When Jessica Silas started taking classes at the Improv Shop two years ago, she realized all the improv groups around her were predominantly white. But soon, that reality will be no more.
Silas’ new all-Black improv team, Some Black People, will be making its big debut Saturday, January 20, at the Improv Shop (3960 Chouteau Avenue, theimprovshop.com) at 8 p.m. With its creation, she hopes to show that improv can be for anyone and that comics’ differences only make the humor better.
“I want people to see, first of all, that improv is really fun and entertaining,” she says. “And second of all, that diversity is important. It's really good to feel represented and see yourself on stage.”
It took about four months for Silas to pull the group together after first getting the inkling that she’d like to be on stage herself.
“[Improv is] not super male dominated, but it's like a male thing for the most part,” Silas says. “One night I went to a show, and I saw an all-female team called Toxic, and it really lit my fire because I was just taking the classes for fun. But once I saw the all-female team, that inspired me to perform.”
When it was her turn to come up with a team, she wanted to create her own version of Toxic to help inspire a more diverse atmosphere at the Improv Shop.
“But there wasn’t a lot of interest in improv, I don't think, from a lot of Black people,” she explains. “So I just kept going to the shop, and when I would see Black people in shows, I would introduce myself to them. Once I found about six people, we started hanging out and decided to make a team.”
Some Black People specializes in long-form improv that brings together what each individual learned at the Improv Shop.
“We have a lot of pause moments and emotional connections,” Silas says. “You'll see a lot of scenes between husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, mothers and sons. You know, a lot of high emotional connections with humor and realism kind of mixed in. So it's really not what people expect. It's a lot of fun.”
The group’s main goal is to make the crowd laugh, but Silas hopes viewers see the importance of differences between people.
“With this team, we really want to show that when you do have different communities involved within one larger community, you get different things, and that’s really beautiful,” she says. “That little bit of shared culture can make for something really magical.”
Tickets are $12 and can be purchased on the Improv Shop’s website.
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