Creative industries in Washtenaw County add hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy. In the weeks and months to come, host Deb Polich, the President and CEO of Creative Washtenaw, explores the myriad of contributors that make up the creative sector in Washtenaw County.
ABOUT TONY DEROSA:
Tony DeRosa is the president and founder of hear.say brewing + theater set to open to the public around June 2024 in Ann Arbor, MI. Prior to hear.say, he worked at Google and YouTube for over a decade during which time he led multiple employee satisfaction programs, oversaw a manager development program, built a regional sales escalations program, and designed processes to align business metrics to fair performance evaluation.
He and his wife Lauren relocated to the Bay Area from Michigan in 2020, where he led a scaled support team for YouTube focused on Help Center excellence for sites generating 10B annual visits globally. They moved back to Michigan in July 2023 to pursue opening a brewery and improv theater and for Lauren to assume a faculty position in pediatrics at Mott Children’s Hospital.
Tony completed an MBA at the University of Michigan (Ross) with a focus on Entrepreneurship. At Ross, he worked on multiple consulting projects for clients ranging from early stage tech startups to Fortune 500 companies.
Outside of work, you'll find Tony on stage performing or teaching improv comedy. He frequently leads workshops inside and outside of Google focused on leveraging improv fundamentals to drive happier, more connected teams that get results. His particular passion is customizing workshops from his improv "toolkit" based on an organization's unique challenges or goals.
RESOURCES:
hear.say brewing + theater on Facebook
hear.say brewing + theater on Instagram
TRANSCRIPTION:
Deb Polich: Welcome to 89 one WEMU's creative:impact. I'm Deb Polich, president and CEO of Creative Washtenaw and your host. Meeting the artists and creative workers who make our community one that tops all of the best of list is one of my favorite parts of the week. I hope it's one of yours too. Are you ready to wing it with me on this episode, or maybe "improvise" is the better verb? Our guest, Anthony--Tony--DeRosa, has a talent for Improvization. He is the founder of Team Up Improv, and he is behind Hearsay Brewing and Theater, scheduled to open this summer in Ann Arbor. Tony, welcome to the show!
Tony DeRosa: Thanks so much for having me, Deb!
Deb Polich: We're really happy to have you here. You know, I usually put together a loose script for each of these creative:impact shows. For this segment, I was tempted not to and to instead improvise our whole conversation. When I heard the voice of my professors and mentors in my head saying, "Always prepare. Never think you can just wing it or speak extemporaneously." So, of course, I jotted down some notes, but tell us. The art of improv--is it really winging it?
Tony DeRosa: That is so funny that you say, Deb, because, actually, I give a talk on that kind of intersection of preparation and improvization. And I think one of the biggest myths about an improv show is people come up to us after show and say, "Oh my gosh! You just made that up on the spot. How on Earth did you do that?" And the truth is we spend a lot of time practicing and rehearsing, and, a lot of times, we have specific goals, right, for a show. There's a specific format where maybe trying to reach. So, the truth is that actually improvisers work a lot on building trust, camaraderie, teamwork and practice with specific goals in mind for what you want a performance to be like or feel like, the kind shape it'll take, if you think about a story arc. And then we do, all of that is kind of a preamble to them being able to go on stage and make everything up with no script. So, people are kind of seeing almost like the tip of the iceberg. But underneath it all, there's actually been a ton of preparation that goes into everything. When I'm talking to companies about how improv can help them perform better, that's actually one of the main talking points is you have to have both preparation and improvisation.
Deb Polich: So, you know, I love going to improv shows. We do a lot when we travel, and I'm always so amazed at how the troupe will ask for input from the people on stage--well, not on stage, but in the audience. And then, you just go for it. And you do it and and you build on it. And I don't even know how you put that all together. What are some of the basic tenets of improv that makes it all work?
Tony DeRosa: You know, there's this idea of saying "yes, and" a lot, which doesn't mean necessarily that, like, your character wants to do whatever the other characters want to do, but we're going to accept kind of the premise of the scenes. If you said, "Hey, you're currently being interviewed on a radio show." And instead, I said, "No, I'm not. I'm ordering drive-thru food at Wendy's, right?" That's not accepting the premise of what we're doing right now. So, the idea is that we're going to support each other. And if somebody kind of defines the reality of a scene, we're going to go with that, right? We're going to listen really closely to what other people are saying, because sometimes it's those very, very subtle details. It could be the way somebody looks at you. It kind of informs the relationship between two characters, or it's that very active listening. It's a super key part of it. And then there's the idea of no mistakes and improv, right? When I build trust with people, which is really one of the things people most like about improv, is if we build enough trust, there's no wrong answer, right? Because I could come out and start a scene where we're going a little practice and I'm the father. I could start a scene where we're workers cleaning up an arcade. It doesn't matter what I say or do. I build this level of trust. The other person is going to support me. And no matter what they say, I'm going to try to make them look at it for them.
Deb Polich: So, does that work in a solo situation, too? So, like, right now, if I threw something at you, would you respond to it? Or does it take a lot more work behind the scenes before you can find the trust in me?
Tony DeRosa: So, one of the things that we do a lot is, and we'll be hosting these at Hearsay, we'll be hosting what are called jams. And there's some other theaters in the area that host jams as well. And those are kind of low-stakes opportunities to play with people you haven't necessarily played with before. And actually one of the skills that we want to teach somebody to have as an improviser in our program is you should be able to go on stage and do a reasonably effective scene with anybody, right? And there's people in general who maybe give a little more, a little bit on the easier side to play with. There's people it's a bit more of a challenge. And so, the idea is you want to get comfortable performing with a wide range of players, right? Because everybody has their own kind of tendencies, their own characters they tend to go to, how verbal they are, how physical they are. So, you want to get comfortable as an improviser, being able to play with people across the spectrum. So, yeah, if you have something in mind, though, I'm happy that we can do a little.
Deb Polich: I think we're kind of just doing it. 89 one WEMU's creative:impact continues with Tony DeRosa, an improv artist and founder of Hearsay Brewery and Theater, opening in Ann Arbor this summer. We're going to get to the brewery in just a second.
Tony DeRosa: Yeah.
Deb Polich: But, you mentioned that you do this work with businesses, and I bet you others as well. How does a business use improv to improve its employee relations or how it does business?
Tony DeRosa: Yes, there's a lot of things that improv can offer businesses. Communication is a really key one. One of my favorite improv games is actually called "I Love Pancakes." And the idea this game is you think about how many ways can you say a simple phrase like, "I love pancakes." You can say, like, "I love pancakes?"
Deb Polich: "I love pancakes!" Right. You can switch it up. It's kind of like peas and carrots.
Tony DeRosa: Right. And so, I think communication in the corporate world often goes haywire because so much of it is asynchronous or over email. And so, people sometimes take communication the wrong way. They're kind of creating narratives that may or may not be there. So a lot of what I talk about is improving communication is something that improv can really lend a lot of support to. It's an art form, too, that is very much about support, assuming kind of good intentions and that people are going to have each other's back. And so, communication is a key. And then, just building trust and camaraderie, right? I think just the exercises themselves, there's a bit of supporting each other and stepping out to help a scene progress or to help a game progress. That has a lot of parallels in the business world. There's also an idea of stepping up and doing what's needed for the group, if it may not be what's best for you, right?
Deb Polich: Sure.
Tony DeRosa: Because there's a lot of people that will steamroll an improv scene by just kind of coming in with a bombastic character that doesn't fit versus sometimes "You just need to be a tree in the background, right?" And that's actually exactly what they do.
Deb Polich: Do they always think it should be funny? Because that's what we kind of associate with improv. That's got to be comedic or comical.
Tony DeRosa: It's so funny you say that because, yeah, I'm actually talking with somebody who does dramatic improv, and that's actually this whole other related art form. Dramatic improv is great as well. And, actually, there's some good foundations of, even in comedic improv, the ability to start something that's very grounded, very true-to-life versus something that's kind of zany and out there. It's something a lot of people really enjoy a lot. When it's done well, it's super effective. But there are whole teams that focus really heavily on strictly dramatic improv. And sometimes, you do have some really funny moments because all of those laughs are bigger because you're cutting through the tension of something that was maybe a bit heavier.
Deb Polich: Sure. So, you and your wife recently moved back to Ann Arbor with a specific purpose, and that's to open Hearsay Brewing and Theater. So, what is that going to be?
Tony DeRosa: Yeah. So, it's going to be a community building space, I think, first and foremost. And we're opening this at a time when actually a lot of breweries are going out of business, right? So, there's a lot of people that look at something like this and say, "Why would you open a brewery in 2024?" And the answer is, "There's actually some good evidence that if you're a neighborhood kind of pub or watering hole, that's a good starting point. But also, if you have kind of built-in entertainment, right?" And so, the improv side is going to be key for us. And there will be people who come out strictly because they're fans of comedy. There'll be people that come out because they like our beverage program, which will include a lot of inclusive options like any drinks as well beyond the beers that we're really excited about also. But, yeah, there's this idea that you can sort of in, a Venn diagram model, fit in either category, or you can be in the middle, and that'll be really exciting. And then, we just expect to have a really vibrant social calendar. So, one of the businesses--I think was a nonprofit--but one of the places that my wife and I really liked when we lived in Ann Arbor our first go around was Cultivate.
Deb Polich: Sure.
Tony DeRosa: It's in Ypsilanti. There'd be like a German language group and, like, a knitting group. And there'd be music outside and that kind of dynamic piece where you would just have a lot going on. And so, that's kind of what we want Hearsay to be: this kind of community hub with a huge focus on really well-made craft beer and improv.
Deb Polich: So, I got a minute left with you. Are you going to be booking acts, or will you have a troupe, or a little bit of both?
Tony DeRosa: Yeah. So, we'll have a team that'll be performing regularly on Fridays and Saturdays. We plan to have auditions and postings soon for experienced improvisers that want to audition for one of those teams. And then, we are starting classes. So, I'd be remiss to not say we have actually beginner level classes launching on April 1st and April 2nd. So, there's a Monday section and a Tuesday section. Those run for eight weeks, including a show on the final date.
Deb Polich: They can learn, and they can participate. That sounds great. So, I look forward to the club opening. It's going to open sometime this summer. And they can find you on the web, I'm sure. And we will have that information on wemu.org. So, thanks for being on the show and giving us an improvisational look at the hearsay brewing and theater. Appreciate you!
Tony DeRosa: Thank you. Deb! Good to be on!
Deb Polich: That's Tony DeRosa, improv artist and founder of Hearsay Brewing and Theater, opening in Ann Arbor this summer. Find out more about him and his Team Up Improv, as well as Hearsay Brewery and theater at wemu.org. You've been listening to creative:impact. I'm Deb Polich, president and CEO of Creative Washtenaw and your host. Mat Hopson is our producer. Please join us every Tuesday to meet the people who make Washtenaw creative. This is 89 one WEMU Ypsilanti. Public radio from Eastern Michigan University.
If you'd like to a guest on creative:impact, email Deb Polich at deb.polich@creativewashtenaw.org.
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