Sexism In Improv

Went to iO tonight and saw something inexcusable.

The 1941 show got cancelled because of no audience. Some of us headed over to iO and caught the second team during their opening. I became upset and eventually enraged by the first beat/second scene, it started with a guy initiating kind of like a renovator scene. Take out this wall, replace the hard wood floors etc. A woman was his scene partner. She clearly initiated a sidekick type thing repeating, summing up, and following his pacing around the stage. About four lines in he says "Close your mouth, open your ears."

Boom.

Dutifully she took the line as a gift and stopped talking, the guy talked and after about a minute asked her a question. She pantomimed a response and the scene was edited. At the end of the scene she was referenced as a temp and then it was called back later in a virtually identical scene. That took some of the air out of it but it was still bad. Not bad as in not funny but bad as in not right.

Men. Don't do that. I don't care if you don't like the woman, I don't care if you think she's a bad improviser, it doesn't matter. No one deserves to be told to shut up in a scene. You cannot say obviously sexists things as if it were maybe ironic. There is no distance, especially if you actually don't like the person in real life. If you're on a team and you see this happen on the sidelines MAKE A MOVE. Improv isn't real life so there actually can be justice within it. If you see a teammate being subjugated or being taken advantage of MAKE A MOVE. When I saw this I wished I was on the team so I could come on and either straight up kill the guy or be his boss, tell him to shut up, and elevate the woman. But mostly: Don't do that shit.

Women. Let them know it's not cool and fight back. Newsflash: you can walk out. You always have the option of walking out of a scene you're in. You always have the option to say "Fuck you" and exit. If this would have happened to me that's what I would have done, leave the a-hole on stage by himself, see how he manages then. Challenge the guy. It's totally cool to challenge someone and start a fight at any time. 'Yes And' is our credo but it's not the end all be all. You can fight whenever you want especially if someone is selling you out during a scene. In general I'd say if someone tells you to shut up, don't shut up.

Obvious stuff can be funny. I know, I've been there.

But don't make that move.