Dirty South Improv Comedy Theater
By Susan Tart

The Dirty South Improv Comedy Theater in Carrboro takes comedy seriously.

Zach Ward, founder of DSI, recently won another award to add to the theater's wall--an Indies 2006 Triangle Arts Award.

"A lot of people think of improv comedy and they think, 'Oh, that's funny, haha, jokes, jokes, jokes,' but we really take it seriously and we really treat improv comedy as theater," said Ward.

Members of the DSI family share his love for improv.

"It's the next best thing to being a rock star. In fact, it's better than being a rock star," said fellow actor Jeremy Griffin.

"I was increasingly unpopular in high school and to deal with my unpopularity I made jokes about it," added Callie Peck.

"I do it for the chicks. So it's a lot of fun," said P.T. Scarborough with a smile.

It's hard for the members to not have a sense of humor. But that's exactly what has given DSI national acclaim and has kept audience members filling up the seats for seven shows every week.

DSI also teaches improv classes for people at all levels. This includes playing games, to loosen up the imagination.

"We teach them how to make patterns and how to create scenes on stage. And when they bring their sense of humor to the scene—it’s funny. We don't teach them to be funny, we develop their sense of humor." said Ward.

And for the people at DSI, a good sense of humor is like their sixth sense.