Death.

They had both put it as the answer. During a workshop with the now defunct Improv Place with Katy Schutte and Chris Mead, one of the questions in chat was, “If you could improv on anything, what would it be?” As an answer, both Own Scrivens and Rhiannon Jenkins put:

“Death.”

This was still during the pandemic, and improv was almost entirely online.

Owen Scrivens, an intensive care medicine consultant, and Rhiannon, a professional in the end of life industry, both shared a unique perspective on death. This was evident during a workshop with the now defunct Improv Place with Katy Schutte and Chris Mead, where they both expressed their interest in improvising on the topic of ‘death ‘.

Improv Fest Ireland in 2021 put a call out for acts. One of the things they asked for was “new ideas.” They submitted and were accepted as Living. Dying. Dead. Owen came up with the name inspired by his work in the medical field. He encourages people to use the words “death” and “dying” rather than euphemisms like “they’ve passed on” or “they’re with the angels.” Owen feels it’s important not to play around the edges but to address it directly. The title gives the audience real expectations.

Prior to the show, they had to find a cast. In October and November of 2021, they assembled Juwel Haque, Janette Clark, and Tamara Maasden. The show that developed during that time is very similar to the show today. The first show also included Simone Ellul.

Owens’s father died in January 2023, and they performed the show in April 2023. There were moments in that that “felt more personal and real.”

Owen noted during the interview, “I don’t think we fix things.” After the show in April, someone approached Owen and said that the show made them realize that they had never confronted the fact that they would die.

Owen goes on to say, “I don’t think the show is therapy. I think the show is the framework to help people engage with the subject.”

Trailblazers is a series focusing on people who are building and contributing to the improv artform today. It is meant to document that new ideas pop up in improv all the time. We have tendency to uphold historical things as the most significant, and overlook that we are making history all the time. 10 years from now someone may be talking about the people in this series and what amazing things they accomplished. It isn’t too late for you to start your own team or company.

DAVID ESCOBEDO is a post graduate student researching improv in England. He has been performing and coaching since 1994. He still loves seeing new students perform and watching imperfect improv. He runs the Improv Boost and has a couple of series where he interviews practitioners regardless of their experience or years in improv. You can check out his podcast David is Curious on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher.