For most people, the only thing scarier than standing onstage in front of a large crowd would be standing there without a script. For Greg Maughan, that is exactly the environment he loves. Greg is the owner of Philly Improv Theater (PHIT), the only longform improvisation theater in the Philadelphia region. Today, PHIT operates out of The Shubin Theater on Bainbridge Street but hopes to soon buy a permanent home. It has come a long way in the last five years since Greg began the project and many times, Greg has been required to put his improv skills to work, making quick decisions and changes as he goes.
Greg fell in love with improv comedy in high school and was disappointed when he moved here for college and found that Philadelphia was the only city in the top 10 metro areas to have no venues for improv. Despite noticing this waiting opportunity, Greg remained inactive while in undergrad. “I thought, I’m only 19—somebody else in the city must know that this is a total goldmine.” It wasn’t until Greg began traveling all the way to New York City to experience improv that he started to seriously consider changing things. “I had heard that there was a lot going on in New York, so I went up there to check it out and bumped into a ton of people from Pennsylvania. At that point I thought that if people were traveling two hours, paying $300 a week for an eight week class, and $40-50 for Amtrak every week, there was definitely an opportunity there.”
Finally, in graduate school, Greg decided he would start Philly’s first improv theater. He tapped into the best source he knew, the community of people performing comedy around town, and shared his idea. “Improv attracts a hardcore following. I approached this small community and told them that I wanted there to be a theater in the city with alternate comedy shows seven nights a week, rehearsal spaces—a hub for comedy. I told them that Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York all have at least three or four theaters like this, so Philly could certainly support one.”
At the time Philadelphia had a couple of comedy clubs with standup comedians, but none featured true improv. “Improv is different because in standup you have one guy who spits jokes at you and you have to buy drinks and food and it’s 25 bucks just to walk in the door. With improv it’s very do-it-yourself, and there’s a community around it.”
The Philly Improv Theater was subsequently started simply as a training center, renting out space in classrooms and church basements for classes. But progress was slow. “In 2006, we opened with zero dollars investment, two months after I pitched the idea to people. We talked one guy into signing up for a class after a show, and we used that money to set up a web domain. That first year we offered six introductory improv classes and canceled two in the summer because no one signed up. We had an additional two intermediate and one advanced that we just barely got enough people for.” They also held 10 free shows upstairs at Fergie’s Pub in Center City. “At the end of the show we’d pass a hat around and ask everyone to donate what they felt it was worth.” Greg adds with a laugh, “And we might perform for 20 people and get $30, so everyone thought that an hour and a half of comedy was worth a buck fifty.”
Although the shows didn’t add much to their profits, Greg says that the real money came from the classes and workshops. “We’ve done all sorts of corporate improv training. I worked with a hundred catholic bishops, I did a training for all the Bank of America bank tellers in Northern Delaware, and I went to Wawa Corporate University—a magical place where there are free Wawa drinks everywhere—and led improv training there.”
Leading classes brings with it the unique challenges that come from, “Trying to get adults to act like children,” as Greg describes it. “Adults have been trained to sit in a room, be quiet, and listen, so to get them to do the stuff we want them to do in improv class can be really hard for them.” Those who enroll in the classes range from passionate performers to people who simply think they could benefit from the experience. Greg explains, “Many come in and say they’re taking the class to loosen up…and you can easily see why.”
PHIT has taken the approach of investing nearly all their earnings directly back into the business, and has seen it clearly pay off. “We’ve grown really quickly. We’re five years old and our revenue is now over $150,000 a year. If you’re comfortable with the level of risk entailed in never holding anything back and putting it all into growth, then the business will grow a lot faster.”
PHIT is currently in the midst of a year-long fundraising campaign to raise money to buy a location to house their theater. Owning a space will allow them to cut out all rental costs, the biggest financial burden the company has. Their goal is to reach $50,000 to be matched by an anonymous donor, and Greg is excited about the campaign’s potential for success because of its strong start. “We applied for grants and kicked things off with 30 days of fundraising with the aim of reaching $10,000, and we got $15,000.” As they work hard toward their goal, Greg and the rest at PHIT plan to continue keeping their students and audiences laughing.