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A photo of Terry Withers in action.

Hi, I'm Terry.  People say my full name is Terry Withers, but if I was ever arrested they'd call me Terrence. 

 

The Radical Agreement Project is my pet project. I started it in September of 2020 because I had too much time on my hands.  It's almost like there was something going on worldwide, where all of a sudden I was home a lot more, had all this extra time, and suddenly knew a ton more about streaming video conferences.  Anyone else experience something similar?

The Radical Agreement Project is a fluid endeavor, meaning it will evolve, grow and mutate over time. It will always center around improv comedy; expanding the art form's impact, reach, application and artistry, specifically doing that in our current socially distanced reality. As I write this in October of 2020, it is focused on bringing improv exercises to the new virtual workplace. But I hope it will mutate into much more.

Good news! I'm qualified to run this pet project, or at least as qualified as just about anybody else I know. I'm a long time improv comedy rat who got his start at the famed UCB Theatre in NYC. There I immersed myself into the art and business of improv comedy for almost a decade. I did this by trying out a multitude of roles, including that of student, performer, booking agent, teacher, senior manager, corporate instructor, touring show producer, and more.

 

More recently I created a bunch of fun shows which had wildly unprofitable runs in NYC. I didn't lose a lot of money, it's just that there was no chance I would ever make any money. I even kicked off the first serious attempt at improv over video conferencing in 2014, way before the pandemic made it fashionable, with a website called E-MPROV.

 

After that, I took some shows on the road to colleges and regional theaters and managed to make some money! I also traveled to teach workshops and classes, worked as a consultant to regional improv theaters, and worked at corporations leading improv-based professional development workshops and events.

I'm a passionate believer in the power and beauty of improv comedy. I deeply believe the world would be a better place if everyone had done a little improv. If that should ever actually happen, then I'd like to see everyone do improv a little bit more frequently than they already are. If that happened? No way it would. But if everyone (in the world) was doing improv semi-frequently? Then I guess I'd like to see everyone (in the world) join a comedy team of about 6-9 people each, that has a coach, practices weekly, performs for semi-large audiences at least twice a month, gets notes after those shows and goes by a name like Salmon Diane or Sqork.  

I have ideas about what would happen after that, but I don't want to share them now because I think they might seem farfetched.

Terry Withers - Founder/Instructor

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