Sometimes you get to a point in life where you do what you want, not what you think you should. But if you’re comedy improv master Matt Higgins, you get to do both at the same time. Higgins is about to put on a show that’s exactly what he wants to do — needs to do — at this moment. And as the documentary film that captures it will prove, it’s also exactly what he should be doing. The Centralia and Burn Manhattan improv veteran is making a film that promises to be both hilarious, deep, and incendiary — think Swimming to Cambodia meets Andy Kaufman. The film is titled simply: Matt Higgins: The Improvisor.
Higgins has lined up the exceptionally talented Josh Liveright to direct and he’s going to let it all hang out. Expect something akin to an artist’s mid-career retrospective, with Higgins firing at the top of his game while having continually constructed the larger perspective that makes great comedy so poignant.
We asked Higgins what he has in mind. Here he is:
“I have these two kind of different thoughts about what I have been creating lately. One is to follow my creative impulse and if I have an urge to make something, make it without concern for what may become of it, or what it might lead to. The second is to visualize myself having completed the thing, imagining it turned out way beyond my wildest dreams. And, in my daydream, while basking in the glow of the creation, to recall all of the struggles that came my way in the process, and how I persisted in spite of the challenges and setbacks. I guess there’s a third thing that enters into now that I am thinking of it. And that’s the awareness of my mortality, and wanting to simply enjoy the process; the time spent playing. Especially in this time in which we live, I want to inspire play in the face of fear.”
Check out the Kickstarter here (with introductory video). In addition to having Liveright on board, Quenell Jones is Director of Photography, Ron McBee and legend Nick Balaban will provide music, with Costume Design by Jessica Leslie and Scenic Design by John McDermott. Two performances at The People’s Improv Theater, both on July 28, will be the basis for the film. You can get tickets through the Kickstarter.
