We recently connected with The Hotspurs! and have shared our conversation below.

The Hotspurs, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

As a group, we all come from various levels of experience and exposure to improv and theatre as an art. Some of us went to school and pursued a degree in the theatrical arts, others did it as a hobby, and still, others didn’t get involved in the comedic or improv space until they reached college. The fastest way that we have learned our craft is by teaching. Working with fellow improvisers and showing them the ropes has been the biggest asset in developing new ideas and honing old skills.

One of the biggest actions we could have taken to improve and learn more quickly is definitely through organization. In the beginning we struggled to be organized and make sure we followed our set schedules for practices or meeting deadlines to get materials ready for shows. Now, we have set up specific practice times, have monthly meetings to discuss what our next agenda items are, and are in constant communication about developments for the group. By doing this, we had set time to practice and iron out any issues or difficulties we may have had prior to shows and better grasp and understand our creative and performative processes.

The most important skill we found in improv is being open to change. With how often the subject matter of scenes can change and develop, you have to kind of be ready for anything! This is especially reflected in how we improve our skills as performers and as a team. Not every scene ends up being a homerun, but if you allow your teammates to give advice or take the reigns, you can always learn something. By learning from your teammates and working on being more open to change and criticism, other important skills follow, such as reading the audience, knowing when to escalate and deescalate, and comedic timing.

This openness is the antithesis to the major obstacle of developing improv skills, apprehension. When making everything up on the spot, you want to be sure your ready to say whatever comes to mind to keep the energy and flow going, even if it’s uncomfortable. If you hesitate and don’t drop yourself into the deep end, then there is no real time to get comfortable there. Being resistant to change leads to stale scenes, or with your scenes eventually becoming repetitive or even worse, predictable. It took us each some time to become more comfortable performing alongside one another and in front of larger crowds, but through working together and being more open to change, we’ve come a long way and have put on some unforgettable shows!

The Hotspurs, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We’re The Hotspurs!, a professional improv-comedy troupe located in South Jersey of the greater tri-state area. We specialize in short-form improv to make audiences laugh, all while making up the entire show on the spot with just a few suggestions provided by them! Every show we perform is unique and like none ever seen before, while also never being replicated ever again! While our main home is The Ritz Theatre in South Jersey, we also occasionally find ourselves performing at festivals, corporate events, and private venues. Whether it be through acting, singing, crying, or some other method, our goal is to make people laugh.

Our forays into improv came to us at different times, but we all experienced it in some way due to all of our backgrounds in theatre from young ages. Our members Evan, John, and Snellen actually all met each other in a high school production of Rent! The three of them became good friends and ended attending the same college together, where they continued to participate in the arts. Evan and Snellen had a hand in establishing the on-campus improv club, where Sean and Brendan eventually became members along with John. Now that the Hotspurs had assembled, they found their chemistry, shared interests, and just a dab of chaos formed a comedic powerhouse in the improv scene. After performing at a 24-hour play festival, The Hotspurs! were asked to perform their debut show at the same theatre, and have continued performing at other venues ever since.

Us Hotspurs feel our real chemistry with one another and closeness as real-life friends brings a unique magic to the stage that can be hard to come by. We hang out at least once every week (outside of improv related reasons), make each other laugh, and just enjoy each other’s company. Our true passion lies of course in our performances, but it’s our draw to laughter and making others laugh where we derive a lot of our passion for the art from. We’re proud that we can offer people a space to escape from their personal stressors for a little while and just laugh. We pride ourselves in being able to adapt to our audiences and to be able to perform for all kinds (from our children’s show to our volunteer show at a nursing home, we’re giving building blocks a run for their money being for ages 1 – 99).

A typical Hotspurs show is opened by our fantastic pianist Brendan, accompanied by his trusty keyboard. After introducing the rest of the Hotspurs, we start a hand-picked repertoire of games from our assortment we have honed over the years, all with suggestions from our amazing audiences to drive the scenes. The show is as much theirs as it is ours, and we find audiences really enjoy seeing or hearing their suggestions utilized in the show. Games include all different assortments of rules, suggestions, and even Hotspurs who are participating. While Evan and John may be trying to sell you a fake product in one scene, the next may be Snellen, Sean and Brendan serenading an audience member one word at a time, so you never know what’s going to happen next! This all culminates in the unique “Showstopper” at the end of the show, a finale as one final send off for the show that leaves audiences reeling and wondering what we’ll think of for next time.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As a group, the most rewarding aspect of our creative work is providing our audience with laughter and entertainment. We all have a passion for the arts, and to be able to channel that passion into an immersive experience for our audience is a privilege.

With our specific work and craft, we are able to take what our audience may believe is the mundane and make something extraordinary out of it. It provides us with a unique connection to our audience, especially if the suggestion or scene relies on something personal to them. Through establishing this connection, we find a truly symbiotic relationship between the audience and ourselves to deliver the best show possible that will have them talking until the next show.

We believe there is a certain magic to improv that other comedic genres lack, and there is an authenticity to the artform that we love to play around with. Since everything is made up as we go along, there is a rawness to it that you won’t find in a drama or scripted comedy, which we feel makes it even more relatable to the audience.

It’s also just a lot of fun performing as close friends! We truly are having a great time every time we go to perform, and take time during practices and even performances to laugh at each other and the ideas we all bring to the table. It’s a privilege to be able to participate in a show that allows us to have as much fun with each other as the audience is having during the performance.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Our goal overall is to entertain, and we often wind up entertaining ourselves just as much as the audience when we are up there on the stage. We find that with so much doom and gloom in these modern times, finding ways to bring some joy to people’s days through our performances is a major driving factor in continuing as well. In continuing this journey through the honing of our skills, practicing and critiquing one another, and learning our strengths and weaknesses, we grow each day to becoming the best entertainers we can possibly be.

We all have a natural knack for improvisation, and are challenging the medium to push both ourselves and comedic improv as a whole into a fresh and new direction. We’ve worked on improving or adding twists onto classic games, been practicing both short and long-form improv to expand our skillsets, and have even invented a few new games ourselves for our shows. This creative process is enjoyable and a great way to build chemistry between us, which helps us to drive each other in becoming even better. We are our own harshest critics, but also our best supporters of each other. In strengthening our bonds with one another as we continue to grow and hone our craft, we create this motivational cycle to better ourselves and bring up everyone in the group.

Not only do we enjoy what we do and spending time with each other, but we also really enjoy hearing from our fans about what the shows mean to them. We’ve had many people who have come to us with no knowledge of the artform, or only minor prior experiences, who have told us it’s become a favorite of theirs and that they can’t wait for the next show. Others have said that the show was a great “pick-me-up” at the end of a rough day, and they enjoyed not having to think about the stresses of reality for a little while. Being able to entertain while also helping people and having fun ourselves is a huge motivator to continue our creative processes and journey.      

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehotspurs.official/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHotspursImprov
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thehotspursimprov/featured
• Other: For business inquires, email us at: thehotspursimprov@gmail.com