Earlier this year, Andy Jones began the process of launching a new sketch comedy troupe in Ann Arbor. He started writing sketches, reaching out to friends and fellow actors, and hosting rehearsals in his home. All of this led to the founding of The Imposters, who will make their debut June 12-14 at the hear.say brewing in Ann Arbor.

While The Imposters are a new group the names of the six members—Jones, Kara Williams, Elizabeth Wagner, Will Myers, Ken Wood, and David Widmayer—should be well known to those in the Ann Arbor theater community. The troupe has also enlisted some veteran help from stage manager Alexa Duscay.

“A lot of us have done improv comedy before, but none of us really have done sketch before, hence The Imposters,” says Jones. 

“I think everybody in the group has some interest in [sketch]. All of us have been wanting to do something new, challenge ourselves, wanting to write a bit. A way to just kind of have some fun with friends.”

Surrounded by friendly experience and knowledge has been helpful for Jones, who started acting by taking improv classes at Pointless Brewery in 2018 before it closed. He moved to scripted theater after the pandemic, which led to an interest in blending both experiences.

“I feel like I’m just bringing my energy to the group,” said Jones. “Whereas I don’t know what I don’t know in many cases in terms of getting a production off the ground. Leaning into all of the expertise in the group has been enormously helpful.”

“There’s the technical aspects of how you actually do a show, and how does this show work? But there’s also our different perspectives and tastes around what’s funny because not everyone thinks the same things are funny.”

Rehearsals started at the end of March, and early talks with Tony DeRosa at hear.say helped the troupe find a venue along with a looming deadline of early June. Weekly rehearsals have been helpful in finding those sketches that work along with those that don’t.

“Rehearsals are a lot of fun. It’s kind of like a writer’s room. Someone brings a sketch to the writer’s room, and they don’t always hit,” said Jones. “I don’t know what a professional sketch writer’s hit rate is, but mine certainly isn’t very high, right? But it’s fun to get the feedback, and someone will say it’ll be funny if you took it in this direction, so it sounds like this. Everyone’s super collaborative.

“We want to find the funny in whatever the ideas get out there. No one’s cutthroat at all, but we are aiming to be honest and open, and not just say that’s a great sketch even if they don’t think that because we want it to be good. So if it’s not good, let’s be open to criticism because we’re all beginning at this,” he said.

Jones also found out that everyone has a different way of creating this style of comedy. He typically likes to write in his office and has a hard time writing in groups. While other members of the troupe want that collective feedback.

“Other people in the group say, ‘I don’t work like that. I need to kind of knock it out in the group and bounce ideas, and create it in the moment.’ If you’re the kind of person who needs to be in that group, what feedback you’re saying is essential.”

Collaboration and constructive feedback have led to a decent number of sketches ready for the troupe to perform at their debut. That's very helpful because Jones is anticipating an almost 50-minute show each night, and in the world of sketch comedy that means a lot of content.

“I thought about this recently, a lot of sketch shows like Mr. Show and Key and Peele are 22 minutes of content,” says Jones. “We kind of bit off a whole hour here, and our sketches are about three to five minutes long. I did write some long ones, but scaling back is where it’s at.”

Part of that scaling back is that The Imposters will have more of a Second City feel to it than the large-scale sets one might see on Saturday Night Live. There will be some smaller props and furniture, but also according to Jones a lot of miming.

“It’s going to be sparse on technical aspects, which I think suits the kind of run-and-gun, faster dynamic of these sketches. In the future, I would be more open to more elaborate sets if we had that kind of space.”

So what does the future hold for The Imposters after these debut shows? Jones said he’d like to do quarterly shows around the area, and even possibly bring in new members to the troupe, especially if someone is unavailable.

“We talked about doing one-off things in other theaters or just producing ourselves. I don’t think we need to stick to Ann Arbor. There's a market there, and there’s a need. I think there’s not as much [sketch] as there could be. I think it’d be great to expand it,” says Jones.

“People will come in based on their availability. That’s kind of how I’ve seen it. It’s in the background, and you can come in for a three-month period when you don’t have a show going. It’s an opportunity for actors to be creative, write together, and collaborate. That’s what I would love The Imposters to be. That was the initial vision.”

The possibility of continuing the rehearsals as a workshop for writers and performers to bring in sketches they’ve been working on is also an idea Jones likes for the future of The Imposters.

“It’s a big gift to be able to bring your work to a group every week, and get feedback on it. A lot of people don’t have that ability to get that kind of feedback, so that’s an amazing thing. It’s also a heck of a lot of fun, and you don’t really know what you have on the page until you hear it out loud.”

As Jones and The Imposters continue rehearsing and polishing their sketches, they’re not as focused on the future as much as putting together an entertaining show in June. That’s not to say the troupe doesn’t have something to focus on as Jones mentions, “We’re focused on having fun with the sketches, and making sure folks are laughing.”

Jeremy Klumpp is a freelance writer based in Ypsilanti. 

The Imposters will make their debut at the hear.say brewing, 2350 West Liberty Road, Ann Arbor, with shows on June 12,13, and 14. Visit hearsaytheater.crowdwork.com for tickets.