I wanted to go over a little history of OnPoint Improv both the show as a whole and the evolution of the philosophy behind it.
The show was started in 2016 by an improviser names Tom Boyer with they goal of giving stage time to newer indie team. It was held at the Cambridge YMCA and enjoyed a year long run. Tom passed the show to me and I continued the show.
In 2016 the shooting at the Pulse Club in Florida happened. I have many friends in the LGBTQ community who were scared and I was struggling for something to do. The only thought I had was to collect donations at my show and try to get as many people in the door as I could. As a result we raise around $200 for the victims of the shooting. It was a drop in the bucket but it was all I could do.
Later that year we moved to the Green Room in Union Square since our deal at the YMCA was over and I could no longer afford the space. And then the election happened and I realized that all the organizations that I supported, that supported immigrants, the environment, and social justice, would need help. So I began featuring different organizations, mostly on the national level but after looking into it there were many many local organizations that didn't have the budget to advertise. Organizations like the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, which is a group of 5 lawyers doing pro-bono legal support for victims of racial and national origin discrimination, or the Mystic River Watershed who have been cleaning the Mystic river ever since Exxon spill oil in to it. I certainly had never heard of these organizations before any many people who attended the shows did not. So I felt that giving these organizations some exposure would be a good use of the show.
Me and Charity
I’ve always believed that supporting charities was a responsibility, whether is was the church i attended or an national organization, I wanted to give back because organizations like this since they had helped me in the past
When I was 15 I was diagnosed with an eating disorder, I was hospitalized and went into to treatment and got to a point that I was stable enough to go to college. Later on in college I relapsed hard and was kicked out of school until I recovered. For anyone whose been in any kind of long term mental care insurance companies can be huge assholes. They weren’t willing to cover the amount of treatment I needed so I sought help from MEDA (https://www.medainc.org/) They gave me the help I needed to survive and helped fill in gaps in the treatment.
I was lucky that they had the resources to help me, but not everyone is. THese non-profit orgs are often stretched for resources and can’t help everyone who needs it. I don’t want to see anyone in that position, I don’t want people to go without the help that they need. It’s why I want to help these organizations as much as I can.
OnPoint’s missions is to showcase these charities to the public in a way that they will listen. We put some of the best performers up on stage and help some of the best charities. I hope to see you at a show
-Noah