Villain: An iO Harold Team And A Theater

Harold's are difficult. They are the building block for everything that is long form improvisation in my opinion. If you are trying to show someone all the different facets of improv it seems introducing them to the Harold is a no Brainer. I have performed the Harold at the highest level for the last 3 years and continue to do so at the iO Theater.

I understand it so well thanks to my many teachers and great coaches. There are a thousand ways to look at the work but all are correct if they lead to doing great Harolds. The Harold has it all, Openings, Grounded two person scenes, Group Games, Tag Runs, World Building, Closing runs, interweaving of disparate story lines, the idea of show dynamics, and a menagerie of edits all formed into one. 

It's no surprise that some of the best improvisers in the world mastered the Harold first. It's a comprehensive guide to how to improvise and with its organic nature it is also the key to creating new pieces and techniques.  When you perform on a team for a while,  as I did on Villain, you eventually are brought into the realm of Breaking The Harold.  This happens once you have mastered how to do a Training Wheels Harold which is the very structured one you find in your Truth In Comedy book. 

When Villain broke the Harold we ascended and did some really amazing work. At our best each show was built in the moment creating our own edits and our own fully connected pieces. We had one show that I remember where we created a very confusing stage picture with a lot of stuff going on. We made a promise to the audience to explain how everything got there by the end of the show. We did an amazing set of scenes and Games that popped up when they liked so that when we arrived back to the original stage picture /opening we were able to infuse everything we just did in the show to recreate and explain the opening.

It was an amazing set among several amazing sets all because of learning how to Break the Harold. We learned to adapt and play the patterns of the piece. We learned to yes and the show in front of us. It was the Harold but not your traditional one. It was the Harold because the Harold is everything. All forms are the Harold and have some or all of its energy in them.

Most teams don't make it past 6 months or a year at iO and Villain lasted two and a half years. We are one of the few teams to be retired because we just couldn't play together any more. The success of all the individual players that made up Villain made it so we couldn't post the numbers we liked for rehearsal and shows. Most of the time when a team ends at iO some of the performers are asked not to come back. In Villains case every single member was put back on the iO roster.

Some of us even declined to be put on another team which is what I did. Villain was such a big part of improvising for me that just jumping on another team was not easy. I needed time and I am glad I took that time because that's when Peter Mir called me and told me it was time for us to build a theater company in Miami.  I told him I had the perfect name and wanted to honor my time and my team in Chicago. 

Villain Theater was born. The members of Villain at iO were Mike Jimerson, Cassie Ahiers, Kelsey Kinney, Mary Catherine Curran, Nick Wieme, Case Blackwell, Ryan Livingston, Sarah Cowdery, Bex Marsh, Rachel Laforce, Matt Kappmeyer, and myself, coached by Matt Higbee. The members of Villain Theater are Peter Mir and myself. Through the Villain Theater I plan to bring many more people into the Villain family and our approach to improvisation and the Harold. 

I am so happy to bring the joy of improvising to everyone I meet but especially proud to honor a team that literally opened my eyes to how improv could be done. Villains tag line was always "Take over the world."  Villain Theaters tag line is "Make Your Mark." I plan to do both in every facet of my life and help others to do the same.

-Jeff Quintana
Artistic Director
Villain Theater