Shuttered by pandemic, Atlanta comedy group finds laughter, connection online

ATLANTA - What does an improv comedy group do when its audience suddenly disappears?

Atlanta's popular Dad's Garage Theater faced that question in early March, as the pandemic began to shutter businesses and schools around them.

The troupe's managing director Laura Smith says their Old Fourth Ward theater emptied out, just as they were preparing to celebrate their 25th anniversary with a series of festivals and performances.

"Within a week, we had to cancel all of our shows," Smith says. "So, March 13, 2020 was our last show."

The non-profit needed to pivot, but how?

"Like every other company, it was, what are we going to do," ensemble member Mike Schatz remembers.

So, the masters of improv did what they do best: they improvised.

Within days of shutting down the theater, Dad's Garage took its performances online using the video live streaming service Twitch.

Shuttered by the pandemic, Dad's Garage, an Atlanta improv theater group, has moved its comedy performances online.

The ensemble performers work remotely, often from their homes, sometimes alone, sometimes sharing the screen with another member.

The performances are free, but donations are encouraged, to help the group make up its $500,000 revenue shortfall.

"We've been doing about 30 to 40 hours of content every week since mid-March," Smith says.

For, Mike Schatz, who's been playing off live audiences for 30 years, going virtual was an adjustment.

"The first few times I was doing online, you have no reaction," Schatz says.  "So, as a comedian, you're finding your beats, you're waiting for laughter."

The laughter didn’t come, so Schatz switched from jokes to stories, pushing through the initial awkwardness.

He will team up with fellow ensemble members like Chris Blair, both performing live from different remote locations. 

The feedback from their audience seems positive.

"We have a little comment bar on the side, and you see people, just like, 'I've been needing this; I've been waiting for something like this,'" Schatz says.

Emory School of Medicine and Grady psychologist Dr. Nadine Kaslow says laughter can be a powerful tool in a crisis like this pandemic.

"A laugh can go a million miles right now," she says.

Kaslow checks in with frontline healthcare workers in her hospital system's ICU's, many of them treating COVID-19 patients and coping with high levels of stress and anxiety.

The teams who seem to be coping well, she says, tell her they joke around with one another.

"I think that we're all extra emotional, and we need to break some of that tension," Dr. Kaslow says.  "People are irritable. People are stressed out, and humor is a wonderful gift to ourselves and to each other.  It helps us get a certain kind of distance that can really be so incredibly helpful."

So, while pandemic does not seem to be going away anytime soon, neither is Dad's Garage.

Laura Smith says laughter and joy may be more important than ever.

"It's such a cliché to say 'unprecedented times,' but we have to find ways to feel connected with others and to feel human.  I think, to do those things, you have to stay present in a moment with other people."
Mike Schatz misses his physical audience and ensemble members.

But, he says, comedy, even in this strange new world, is keeping all of us connected.

"It lets you really take a look at things and say, ‘I'm not alone in this,’" Schatz says.  "That, I think, is the key to it. To be able to laugh about it is probably the best release there is."

To learn more about Dad's Garage and its free live stream performances, visit dadsgarage.com