Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Descoteaux.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Mike. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been in theater my whole life. Ever since I was a kid, I was acting, singing, playing piano, writing songs and musicals, directing… you name it. I’ve always loved being around creative people and making art.
I grew up in Boston, went to Northwestern for theater and music, and stayed in Chicago for about a decade. Chicago is a mecca of comedy. There, I joined up with The Second City where I had the chance to write, perform, teach, improvise, start and run their music program… pretty much everything you could ask for in the world of comedy.
After touring the country with Second City and working with comedy theaters all over the world, I had an opportunity to come back to Boston: I was offered a job as the director of the national renown Charles River Creative Arts Program–a nonprofit youth arts program based in Dover, MA. While I was running the program, I got involved with ImprovBoston (once you’ve brought improv into your life, you never want to let it go).
After a few years, I was honored to accept the position of ImprovBoston’s first full-time Artistic Director. That was about 6 years ago now.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being Artistic Director of a comedy theater is a gig that requires every bit of experience you’ve had along the way, pretty much every day. There’s nothing cut-and-dry about the job. All the bumps in the road, the projects that seemed random 11 years ago, the failures, learning how to connect with every different personality type, directing, teaching, performing, writing, running a business, working with kids, touring, surviving solely on coffee and dreams… all of those nearly two decades of seemingly disconnected life experiences come into play in this one endlessly challenging (and rewarding) job.
Please tell us about ImprovBoston.
ImprovBoston is New England’s biggest and oldest comedy theater. We’ve been around for over 35 years now which makes us one of the most established comedy theaters in the country, actually. We’re a nonprofit arts organization with a proud mission to serve our ever-growing community through laughter. Especially now, laughing matters.
While we’re best known for serving up the comedy 5 nights a week–25 shows between our two theaters in Central Square–we also have a 500+ student nationally respected comedy school that offers classes in improv, standup, and sketch. We get to share what we love with students from 8 to 80 years old. We work at home and on the road with incredible populations like kids on the Autism spectrum, adults living with dementia, performers with Down Syndrome, and communities with a diversity of physical and learning disabilities.
We run industry leading anti-bullying workshops in schools all over New England. We are proud to share the power of improvisation to lift up the lives of so many in our community. We are a family finding connections, growing together and laughing the whole time.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I saw Victor Borge in concert when I was in middle school. That was the first time I’d seen anyone bring together the worlds of theater, comedy and music. The man had to be 85 years old but at that piano, he had the energy and charisma of an undergrad. What an experience, seeing one person hold court over a packed theater in tears from laughing so hard. Is there a better superpower than making people laugh for 2 hours straight? I mean, maybe flying. Maybe.
Pricing:
- Tickets $5-18
- Classes from $0-225
Contact Info:
- Address: 40 Prospect St Cambridge, MA 02139
- Website: www.improvboston.com
- Phone: 617-576-1253
- Email: info@improvboston.com
- Instagram: @improvboston
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/improvboston
- Twitter: @improvboston
Image Credit:
Caitlin Cunningham
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