Tim Stoltenberg talks improv

Here are excerpts form a Denver Post article from a BlueCo visit to Colorado early last month.

The company is that rare combination of first love and lifelong partner, jumping-off point and career track. And thanks to its ever-changing nature, it's still going strong.

"That's the great thing about improv," said Tim Stoltenberg, a Second City ensemble member. "Second City doesn't just write comedy. We do satire, too, and that's a reflection of our society, which has a deeper meaning than just laughs.

"It puts an idea in your head to look at things a little differently, and it has a stronger impact on the audience by keeping them more engaged."[...]

"We had the opportunity to go back through all the archives and find scenes we felt really demonstrated the company," said the 31-year-old Stoltenberg, who was born when many of Second City's most famous alumni were gracing "Saturday Night Live."

"One in particular we do is from the first year Second City was really in existence, and it's incredible because it's still funny and plays to audiences today," he said. "We also talk about how so-and-so was in this original scene and where some of it came from."[...]

"Doing the show last summer, some of the cast members were saying to each other, 'Does it ever get old?' But it doesn't because every night is new for us," Stoltenberg said. "It's a great tool for an actor because we have the benefit of an audience who keeps it new each time."[...]

"We use the audience as our editors when we put something on stage," Stoltenberg said. "That immediate response is great when it hits — but it's also fleeting, and it's gone. We have to build the bridge as we go across it."