Requiem for a Legacy

Look, I've had a lot of death-y things happening lately. Grandma Sophie passed away in January. Last week I found my cat unconscious in insulin shock, and I thought it was the end (she made a miraculous recovery at the vet's, and her diabetes may have gone into remission). I spun myself out on the highway the other day, my own damn fault.

And then there's the impending end of the Hypothetical 7.

I don't want to write this. I don't want to explain. Jess has already explained, and did a good job of it. Go read her blog instead.

A photo in the Facebook group album spurred a discussion a few weeks ago between a few original H7 members from the 1990's, about a reunion show. I think that would be amazing -- a hell of a complicated feat to pull off, as they're spread about the country, but amazing. But something in the tone of the discussion made me feel like I was at my own wake, hearing people talk about how much they missed me, only I wasn't dead, I was just horribly paralyzed and couldn't tell them not to bury me alive.

What's the point in sustaining a legacy, when the people you do it for bury you alive?

But they're right. The true character of the Hypothetical 7 was lost when the last two founding members left in the summer of 2007. The remaining players made a great effort, but struggled with relative inexperience, teaching newbies (from a relatively inexperienced position), adapting to a changing artistic environment in the improv world, geographical relocation, loss of the audiences who came to see specific players...

And why stick with a name if that fifteen-year history doesn't do jack for your box office? I suspect that a couple years of that legacy actually hurt our reputation. Like when this shit resurfaced... Whoever Alan was writing about, that is NOT us, not now. We aren't even the same troupe (though we're mostly the same individuals) that played a so-so set at 8:KCiF.

Oh, we aren't trying to fool anyone. We aren't putting on false mustaches and accents: "Ze Hypot'etical quoi? I do not know zis Zeven of vhich you zpeak!" On the contrary, we're stripping it down to the real us, a few people who love playing together, and have a lot to learn, and can put on a good show when we aren't trying to wear someone else's skin. H7 brought us together. From here, we go forward.