The Puzzled Players
At this slap-happy club, humor is
the first and last thing on the agenda.
By Julie Bawden Davis
Ever seen Groucho Marx and Tweety bird meet on the Golden Gate Bridge? If you’re a Morning Knights Toastmaster, you have. At this slap-happy club in Binghamton, New York, humor is the first and last thing on the agenda.
“No other organization I’ve been involved with has taken humor as seriously as this club,” says founding member Kenneth Hull, DTM, who has been with the club since its inception in 1973. “We find humor in everything we do.”
Not surprisingly, this lighthearted club, which features a court jester telling jokes at the beginning of every meeting, has spawned a comedy troupe. Known as the Puzzled Players Comedy Improv Theater, the group originally performed in January 2003 for the club’s 30th anniversary. Things went so well that the troupe now appears on a regular basis throughout New York state and has even started two other comedy groups.
“Our first show was a success, and we had so much fun doing it that we decided to continue meeting and performing,” says Russell Swanger, CTM, a member of Morning Knights and leader of the Puzzled Players. The comedy group does improv, which involves live and unscripted acts created by the actors themselves in an impromptu manner.
The troupe originally had 10 members, all of them from the Morning Knights Toastmasters club, except for its teacher and mentor, actor Bill Whiting.
“After the anniversary show, Bill brought us our first paying job for a local company’s dinner dance,” says Swanger, who also does commercials and voice-overs and hosts live events. “That second show went great and we decided to continue.” Since then the group has performed for a wide variety of audiences and Swanger has created an offshoot called the Improv Dads, which provides educational entertainment to school-age audiences.
“We’re also auditioning for a second improv group and we created a sketch comedy crew. Everyday we’re being booked into bigger and bigger venues,” says Swanger, who notes that Puzzled Players members are a little surprised at how well they’ve been received.
“It’s thrilling to know that audiences enjoy what we do, but we’re also baffled that they’re so captivated by it and will pay money to see it,” he says. “Many people will tell us they find it incredible that we can go on stage with absolutely no script and create something live right in front of them. To many of us it’s second nature; we’re wired that way, and we feel right at home.”
The way Hull sees it, Puzzled Players is a logical extension of the Morning Knights and makes members stronger. “Toastmasters is all about learning in a fun atmosphere, and the Puzzled Players gives us a laboratory to practice skill building,” says Hull, who was a member of the comedy troupe until just recently when he had to quit because of conflicting responsibilities.
Hull and Swanger both credit Toastmasters for making the Puzzled Players successful in the first place.
“Not only has Toastmasters given us the courage and confidence to relax and try improv, we use many of the organization’s principles in the improv meetings,” says Swanger. “Like Toastmasters, Puzzled Players is run in a democratic manner. We have a director, an agenda, rotate responsibilities and use a timer to keep track of each meeting segment. We practice and continue to learn about the art of improv. There is also an evaluation period.”
Toastmasters has provided the improv group with a talented group of members. “The Puzzled Players got started by drawing upon members who were interested taking public speaking and performing to the next level,” says Swanger. “Even though they didn’t have a background in theater, they were willing to learn and give it a try.”
In many ways improv is a lot like Table Topics, says Rosemary Markoff, ATM-B, who is also a member of the Morning Knights. She performed with the Puzzled Players in the anniversary show and hired them to entertain at her company’s Christmas party.
“Like Table Topics, with improv you get a general theme and scenario and run with it,” says Markoff. “People are surprised when they find out that you have to practice for improv because it’s impromptu. Even though you don’t know specifically what you’ll be talking about in the actual scene, you still have to practice for things to flow smoothly. Thinking fast on your feet is the key to being a good performer. I think that’s where Toastmasters helps the most with this particular art form.”
What people like about improv in general is its unpredictable nature, says Hull. “Much like an extemporaneous speech, nothing is the same twice with improv. You respond to the moment, and the only thing you can plan for is the situation. The audience provides the location and subject of the skit and you go with the flow, which is something Toastmasters does a superb job of teaching.”
Toastmasters has also given Puzzled Player members the courage to try. “Even though they may be initially uncomfortable, people have jumped into the group and attempted improv anyway,” says Hull. “The results have been a lot of zany minds coming up with some really creative acts.”
The coming months look busy for the Puzzled Players. The troupe was recently invited to participate in a project that involves traveling to El Salvador as “arts ambassadors” to provide instructions on improvisation.
“I’m in awe of how far they’ve gone in just three short years,” says Markoff. “There was quite a crowd when I went to see them recently. I had expected to see a couple dozen [people] in the audience, but there were a couple hundred. They’re really getting a following.”
For more information, visit www.thepuzzledplayers.com and www.improvdads.com
Julie Bawden Davis is a freelance writer based in Orange, California. Reach her at Julie@juliebawdendavis.com.