Since the group held its first show in\u00a0August of 2015, fans have continued to find their way to this small community improv theater week after week.\u00a0The Miami New Times<\/i><\/a> named it \u201cBest New Theater\u201d in its Best of Miami 2016 issue earlier this year, noting the theater surpasses \u201cwhat most comedy clubs in our city can offer in both quality and quantity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something sacred about theater. It\u2019s quiet and dark and we have a little bit of that,\u201d Mir says. \u201cBut we want to show that other aspect, too, where you are seeing something live and living and won\u2019t be anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n The theater\u2019s dark, intimate space would feel like a villain\u2019s lair with its black-painted walls and dim red lighting if not for the up-beat music and lively conversations among patrons that gather in the lobby in anticipation for a\u00a0show. Their chit chat is interrupted by the dimming of the\u00a0lights to signal the performance\u00a0is about to start. The music swells, the actors enter from backstage and the laughter\u00a0begins.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all improvised so the actors are experiencing everything for the first time along with the audience,\u201d Mir says. \u201cIt\u2019s always something new.\u201d<\/p>\n * * * * *<\/p>\n The following spring, he applied to become a theatre major at FIU and stuck with Impromedy.<\/p>\n \u201cAt FIU, I learned that theater wasn\u2019t just about performing. It takes a community,\u201d Mir says. \u201cI didn\u2019t just learn how to be a performer. I learned how to run lights, how to build sets, how to manage shows. We want our actors to be able to do all those things, too.\u201d<\/p>\n The dozens of performers at Villain\u00a0Theater come from a variety of different backgrounds and professions \u2013 from trained actors to students, lawyers, real estate agents and teachers.<\/p>\n The diversity reinforces the founders\u2019 core philosophy that \u201cimprov is for everybody,\u201d allowing people from all walks of life a chance to reconnect with something they lose touch with as they grow older: their creativity.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether you are a lawyer talking to a judge or new mom trying to learn how to be a parent, you\u2019re improvising in some way, shape or form everyday,\u201d Mir says. \u201cEveryone has creativity. It\u2019s really about learning to trust yourself and allowing that creativity to flow. It\u2019s about learning to trust your creative choices and that of those around you.\u201d<\/p>\n * * * * *<\/p>\n In 2015, one of Mir\u2019s performance partners from Impromedy, Jeff Quintana, returned to Miami after spending several years performing improv in Chicago and approached Mir about opening a theater in Miami.<\/p>\n The name, Villain Theater, was Quintana\u2019s idea. The improv group he was a member of in Chicago was called \u201cVillain.\u201d The word villain wasn\u2019t always synonymous with criminals and shady characters with bowler hats and handlebar mustaches. The word is derived from the Old French \u201cvilain,\u201d which meant \u201cpeasant, farmer or commoner.\u201d It was often a derogatory term used by the elites of the day when referencing members of the lower levels of feudal society.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething happened there. When did the villager become the bad guy?\u201d Mir says. \u201cWe want to be a theater for the people and by the people. We\u2019re not exactly Shakespearean in our product. And if we\u2019re looked down for it, that\u2019s okay. We don\u2019t mind being the villain. That\u2019s who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n Villain Theater opened\u00a0in May 2015 with a group of eight students called the \u201cFirst Villains.\u201d Many of them FIU actors who went through an accelerated version of the theater\u2019s training program to perform in the inaugural show. The program included improv foundations, scene work, sketch writing, weekly performances and how to craft an entire improv show from scratch.<\/p>\n One of those First Villains was Jannelys Santos \u201914, who graduated from FIU with a bachelor\u2019s in theatre. Santos has been acting since she was 15, but like most of her fellow members in that initial group she was accustomed to scripted work and had never performed improv before.<\/p>\n The theater now boasts approximately 30 regular performers, three improv ensemble teams and 160 students and alumni. They\u2019ve gone from shows on one night a week to shows on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.<\/p>\n Miami\u2019s comedy scene has struggled, with only a handful of clubs in the city providing entertainment for comedy fans and opportunities for actors to perform on a consistent basis. Mir and Quintana want to help fill both those gaps.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want there to be a talent drain in Miami. We feel it\u2019s an amazing city with incredibly talented people who feel the urge to go to other cities to get opportunities,\u201d Mir says. \u201cWe want to provide an opportunity for these Miami voices, and we give our actors a chance to perform every week.\u201d<\/p>\n In the coming months, Villain Theater will move to a new, more visible venue on the corner of Northeast 2ndAvenue and 59th Street in Little Haiti \u2013 30 blocks south of their current location.<\/p>\n With a larger stage, higher visibility and closer proximity to Wynwood, Mir hopes Villain Theater will become even more accessible to more fans.<\/p>\n For more information on Villain Theater and its new venue, go to <\/i>VillainTheater.com<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n![\"29036022083_6c11c54054_k-400x267\"](\"https:\/\/fiualumni-eastus.azurewebsites.net\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/29036022083_6c11c54054_k-400x267-300x200.jpg\")
Mir\u2019s first brush with improv came during his first semester at FIU in the fall of 2004 when he joined an improv comedy group founded by FIU students called \u201cImpromedy.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"29036021443_0090d142fb_k-380x570\"](\"https:\/\/fiualumni-eastus.azurewebsites.net\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/29036021443_0090d142fb_k-380x570-200x300.jpg\")
\u201cWith improv, you\u2019re creating your own material and you can be whoever you want to be,\u201d says Santos, who is now the theater\u2019s managing director. \u201cIn regular acting, you have your script and you usually only have one role. You speak the words and give them life. But with improv, you have to be the actor, the writer, the director and the choreographer all in one.\u201d<\/p>\n