Cris King

Where you’re from / where you’ve lived
Birmingham, AL

How you got into improv
I started off as purely a voice actor, so I started taking improv classes as a way to expand my performance experience. Realized pretty quick that this was gonna take up a big part of my life going forward.

What you love about improv
I love that it tends to attract an unpretentious kind of performer. By design, whatever character, set piece, object, or sound effect the scene calls for must be embodied by you or your castmates, no matter how stupid you look doing it; indeed, frequently the more stupid you look, the better the scene. If the scene calls for a dog, you’d better drop down on all fours and bark. Similarly, as a trans woman, I appreciate that there’s little weight placed on how you look or sound when it comes to playing a character. In live theater, really fun roles for trans people are pretty rare, but in improv they are abundant.

What inspires you
No matter how silly it gets, at its core improv is about storytelling and exploring the emotional connections between different characters. So as cliche as it may sound, I find my best inspiration in other people. I’ll pull an accent from a family member, an anecdote from an exhausted co-worker, or even just a fun random phrase I hear from a passerby on the street. Quite frankly, many of my favorite gags I’ve done on stage started off as in-jokes between my wife and I. Her zest for life and eagerness to try new things inspires me to bring that same energy to a show.

Non-improv related tidbit
I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in about a minute! (though it’s been a while, might be a little rusty)