted a staggering nineteen years. For ten years, Laughing Gas made its home at the critically acclaimed New Theatre in Coral Gables, before moving to our new home in Miami Lakes at the newly-completed Main Street Playhouse in the heart of the Main Street entertainment district.
Unlike many other area improv companies, Laughing Gas performers are mostly professional actors and comedians who also work in live theatre, television, feature films, commercials and industrial films, and several are stand-up comedians as well. The troupe is committed to presenting interactive entertainment that is both intelligent and profoundly silly. Many members are also active in Miami's busy independent film scene.
Laughing Gas has appeared at and The New York Comedy Club in Boca Raton, at The Burt Reynolds Theatre in Tequesta, aboard the cruise ship M.S. Discovery Sun in the Bermuda Triangle, at The Improvisation Comedy Club in Coconut Grove and in Hollywood, as well as Coconut's Comedy Club in North Miami and Coconut Grove. Our meanderings also took us to the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, the New Theatre in Coral Gables, the PGA Golf Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, the Cuillo Centre in West Palm Beach, and the Opus Playhouse, Majestic Glades Theatre, and City Center in Coral Springs, as well as the Country Club of Coral Gables, The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach and the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach.
Our previous college bookings include the University of Miami, Miami-Dade Community College, and Florida Atlantic University. The troupe has produced many private shows for professional organizations and youth groups. Corporate bookings have included Stanley Tool, Boston Scientific, ADP TotalSource and the SC Johnson Company. Click here for more information on private performances. Laughing Gas also offers professional-level workshops in improvisational acting.
Laughing Gas performers have assisted humorist Dave Barry in four charity fundraisers for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Miami. They have also appeared without charge at events sponsored by Gilda's Club, The Arts and Business Council in Miami Beach, Kids in Distress in Hollywood, and Center One in Pembroke Pines.
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