What's His Line?

Greg Hohn '85 has some experience with making things up.

He might never be happier than when he's riding his BMW K-75S motorcycle, having logged more than 175,000 miles en route to all 48 contiguous states, Canada and Mexico. But had he not let his pride get the best of him 15 years ago, he'd still be driving four wheels.

"I had a housemate right after graduation, and he said, 'Do you ride?' and I lied and said, 'Yes,'" Hohn recounted. "He tossed me his keys, so I taught myself."

That attitude has stood him well over the years. Now, as executive and artistic director for a Chapel Hill-based improvisational group called the Transactors Improv Company, Hohn makes a living out of pretending to be things he's not.

After graduating from UNC as an English major, Hohn "floundered about in a post-graduation funk" in England for a while before coming back to the states to work at small newspapers. Teaching was his next calling, but upon asking for a reference, Hohn was offered and accepted an administrative job at Piedmont Community College.

Then in 1989, quite out of the blue, Hohn decided to audition for the Transactors — and his years of bouncing around were over.

"I'd done theater in high school," said Hohn, "and I was just so enamored with doing improv that I left my job [at the community college] to become an actor."

But Hohn hadn't removed himself from teaching as much as he thought. As he became more involved with improv — performing across the country and teaching classes at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro — he discovered his knack for instructing others on the art and how it could help them in life.

"The longer I was in the [Transactors] group, and the more teaching I did, the more I had people coming up to me and saying, 'You know, your class has really changed my life,' or 'I used what you teach in my work,'" Hohn said. "It surprised me, because my focus was always to do improv for improv's sake, but as time passed, I thought maybe I could design a course with skills applied toward business."

And that's exactly what he did, submitting a proposal last fall to UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School for a class in Applied Improv. He designed a class that would transfer the skills used in improv acting to the business world, both of which require "keen awareness, effective communication, clear thinking, teamwork, confidence and the ability to tap into one's creativity," according to Hohn's proposal.

Jim Dean, associate dean for MBA program professors, wasn't sure students would see the connection. But he was willing to give Hohn a shot.

"Much to my surprise, the class was oversubscribed and we ended up adding a second class," Dean said. "Greg is an excellent instructor, and it's benefiting the students very much."

The idea of using improv as a teaching tool is relatively new and somewhat unusual, especially for a business school. Both Dean and Hohn say UNC is the only MBA school they know of with a regular class that's been created. But the system seems to work, which Hohn thinks could be reflective of a new approach to teaching in general.

"There's been a new way of looking at education over the past few decades, of learning in a new way," he said. "It's like the medical school doing play readings to help students develop greater empathy through artistic sublimation. It's outward bound, but inward bound; a rope course without the rope burn — an intensive course that's going to teach you something."

Most of the work Hohn does with the Transactors involves performing, whether it be at Sanderson High School in Raleigh, the Just for Laughs Improv Tournament in Montreal, or one of its greatest successes, the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C.

The group's performances are more than just stand-up comedy and a bunch of theater games. Much of the Transactors' work has been about discovery and trying new things. Originally begun as a children's theater in 1983, the 10 members of the country's only not-for-profit improv company charm audiences with short-form improvisation (three to 10 minutes long), long-form improvisation (45 to 60 minutes) and even a full-length musical, aptly titled "The Musical!," a 75-minute show, complete with overture, dance numbers, ballads, choral pieces and a stirring finish.

"Over 18 years, we've gone through many things and ways of working, trying to explore the horizon of the genre of improv," Hohn explained. "We take ideas and cross-pollinate and inbreed to explore our own ways of doing things."

Hohn himself is much the same way, with a wide range of unusual interests. He's writing a play based on a Samuel Peeps' diary entry about King Charles playing tennis. He also has written for film, radio and television, all while penning a novel set in the Depression and loosely based on his family history. And sometimes, the play is the thing, with groups such as Shakespeare & Originals and Archipelago taking up some of his time. Most recently, Hohn performed in "A New Fine Shame: The Life and Loves of Andreas Salome" at the Manbites Dog Theater in Durham. In 2000, he was nominated for Spectator magazine's award for Best Actor for a Comedy/Musical in the Triangle.

"I feel like I've finally found my niche — the combination of teaching, acting and writing is really where I want to be," Hohn said. "A lot of it is blazing my own trail."

—Worth Civils '01