The Stumptown Improv Festival is back! Has it really been a whole year? It doesn’t feel so long ago that I was sitting in Artists Repertory Theatre—not a bad seat in the house—with festival sponsor King Quince, talking about his quince farm and watching improv about quince fruit. (Quinces have figured heavily into every year of Portland’s only improv festival—Oregon Quinces are a major underwriter.)
Improv has more to recommend it than the odd quince, but I can still make the argument that both are an acquired taste. The rules of improv are counterintuitive and often vary from performer to performer. Some pantomime their on-the-spot inventions. Some simply say what they’re holding. Some aren’t even interested in being funny as much as imaginative or ironic. Deep stories can develop in improv. It’s very much like jazz. It’s joke jazz.
