My last performance on the Hideout Theatre stage was February 29, 2020, an otherwise-typical Maestro where we gossiped in the green room about this “COVID” thing. My next last performance was a weird one—four months later, filming a political ad for a fictional audience in an empty, locked-down building. Then I moved to Amsterdam, but there were additional last performances too, on subsequent visits home. 

So you’ll understand that I hesitate before declaring that my October 8th Out of Bounds performance with USS Improvise, the improvised Star Trek musical¹, really was my final one at the Hideout’s current location. I’d love to be wrong! But I think it was. The Hideout’s losing their building at the end of the year and raising money for a new venue and their next chapter. I support this effort, but I also believe buildings can have souls, and this one sure as hell does.

This lovely little hobby is an inextricable part of my time on earth—and therefore, so is this lovely little coffeeshop-theater at 617 Congress Ave. where my college pal Shana Merlin first taught me “yes, and” in 2001. As I started to brainstorm a tribute to my 24 years learning, performing, and directing there, I knew immediately that no simple summary would do. At the Hideout I’ve seen and, very occasionally, participated in some of the best improv in the world.² I’m going to pay tribute to it in a series of blogposts between now and the Hideout’s final days on Congress.

I’ve always said there was a zillion-way tie for my favorite improv show, so a top-ten list doesn’t make any kind of sense. I’ve just made a list of standout shows, formats, and individual moments that exemplify my time there, and I’ll share them as I go between now and the night the Congress doors close.

1. I know, it could hardly be more me.
2. And admittedly, a bit of the other kind.