March 27, 2017

Meet Michael King of The Village Theatre in The Old Fourth Ward

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael King.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am originally from New York and I moved to Georgia 22 years ago to work for an Atlanta-based marketing company that owned and operated a Women’s Professional baseball team – a women’s baseball team that only played men’s teams. When I wasn’t barnstorming the country for work, I took short form Improv classes at Whole World Theatre. I instantly fell in love with Improv – especially the fact that everything was made up on the spot and that it all happened under the watchful eye of an audience.

Taking classes slowly turned into performing on Tuesday nights and eventually moving up the chain to become a Main Cast member – performing, directing and emceeing on the weekends. While I was enjoying a life on the Main Stage at Whole World, I also became the In-Game Host for the Atlanta Hawks. After 5 years of experience on Whole World’s Main Stage, I, along with 10 other performers, shot a pilot for Turner South. The pilot went nowhere. But Whole World Theatre fired me and two of my friends for shooting it without their permission.

At that point, I felt like I had done everything I set out to do and felt pretty content with just leaving Improv in my past. However, that was not what the future had in store for me.

After my friends and I were fired, 10 of our fellow cast mates decided to stand up for us. They demanded that Whole World Theatre reinstate us or they would walk out. Management called their bluff. And in June of 2007, all 10 actors walked out – never to return.

The following Sunday, I invited the 10 actors who walked out along with the two actors who were fired with me over to my house for a BBQ. While we were all enjoying the afternoon, someone said out loud, “What do we do next?” At that point, I politely explained that I had just met a wonderful girl (who I would later marry Jennifer King) and I would be just as happy to never step foot back on stage. Then I wished them all “Good luck.”

Well, as luck would have it, by the end of that BBQ the 13 of us had decided we would start rehearsing Long Form Improv – a format that was new to us. While teaching ourselves Long Form, we began performing shows at the 10High in the basement of the Dark Horse Tavern in Virginia-Highlands. Our shows were a mix of Long Form and Short Form. Since we had a background and experience in Short Form and knew we were good at it, we decided our shows would start with Long Form and end with Short Form. That way we could ensure our Shows would at least end better than they started. The original start time for shows on Sunday Nights was 7:30pm. When our audience started showing up at 8:30 we realized we needed to get better at Long Form and quick.

As our crowds grew over that first year and we got much better at Long Form, Blair Holden (my business partner) approached me about opening up our own venue. I thought it was crazy idea. I was getting married and settling down. And who in their right mind opens an Improv theatre company, especially at the height of an economic downturn (circa 2008)? Although crazy as it was, Blair’s idea continued to swirl around in my head.

Again, I hosted the original 13 people for another Sunday afternoon cookout at my place. This time, Blair and I pitched the “crazy idea” to our friends asking them if they would be interested in committing the next 5 years of their lives to helping create and establish an Improv theatre. Each and every one of them enthusiastically agreed and the Village Theatre opened its doors for the first time on October 10, 2008. Over the last 9 years we have taken on one additional owner, Chris Clabo.

In 2012, we moved into our current 140-seat theatre space at 349 Decatur St. In 2015, we launched the Atlanta Improv Festival. The Festival has hosted Improv groups from all over the country. Then in 2016, we expanded our current location to include a second stage, 65-seat theatre.

Over the last 9 years, the theatre company has grown from the original 13 people to over 60 members. We now teach Improv 5 days a week and also host shows Thursday through Sunday.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
HAHAHA. No, it has NOT been a smooth road at all, but it sure has been FUN! We’ve struggled here and there with just about everything you can imagine. To start, our original location was in a strip mall under a Punk Bar (the old Lenny’s). Not the quietest place for a theatre. We could hear everything from upstairs while we were onstage. We also had homeless men that broke in to the building’s electrical room and decided to live in there! We got shut down by the city. We lost an actor to a job relocation in North Carolina. Another actor was hospitalized and was out of commission for 6 months. With all that said, I still think the biggest challenge is promoting the theatre and continually maintaining an audience.

Please tell us about The Village Theatre.
We are a comedy theatre that focuses on Long Form and Short Form Improv. We are the only Improv theatre and group in Atlanta that does both long and Short Form Improv in our shows. Short Form is what people traditionally think of as “Improv.” At the beginning of each scene, the emcee or host gets a suggestion for the actors on stage and those actors bring the suggested ideas to life. Long Form Improv is more of a Chicago/New York Style where the performers receive multiple facts of information before the show starts and use those ideas as inspiration to perform scenes for 20-45 minutes. In addition to Improv, we host Stand-Up and Sketch shows. We are currently in the process of working with Ryan Archibald, a writer and director at famed Second City in Chicago and a good friend to the Village Theatre. I’m most proud of the Village Theatre’s cast. All of our actors are unpaid and yet so dedicated to their craft.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I am not sure if this ranks as my favorite memory, but one that stands out for sure is when my parents allowed me to host lip sync concerts in our basement. When I was 7 to 10 years old, we had two lip synch bands on our block and we would charge $.25-$.50 for people to come watch us “in concert.” It was just stupid kid fun and all the neighborhood kids would come and watch.

Pricing: