Darren Held is the founder of Held2Gether (Improv For Life). The group conducts improv comedy classes, presents short and long form improv comedy performances and even does training and workshops for corporate clients. On Friday, August 16, they’re presenting Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, a long form improv comedy show at the Long Beach Playhouse.
Held studied acting at New York University and performed in theatrical productions on the East Coast. In the late ’90’s, he moved to California to pursue work in film and television.
“I landed an agent, and the first thing he said to me was, ‘take improv classes!’ I signed up at the Groundlings in Hollywood. I fell in love immediately. Not only was it fun, but the techniques I was learning were so applicable to other parts of life – risk taking, listening, thinking out of the box. I got obsessed.
“Their approach, much of which I have adopted, is one of creating relationships in a scene. Since it’s a 3 minute scene, the players need to make this an important day and get to it quickly – is this the day the McDonald’s fry guy confesses his love for his manager? If it’s two guys fishing, it can start out slice of life – but then there needs to be a big “what” – a confession, an emotional shift, a huge piece of news.
“They really stress creating big characters with strong points of view. What I love about that approach is that it’s universal – the audience can relate to the characters on stage. They may be over the top, but they laugh because they know someone like those people, or can relate to the ups and downs of all kinds of human relationships. They’re definitely more about creating the relationship of the characters, rather than going for a quick one liner.
“It’s a real juggling act. You’re making everything up, agreeing with your partner’s information, and then choosing to push the story forward emotionally and resolve it in 3 minutes. Truly an art form when it’s done well.”
The training proved valuable to Held, but perhaps not in the way he expected.
“It helped tremendously in my auditions, and in my personal and business life outside of acting. It’s a viciously competitive business. I landed a few small parts here and there. I did some commercials, TV movies, and indie films. After a while I tired of auditioning against hundreds of others for roles that weren’t filling me creatively. You have to really want it, and have the patience of Job to make it it in the industry. I tip my hat to those who stick it out. I found my pure love in improv so, eventually, I chose to focus my efforts there.”
Over the next five years, Held went through the entire Groundlings program but, since he lived in Long Beach, decided that it would be great if he could create a local improv class.
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“I decided to teach a class, for fun, through the LB Parks & Recreation Department. It was 2008, and the recession had just hit, so I didn’t expect much. It filled up and people loved it. They needed a reason to laugh. Some were actors, but most were just regular folks. It was a very diverse group. There were many from Long Beach, and Orange County, that always wanted to try improv, and were grateful not to have to drive to L.A. to do so.”
With the success of the introductory improv class, the students who’d taken it wanted to progress, so an advanced class was created. Some advanced students became so good that, in 2010, Held saw an opportunity to create a professional troupe.
“There are actually two troupes: The Main Company and the Friday troupe. The Main Company has had most of it’s members since the inception, and the Friday troupe is up and comers, although the talent is pretty even across the board. They are all former and current students and most of them were not performers when they started taking improv. We have accountants, parole officers, pharmacists…you name it.
“I am so proud to see them consistently create this magic in front of an audience, when they never saw themselves in that light. They’re extremely diverse and talented. The Main Company performs monthly at Hot Java, and the Friday Company performs on the first Friday at various locations.
“After doing workshops for specialty groups – recovering addicts, autistic kids, and corporations – I realized the power improv has, and how anyone can benefit from it. In 2011 I developed Held2gether as a business, with the concept ‘Improv for Life,’ because it’s not just for performers anymore!”
Held2Gether was hired by the TV show ‘Tabatha Takes Over’ to facilitate a team building workshop for a struggling local business.
“They role played and really became enlightened when they saw how they were portrayed. We also helped them learn some positive reinforcement techniques using the ‘yes, and’ philosophy of improv. It was an amazing experience! Tabatha was fantastic, and it’s helped open us up to helping other businesses.
“Often, people mistakenly assume that improv is all about being clever and witty, but it’s truly about listening and communication. The core philosophy is ‘Yes, And.’ You say ‘Yes’ to whatever is thrown your way, and add information to it. You are so dependent on what you’re receiving, you have a heightened state of presence that’s very rare in this day and age. When you can learn to be present, you can silence your mind and be in the moment with others, with your situation, with your challenges.
“Improv encourages making big, bold commitment – huge choices in the moment that might make you look silly. Silly’s ok in improv. Everyone survives. So it’s huge in overcoming fears. Many people take classes to overcome fears of shyness and public speaking.”
One of the key components of a successful comedy improv performance is audience participation.
“We wouldn’t have a show without their input. When an improv show begins, the host asks the audience for a suggestion. It could be a title, genre, location, object, special event, song, or anything. The audience is then encouraged to shout out as many suggestions as possible, and one is taken to influence the next scene. At the very least, the audience’s creativity is the trigger for each scene. At other times, audience members are chosen as volunteers to add to another scene as well. And there is certainly a very symbiotic relationship between the audience and the performers. They feed off of each other’s energy.”
Many people have seen short form comedy improv on TV, but Friday’s performance is different.
“This is a specialty show for us. It’s long form improv. A couple of times a year we do this format, and they are usually our biggest and most popular shows. It’s based on the ‘Clap-In’ technique, created by Holly Mandel of the Groundlings. The audience gives suggestions for three unconnected opening scenes. After the performers create those scenes, they clap in’ and create several dozen other scenes based on those three. They go forward and backward in time, weave story lines together and heighten a plot for 30 minutes. It’s essentially an unscripted 30 minute soap opera. Then it’s repeated again with a twist after intermission.
“Another thing that’s special about this show is the thrust stage in Long Beach Playhouse. The audience nearly surrounds the performers. The performers will be playing to three sides of the stage, and that will make for some fun stage pictures.”
Horseshoes & Hand Grenades starts at 8PM. Ticket and other information can be found at Held2Gether.com. For information about other performances at the Long Beach Playhouse, visit LBPlayhouse.org.
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