By Zoey Joseph, UP Outreach Coordinator ~
“I think kids and a lot of us are under a lot of pressure not to make any mistakes, we just don’t get to play very often. When kids get chances to do that I think it makes them more kind to themselves and comfortable in their own skin,” said Andrea McCloskey, Director of Community Outreach for Happy Valley Improv in State College.
The Blue Brick Theatre is the group’s home for improv, the place for kids and adults to let loose and have fun, and let’s be honest… after these last few years, we all need a place like this.
Although it started out as a small club, the theater has gained funding from donors and is now able to host a show every Friday night from 7 pm to 8:30 pm as well as teach classes to kids and adults.
It all started with Andrea McCloskey, an associate professor in the department of Curriculum & Instruction at Penn State. She has a beautiful family and a job she loves; however, in 2015, she couldn’t help but feel as though something was missing from her life.
McCloskey with adult participants during an improv workshop.
“It was creativity with other people and playfulness,” said McCloskey.
That is when she reached out to two other faculty members at Penn State and formed the club, Happy Valley Improv. McCloskey soon came to realize that the community surrounding improv was extremely supportive. During the pandemic, McCloskey and the rest of the team finally bought a building to call their own theater.
The building, along with its new name “Blue Brick Theatre” was based on the idea of building the improv community… “brick by brick.”
The initiative of building brick by brick allows the community the opportunity to help each other build the improv scene here at State College. Those who buy a brick support the theater, scholarships, and training programs, and get their name written on the brick so they can be a part of the foundation forever.
As the company began to grow, so did its community and its donors. Soon enough, the Blue Brick Theater was selling out its Friday night shows and McCloskey had become a founder of a new and successful improv theater.
The theater offers both youth and adult classes for anyone interested in improv. There are four levels of classes one can take: level 1 provides a six-week course, and each level increases from there. If a participant is hesitant to commit to an entire package, the theater offers a free Sunday class from 7 pm to 9 pm called improv practice group.
“Improv practice group is supposed to be a place where people can try it out for whatever way makes sense to them,” McCloskey said.
Tickets for their weekly Friday night shows are $15 and can be bought on their website along with tickets to their special events. These special events range anywhere from student workshops to guest comedian performers.
Young improv students stand before their audience inside the Blue Brick Theatre.
The team at Blue Brick Theatre takes accessibility very seriously and makes it a priority to have available financial scholarships to students and adults who would like to take classes but do not have sufficient funds to do so.
The theater can be found at 209 W. Calder Way, Downtown State College. If you are 21+, each performance is BYOB! AND: The Second Annual Happy Valley Improv Festival will be held May 18-21, 2023.
“Learning to be kind to yourself… it’s not about being perfect, it’s not about nailing every line you say … it’s really about finding what’s fun to you,” said McCloskey.
For more information… check out this interview with Andrea McClosky from KLIO 2021.
Zoey Joseph’s position for KLIO is the University Park Outreach and Initiatives. She is currently a second-year majoring in advertising. Outside of KLIO, she is a part of VALLEY magazine’s advertising team, as well as a member of Phi Sigma Sigma and fundraising specialist for her THON committee.