Lights up.

1. You meet in a class or at a show. Someone raises the idea that it might be fun to form a team. Everyone agrees and drinks champagne.
2. A group is created on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. This is an important step.
3. After some good-natured debate - a date is set for your first rehearsal.
4. The first rehearsal is incredibly well attended and feels like magic. People get excited to be at the start of a new adventure.
5. After 2 weeks someone drops out of the WhatsApp group. That person is never seen or heard from again.
6. It's 6 weeks in and attendance is at roughly 60%. Why isn't this like it was in class?
7. The WhatsApp group is mostly GIFs or silence. No one can agree on dates. Things are getting lost. There's an unpleasant disagreement over an edit in the last show. Everyone else mutes the group for a couple of days until it blows over.
8. People start to talk to each other through direct channels ABOUT other people in the group. Hostility and suspicion abound. There are pitchforks. Why are there pitchforks?
9. Your group is haemorrhaging members. There are still a lot of GIFs.
10. The group is now a duo.

And scene.

<aside> 💡 Hey, my name’s Chris Mead. I write an article about improv almost every week. You can get the latest in your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter. Or check out the archive.

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