Sean "seanryan" Ryan
Where are you now?
I’ve been out of improv for few years now. Ironically, it’s because I live close to New York, one of the worldwide centers for improv. Because so many improv performers are here, and so many are looking to make it as actors or comedy writers or - God forbid - professional improvisers, there are dozens of shows every week. Most have audiences of maybe ten family and friends. I didn’t want to keep on hitting up my family and friends to travel to Manhattan and pay $10 a head to defray my cost of renting the performance room. I loved it when I could just show up in the Student Center or the Allen Drawing Room, meet up with my friends, and have a hundred people who had showed up because of an email the day before for a free show: that was the draw of Mixed Signals. I hope all the current members get just a fraction of the joy I got from being a cowardly pirate or Keanu Reeves on Jeopardy.
What do you miss most about being in The Mixed Signals?
Being the arms of someone else. Being someone's stunt double. Being a lesbian proctologist.
What do you miss least about being in The Mixed Signals?
The post-collegiate thoughts about making improv a successful business. If you want a successful business, become a mortician.
Advice for current and future members:
Everyone can do improv. It’s what you did on the playground when you were four. Go out there and have fun. If you’re not having fun, the audience will know. So do whatever entertains you; that is the best thing you can do for the audience.