WIT NEWS ITEM | Interview with iMusical's Travis Ploeger

INTERVIEW WITH iMUSICAL'S TRAVIS PLOEGER

POSTED 8.4.06

After weeks of rehearsal, WIT's iMusical show is starting to take shape thanks to director and musical improv guru Travis Ploeger. WIT.com recently spent time talking with Travis about what brought him to DC, what he's been up to with the cast and what fans of musical improv can expect to see this October.


Tell everyone a little bit about yourself... why improvised musicals? Why Washington?

I grew up in Minneapolis until high school when my family moved to Massachusetts. My bachelor's degree is in music theater, but as an actor. Composing and playing piano were hobbies at first, although my mom still tells the story about how I was inseparable from the toy piano they got me when I was three.

After college, once I figured out (serendipitously, I might add) that being able to improvise with singers and actors from behind the keys was a very specialized skill, it wasn't difficult to change my career goals. It also didn't hurt that I love directing and teaching music improv!

I'm in DC because my fiancée lives here. We met last spring when I was here on tour with Chicago City Limits at WolfTrap, and we'll be married in September.


Congratulations! Having come from New York City, what are your thoughts about the improv scene in DC?

I had known about WIT from their past performances at the Del Close Marathon up in NYC (where my group I Eat Pandas performed last weekend). I enjoyed WIT's work in past years (and, of course this year), so I knew where I wanted to make my "home base" once I got here. However, I was unaware of the level of talent that was here overall.

I was pleasantly surprised at how high it is. We all know NYC is filled with talented actors and singers, and I was initially concerned that moving from the "big city" would mean that there'd be too much of a drop off for what I want to do creatively. After the auditions, it was nice to discover that my concerns were unwarranted. It was really hard to whittle down the auditors to the final cast that you'll see in October.


You cast a wide net for auditions, bringing together performers from different troupes and backgrounds in the DC area. Many of them are playing together for the first time... how's it all going?

Wow- It's going splendidly! One of my peeves about NYC is the "clique" atmosphere that the improv scene tends to have. The various improv theaters and schools are not as friendly as they should be. I mean, they are competitors, sure... but the improvisers themselves aren't supposed to be. Here, I knew I wanted to make sure that with any project I was helming, I conveyed the image of one big happy, sappy, improv family.

This area isn't large enough to have this problem to the same degree as New York, but even though this is a WIT show, I didn't want the cast to be limited to people from the WIT "family." So whether the folks auditioning had short-form improv, long-form improv, NO-form improv experience - whatever - as long as someone did well at the audition and showed me some spark, I was willing to bring them aboard.

And, I think it's paying off! We're all observing each others' strengths from those various backgrounds and learning from each other by seeing those strengths in action.


So what can you tell us about the format of the show?

We'll get a suggestion from the audience at the beginning of the show and then proceed to improvise a one-act musical. Hopefully it'll last between 45 minutes and an hour. No pre-rehearsed lyrics, music or scenes- just organically created songs and moments between richly improvised characters.

It won't be a show that will "spoof" musicals, a la Spamalot or Urinetown, so that we won't actually make fun of the genre itself. We'll stay true to the things I love about musicals, primarily experiencing people having emotional moments that can only be sung to give them justice.


Describe a typical rehearsal. How do you go about preparing to sing something unscripted?

First, we warm up vocally, and then do some rhyming exercises and some quick songs. And then, we start running various combinations of improvised scenes and songs. The cast has also done some extensive listening to various examples of modern music theater, such as the works of Jason Robert Brown (who did Songs for a New World), Adam Guettel (who did Light in the Piazza), and Michael John LaChiusa (who did The Highest Yellow). And, of course, plenty of Sondheim. hough we won't try to duplicate the works of those amazing artists, we will be trying to mimic their styles and sensibilities.


Any funny stories to tell from behind the scenes so far?

We had one of our rehearsals at my home in Silver Spring, and just as we were finishing, my fiancée arrived with her sister and hersister's young children! They were treated to an impromptu mini-musical, which my 7 year old nephew-to-be inspired with the suggestion "Australia." Even though the kids were too young to fully grasp the concept of improvisation, I think their giggles were a good indicator of our potential.


What's your biggest hope for the run this fall?

Well, my goal is to one day have a permanent improvised musical show running in DC, eight shows a week. A successful run of iMusical is an important first step toward that goal, and I hope the show generates public awareness and enthusiasm toward helping me achieve it. Plus, I hope the show kicks ass just so the public can see a kick-ass show!


What's your biggest fear?

That we won't get enough butts in the seats! I don't have any fears about the product we'll end up with, but I worry (as I worry with almost every show I do regardless of its size, location, etc.), that we won't get enough people seeing it to warrant further work. We had a very impressive turnout for our iCabaret show back in July at Busboys and Poets - it sold out! That show was a teaser show for iMusical, so things do look promising.


Tell us more about your role as musician in the shows. Describe the give and take between you and the players...

Though I'm acting as a director and a teacher during the rehearsal process, I'm also just as much a performer/improviser as any member of the cast... especially during the performance. It's my job to create the accompaniment for songs that will inspire appropriate lyrics from the cast. I have to think like an actor, and imagine the kind of song that I'd sing if I were in the shoes of the character on stage, and then try to communicate that through the piano.

Of course, the actor will come up with ideas that will often be very different from what I initially imagined, but that's all part of the fun! We give and take, and their lyrics will inspire me to play different music, etc. I'm also setting mood and atmosphere for the show, to help frame the characters and action on stage. My music helps pace the show, and builds momentum toward the climax.


What's the dirty little secret nobody is supposed to know about musical improv?

Though it often seems to be "magic," improvised singing is a skill like any other skill. True, some people will be more adept at it than your average Joe, but we're not talking about unicorns and fairy dust. It takes practice and commitment.


What's the dirty little secret nobody is supposed to know about Travis Ploeger?

The real reason I do this is so I can have the best seat for the show. If you watch me during a show (and I hope you aren't, since I'd hope the actors on stage are pulling your focus away from the static image of me at a piano), I'm laughing just as much, if not more, than anyone. Oh, and I have leprosy. But don't tell my fiancée.



iMusical: The Improvised Musical! debuts at Flashpoint this October. Check back soon for more behind-the-scenes info as the opening night nears. The revolution will be improvised.

iMusical cast members:
Mark Chalfant
Jordan Hirsch
Karen Lange
Colin Murchie
Julie Poteet
Natasha Rothwell
Jason Saenz
Shelby Sours
Shawn Westfall
Director/Pianist: Travis Ploeger