On Saturday, April 24th at 7pm, Study Hall will be celebrating its seventh anniversary! We will be joined by Robert A. George (Bloomberg Opinion), Lauren Vidas (Election Law Attorney), Zachary Schrag (Author) and the most consistent thing about Study Hall in our seven years- Michael Yudell.
In 2012 the Philadelphia Science Festival was partnering with the Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) for a night that mixed comedy and science. They had sketch comedy, musical comedy, stand-up, and they looking for some improv. I was directing the improv team Asteroid!, which was considered one of the stronger teams at the time and we were approached by PHIT to “do something.” All we knew was that we were going to be paired with some guy from Drexel. Great. So what exactly are we supposed to do with him?
In improv there are a ton of different formats that improvisers perform. Not Yet Rated, for example, improvises a movie on the spot. An improv format that seemed like a good fit for this segment was the “Armando,” which is named after improviser Armando Diaz. In that format Armando (or whoever Armando is that night) would tell stories and the cast would improvise scenes inspired by it.
That seemed to fit pretty well and allowed both the team and Yudell to have focus. We talked it over as a team and thought we would approach Michael with that plan. He would give a lecture and then we would improvise scenes inspired by it. He would tell his next lecture and we would improvise scenes inspired by it and on like that until the bell rang.
On April 26th, 2012 we hit the main stage of the Chemical Heritage Foundation for the Philadelphia Science Festival’s “Life, Sex, Death, and Food: A Historical Look at the Science that Drives Us.” After all this time shows blur together, but I do believe that night Michael lectured on Kinsey and toothbrushes and the King of Condoms, Julius Schmid. Our segment went very well and we were invited back in 2013 and 2014 and were once again paired with that guy from Drexel.
In the Spring of 2013, after 3+ years of no cast changes, the Asteroid! was starting its break-up. We had decided early on that if the team started to lose people we would end the team rather than add new people. To go out the way we came into the world. We had gotten news that two of our performers, Bert and Luke, would be moving in fairly rapid succession, so we started to plot our exit.
In early Summer 2013 PHIT was seeking Philly Fringe Festival show ideas. We loved the experiences working with Yudell in the Science Festival segments and went to him pitching “that segment but it’s the whole show” and he was immediately on board. We took our show idea “Study Hall” to PHIT who picked us up for five shows in the September festival. Worth noting here that there was a originally a rift on what the show would be called and we nearly went with “Back to School!”
For the cast, there’s practice involved. Yes, improv teams do practice. It’s a lot like sports and exercise in general. You have to keep sharp and work on different skillsets. For Yudell, however, there’s actual work. For this Fringe Festival run he wouldn’t just be doing a couple lectures a year a part- he would be planning five different lectures for five different shows five days in a row. Nevertheless he did it and it was great. The run was a great success. Asteroid! then rolled right from the Fringe Festival to its final run of the Improvised B-Movie and ceased improv operations on October 26th, 2013 and hasn’t so much appeared as a team together since.
Study Hall 2013 Philly Fringe Festival promo video created by cast member, Caitlin Corkery
In late 2013 PHIT was starting to expand into a new space and was looking to fill the stage with new shows. Artistic Director at the time, Ralph Andracchio, approached me about making Study Hall a monthly show at the theater. I had just ended 3.5 years with Asteroid! and picked up coaching another team, The Future, so I was hesitant to take on something else. I also wasn’t sure what the show would look like without Asteroid! and if Yudell would even be game for it. I first approached Yudell to gauge his interest and once gain, he was in front the start.
As for the cast, we were able to hang on to Caitlin Corkery, Jessica Ross, Aaron Unice, Lora Magaldi, and AJ Horan and added David Donnella, Frank Farrell, Andrew Stanton, Becca Trabin, Corin Wells, and Addie Weyrich to that original monthly cast. Over the next 6 years Study Hall would become one of the most consistently good and well-attended shows at the theater and brought so many people in that would otherwise not give improv or live comedy a look. We had our 6th anniversary show on February 9th, 2020 performing to an oversold crowd of about 120. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020 and took our stage.
Since the show started Yudell and I made various changes from the overall presentation of the show down to adding guest lecturers and also cutting down the number of lectures per show (we do 3 most often now, but for a long time we were doing five plus improv and I’m not sure how looking back). So change and adaptation were not new to us. Taking the show online though could be tough. Improv doesn’t translate too well online (or in person sometimes) so I was hesitant, but we started testing things out and again, Yudell was all aboard.
We had our first online show on April 11th, 2020, less than a month after everything went into lockdown. We started by keeping things more conversational and not really doing improv in the traditional sense. We would have a lecture and then the “class” would discuss it as a group and presenting the “scenes” more as comments or questions. We also started welcoming guests from outside the Philly area. We were all on the internet, so why not take advantage of that. We had one more online show produced through PHIT until all shows stopped, but now both Yudell and I wanted to continue.
After a few more online attempts to figure things out, we landed on a hybrid of our live shows and our earlier online performances. Lectures, discussion, and improv. Last year we had a big stretch of weekly shows, an 8 show fringe run, and ended the year with several monthly shows. Yudell there for all of it. We were off for the first quarter of 2021 as I was beginning to put Crossroads Comedy Theater together and with it a new website. We returned for our first show of the year to shake off the dust on March 27th- our last as a wandering comedy show searching a theatre landscape decimated by the covid pandemic for a new home.
Study Hall online show intro sequence created by cast member, Daniel Corkery.
Our first show as part of Crossroads Comedy Theater will be a celebration of 7 years of lectures and laughs, which, as you’ve seen, none of which is possible without Michael Yudell. He has often said that this is an outlet for him too, and if you’ve seen the shows during the Trump years, you know that to be true. Regardless of what he gets out of Study Hall, it’s what he has put in that has made it the show it is. He has been so supportive of the show and giving of his time. Giving countless lectures, booking guests, hosting the show, lunches with me to discuss the show, and even attending our cast practices when he has been able. It’s hard to say if Study Hall would have continued if Yudell had said no to doing a monthly show, but I can say for certain it would not have been the show that it has become.
A short while ago Michael let us know that he would be moving from Philly and Drexel to Arizona where he will become the Vice Dean of the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University in July. Although that’s sad for us, we wish him nothing but the best. We already know this won’t be the end of his involvement in Study Hall. He will continue to be a part of our online shows and we’re already talking about performing shows across the country once live theater is back in business. In Philly, his absence as steady lecturer creates a hard podium to fill.
Study Hall performing live via Zoom on July 29th, 2020. Left to right/Top to bottom: Michael Yudell, Mike Marbach, Kae Lani Palmisano, Adam Rothman, Jacqueline Antonovich, Rob O'Neill, Aaron Unice, James Knight, Keane Cobb, Lora Magaldi, Melinda Messina, Sarah Clemency, Caitlin Corkery, Frank Farrell, Marcely Jean-Pierre.
As I give thanks to Yudell for his time and attention to this show, I’d be remiss to not thank the many cast members of Study Hall over the years. We have had the smartest and funniest performers around. They could take the driest or most weighty of lectures and spin them into hilarious scenes on pointed commentary always making the audience laugh, think, or both. Also to the many lecturers over the years. We have learned so much about so very many things and that happened because they said yes to doing this show. If you’re interested in doing Study Hall we’d love to have you. Just drop us a line.
To Michael Yudell, the casts over the years, the many guests, and the thousands of people that have seen our shows- thank you. Now let’s wear those masks, social distance, and get vaccinated so our 8th anniversary can be in person.
Mike Marbach
Director of Study Hall
Founder of Crossroads Comedy Theater
