by Kirby Lindsay Laney, posted 5 July 2015
On July 10th & 11th (and again on August 7th & 8th,) Fremont will play host to good old-fashioned, shockingly original comedy. Described as a ‘new and used, improv and sketch duo,’ ‘Smitty & Miles’ delivers to audiences a funny and imaginative world of their own creation, all appearing fresh on stage at West of Lenin (WoL.)
‘Smitty & Miles’ are Matt Smith and Pattie Miles, two veteran performers bringing impressive resumes of experience, cunning wit and insidious charm to the challenge of entertaining us. Between them, ‘Smitty & Miles’ bring a depth of knowledge about improvisation and sketch comedy that created sold out shows last April at WoL.
Tried And True
“Come in, and see what happens,” Smith encouraged, “We’re curious to see what happens.” As Miles added, “whatever happens, happens.” The two tried and tested performers have spent the last few months using improvisation to create characters and situations for their shows this summer. Some of the sketches and improvisations they’ll share are completely new, even to them, and some were created using standards and traditions of comedy that the two – both of whom have taught comedy and improv – know very well.
Yet, “if you are trying to be funny,” Smith observed, “you can’t be.” Miles and Smith have spent their time creating relationships that will ring true with the audience, and will entertain. They’ve enlisted the help of friends, whose opinions they respect, as audiences and sounding boards for the riff and play they create.
“Coming from teaching for 20 years,” Smith said of this new project, “We have real beginners’ minds. We have a lot of experience behind us, but still have to ask, ‘What does it look like now?’” Together, the two play together, and “we record our improvs,” Miles explained, “we don’t sit down and write our sketches,” and hope to be oh-so-clever, or exact with detailed backstories, that can overbalance and bog down the show.
Instead, they’ve tapped into the huge catalogue of improv tricks and techniques that they have learned over decades of dedicated work. They’ve explored long-form improv (where a whole show can be done in a particular style – Jane Austen, Tennessee Williams, etc.) and short-form (quick games that involve the audience in a variety of ways.) They’ve worked on particular characters they know. And on the ‘Smitty & Miles’ Facebook page, they mention a rehearsal spent breaking down the structure of long-form based on the guitar chords of The Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.
Both Miles and Smith know the ins and outs of improv. Miles has worked as an actor, director and playwright, nearly everywhere from The Empty Space to the 14/48: The World’s Quickest Theatre Festival. She co-founded the Friday Night Improv in Pittsburgh, and has performed with Annex Improv and the King’s Elephant Theatre. She is also co-Artistic Director of The Paradise Theatre School and Day Road Film Productions. Smith also has worked as an actor and writer, doing screen work on ‘Sleepless In Seattle,’ ‘Spiderman’, and ‘Almost Live,’ among many others. He works as an auctioneer, and has founded Stark/Raving Theatre and Seattle Improv.
As a teacher, Smith consults with corporate clients as a communications expert using improv techniques. Improv skills create flexibility, and its techniques can enhance survival within a structured environment. In improv, performers play off one another, and the input of the audience, which requires performers to separate the person from their actions and/or words. It teaches you to see, “I’m not dealing with an asshole,” Smith explained, “I’m dealing with a behavior,” and to see, “What are the behaviors that defeat communication here?”
You Should Do That
This pair of uber-performers came together as ‘Smitty & Miles’ after an off-hand suggestion by WoL Founder A.J. Epstein, who saw a comedy duo while in New York, told Smith that he should do that.
Smith had been looking for someone to do improv with, and he knew Miles from classes they’d attended together, and riding home on the ferry. He quickly found that her style suited him. “She has a fearlessness and a capacity to let things emerge,” Smith said of Miles, “and patience.”
Meanwhile, Miles had been looking to get back to improv, “I kept teaching, but I felt like a fraud, not performing.” Still, when they first started, “my thinking was that we’d rehearse for a year,” she admitted. Instead, Epstein encouraged them to take their work on stage, right at first. “Nothing like a deadline,” Smith observed, to get rehearsals done and goals met.
For Miles, Smith “is an open book. What you see is what you get. There is no pretense and no posturing. And that leaves room for me to feel safe and free to experiment.” For Smith, the partnership is a chance to rediscover an old flame. “Improv is the love of my life,” he said, “besides my wife. It’s like reconnecting with an old girlfriend.”
Come see two performers at the peak of their craft, doing what they love, in the smart, acerbic and irreverent ‘Smitty & Miles,’ at WoL for four short performances. Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets, or at the door – as long as they last.
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