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STL Impov Anywhere in STLSTyLe attire. Photo by Juan Montaña
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Even a quick tour through YouTube will turn up countless examples of public demonstrations meant to not only entertain, but to prove a point, no matter how serious. From the intense to the whimsical, groups around the country (really, the world) have massed, performed and drifted into the night, for the benefit of themselves, their lucky onlookers and any cameras or recording devices that happen to be nearby. In New York, the Improv Everywhere troupe is one that’s been able to transcend the multi-sensory blasts of NYC, gaining fans all over for their large-scale, clever, public performances.
For the past year or so, dozens to hundreds of St. Louisans have been treated to a spin-off of the Improv Everywhere aesthetic, with our own version of the group, STL Improv Anywhere, growing under the supervision of Mallory Nezam. The group started out due to Nezam’s realization that St. Louis street life was, well, a bit staid.
STL Improv Everywhere member Emanuel Taranu at Earth Day (photograph by Linda Jin).
“The whole things began as I moved back to St. Louis from Spain,” she says. “There’s a huge difference in the pedestrian life of Europe and States, especially St. Louis. You might go to get your coffee, or to buy your clothing, but there’s nothing else going on in the street. I wanted to do stuff in public places and liven it up. And it’s the New York group of Improv Everywhere that gave me the idea of doing crazy things in public spaces. My favorite thing they’d done is a musical in a mall’s food court. What’s really cool about it is that they have a budget, their name is really big there. And they were able to get people dressed as staff members, have them in cashier spots behind the counter. Even a security guard. It was super-convincing. The idea of the musical was so absurd. One person started, and even those involved looked confused, before taking part.”
Group shot performing at The Southern Graphics Conference on Cherokee Street. Photo taken inside STLSTyLE. (Photograph by STLSTyLe).
Events can be formed with different intros. In some of the St. Louis troupe’s dozen-to-date performances, all players are in place as the “operation” begins, while other variants might call for them to gather together from different locations, in a flash-mob style. Usually a single conductor will kick things off with a visual or verbal cue, being followed by the rest of the performers. There, too, the directions might be fairly detailed, or they might be given with a more seat-of-pants feel, with improvisation more needed. No two performances, as they say, are ever the same.
Despite what some might discern as a chaotic feel to their process, Nezam’s usually involved in some type of pre-performance reconnaissance, which is a must when there’s a private property involved.
“I usually have to do work beforehand, making sure to talk to business owners or event planners,” she says. “Or when we have props, like glass, or anything that might break.”
She points to an event at Art Dimensions Gallery, located above the 2720 Cherokee venue, as one that proved how a night can bring on some strange and elusive qualities.
Devon Cahill performing at Earth Day (photograph by Linda Jin).
“There were 50 or 60 people in the space,” Nezam recalls. “And we handed out slips of paper, for anyone to join us. If you had a slip of paper, you were to freeze. About 30 of 60 people froze in really interesting positions. And you could hear people talking on their cell phones, while you couldn’t even move. People were taking photos, backing up into someone frozen behind them. It was chaotic. You keep a straight face and keep going with it, but there’s this madness around you, of cameras and people gawking.
“Usually, you’re trying to be really incognito,” she adds. “Most of the time, people don’t know what happened of who it was. We don’t announce it, after the fact. You want people to wonder if that was real life, if it is planned. But you are hoping, you know, that people would eventually know who are (as a group).”
Devon Cahill performing at The Southern Graphics Conference on Cherokee Street (photograph by Linda Jin).
To date, an experience in which they were spotted by name stands out as one of her favorite memories.
“We were at the Earth Day Festival, probably the favorite event I’ve done,” Nezam says. “We were using the theme of recycling and among three different performances, we were literally looping it over and over, at a minute-and-a-half. This ‘happening’ had somebody knocking over a trash can. A hot dog falls out, and they start eating it. Eventually it loops and somebody finds the hot dog and throws it in the trash. These kids kept inching towards us, fascinated by what’s going on. A dad points to us and says, ‘It’s St. Louis Improv Anywhere, a local performance group.’ I thought that was really cute. Whenever someone refers to us that we’ve never met, it’s interesting.”
That “we” refers to seven, or eight, folks who’ve taken part in “almost every operation. And we’ve had a total of maybe 25 people who’ve been out to one, or two, performances. It started with friends, through word-of-mouth. Every time out, it grows a bit more. I’m really interested in getting people out who typically don’t perform. It’s something that everyone can do. With improv you don’t have to rehearse. You come up with a concept. Then a character and you consider what this character would do right now. It’s an opportunity for people to let loose who normally wouldn’t, so we love people who aren’t performers to be in it. It’d be really fun if young kids participated, too.”
Hannah Malik & Devon Cahill performing at Earth Day (photograph by Linda Jin).
While another event might wind up coming alive between now and then, the group will make another appearance so far on October 1 at Grove Fest. Then, the Improv Anywhere crew will be working one of two beer booths, looking to not only sell some hops, but to entertain, as well. Asked if anything could be discussed regarding their plans that day, Nezam started to, then halted, before deciding that giving out hints would only take away from the magic of the afternoon, which will run from 4-11 p.m. on Manchester, in the City’s recently-dubbed Grove neighborhood.
“Our whole reason for being is to make public spaces more lively,” she figures. “Grove Fest is along those lines. A few years ago, it was a really run-down part of St. Louis, so what’s happened there is something we support and believe in. Expanding public life is the premise of IA’s mission.”
On September 24, STL-I-A may be doing a possible surprise performance at Dancin' in the Streets. They will definitely be at Grove Fest on October 1, and in late October, they will perform a City-County marriage ceremony. Venue and date for that one are TBD—check their website or Facebook page for details as they evolve.
