A Life Beyond the Classroom

Teacher, actor, comedianoh my.

By: Eva Thomas

On a cold and dreary October afternoon, Ari Hoptman marches into his stuffy
1003 German classroom and begins with a simple story about a Dinkytown
landlord to loosen up the class.

Hoptman begins in German: This is a nice room, right? Yeah, well Bob Dylan
lived here once, he says, imitating a Dinkytown landlord.

He moves on to another house and another landlord. Yeah, Bob Dylan lived here
once. And he lived in this room and also in this room, he says, changing his
voice to sound like that of an old and grumpy landlord.

Laughter erupts among the students as Hoptman throws up his arms to break the
act. Then theres a scene change.

So ladies and gentlemen, GUTEN TAG, Hoptman shouts enthusiastically and

suddenly. GUTEN TAG, the students shout back. This exchange is repeated
once more, and then class begins with one of the most energetic and comical
teachers at the Ua teacher who has an undeniable passion for everything he
does.

By day, Hoptman is a senior lecturer and German language specialist at the

University of Minnesota in the German, Scandinavian and Dutch department. By
night, he steps out of academia and enters an entirely different worldone filled
with acting and comedy.

Though these sides of Hoptman fall on opposite ends of the spectrumteacher

versus comedian and actorthey have one thing in common. They allow him to
interact with people, and each provides a sort of give and take that drives him to
continue doing what he does. But Hoptman combines these different sides of
himself on every stage he performs, blurring the boundaries between teacher
and actor.
Hoptman, 47, has starred in several movieshe is best known for his role as
Arlen Finkle in A Serious Manand commercials, and he has performed in over
63 plays. He has performed on many stages around the Minneapolis areathe
Jungle Theater, Bryant Lake Bowl, the Southern Theater, the Acadia Cabaret
Theatre and the Minnesota Fringe Festival. And his acting and comedy shows
continue to leave his audience in an uproar of laughter long after they are over.
And if youve been to the Nickelodeon Universe in recent years, then you are
probably familiar with the Scream Collectora highly specialized data guy whose
main tool is a mason jar. Hes a researcher, a geek and an explorer. And its his
mission to capture, contain and classify the screams of Nickelodeon Universe.

Hoptman is the Scream Collector, who has become an icon at the Mall of
America amusement park. During his audition, he didnt think he would get the
part. But Ann Swarts, senior broadcast producer at Preston Kelly, said Hoptman
fit the role perfectly.

His physical appearance was part of the scream collector, she said, but he was
so funny, very subtle, and his dry sense of humor was perfect. It [was] very
believable. The scream collector is a great character, and there are more stories
to tell, she added.

Hoptmans love for acting started when he was in his mid-teens, in a small high
school in Oak Park, Mo. And like most parents, his were always supportive,
though they also encouraged him to join choir and the mens ensemble to work
on his singing and dancing skillstwo skills that come in handy when performing
in shows.

They were more music-oriented than theater-oriented, he said about his

parents. And because of this, Hoptman did more music than theater in high
school. In a recent audition, Hoptman was unexpectedly required to perform a
musical number. But the music skills he learned in high school came in handy,
and he was thankful for his parents for having pushed him to grow in all areas,
not just acting.

Hoptman did find time to perform in a couple of plays during high school. This is
where his love for theater and comedy really developed and where he realized
just how much he enjoyed the interaction aspect of performance.
He said his high school was fortunate enough to have a little theater, which was
separate from the larger school auditorium.

The audience was very close to you, so you could get a much different
experience than you could in an auditorium, he said. The interaction between the
performer and the audience is differentits more intimate.

Rather than sitting in sloped seating, which looks down on the stage, he said,
moving his right hand to show the sloped seating, the audience sat on all three
sides of it, which was great. But when his high school put on A Midsummer
Nights Dream, the seating arrangement came as a bit of a disadvantage.
There was a dog in the play, and I was in charge of keeping the dog quiet,
Hoptman said. And the dressing room was five feet from the stage, so I had to
keep the dog quiet for two hours. And we couldnt let anyone know there was a
dogthe dog was a BIG surprise.

But its these kinds of interactions and challenges between the performer and the
audience that Hoptman loves most about being an actor. And he doesnt mean
interaction in terms of audience participation, but rather the responses from them.
Their responses, which are often in the form of laughter, feed him when he is on
stage.

With a live audience, Hoptman says you always have to adjust your performance.
You never know what audiences will find funny, or how a single audience will
react to the performance. Some people will find things funny that others do not.
So Hoptman makes sure to monitor his audience, ensuring he is performing
something everyone will enjoy and something that will make everyone laugh.

Theres a constant monitoring of whats going on, whats on stage, and how the
audience is reacting to it, he said.

One trick Hoptman uses on stage is to purposely disguise his comedy shows as
serious monologues. As the monologues go on, people eventually catch on to his
act.
They would realize that this is all a ruse, and that [Im] going in a completely
different direction, he said. And then people would start laughing.

And as a teacher, Hoptman is constantly interacting with his students, whether its
through lively class discussions, clarifying emails or during office hours. Its this
sort of interaction that drives him to continue teaching.

Its about the give and take, he responded when asked what he gets from
teaching.

And just as on stage, the more interested and engaged his audience is, the
more energetic he becomes.

Hoptman said he likes when his students ask questions, which are always good,
probing (ones).

I like to see how their minds work, and how they process information, he says.
And all of this then helps me adjust my teaching.

Anatoly Liberman, who was once Hoptmans doctoral advisor and is now a
colleague and dear friend, said Hoptman is a wonderful language teacher
because he is an actor.

He is active, friendly, and as an actor, he also draws well, Liberman said. He is

interested in grammar, and interested in the history of German. He knows much
more than many other people who teach German, and being accustomed to act,
he acts all the times, he is never boring. Thats what makes him so welcome on
this scene, on this stage, he added.

Not all teaching is acting, though. And Hoptman has some ideas about how to
best reach his students. Just as he does when he is on stage, he monitors his
students and makes sure that he is teaching them important and often
complicated concepts in an effective and engaging way.

Grammar is an important thing to learn when studying a language, and its often
a thing students dread. But Hoptman takes a different approach, by disguising
his teaching just as he sometimes disguises his comedy shows.
Liberman said Hoptman does not shove the grammar down their unwilling
throats. Instead, he teaches grammar, which Liberman said is a bugaboo for
many people nowadays, in a way that his students will understand just how useful
it is and how much they will gain from knowing it.

When you teach a language, its very important to be comfortable in several

areas, Liberman said. Ari knows grammar and teaches it very well, so that the
students like grammar.

Prima Alam, a student at the University of Minnesota, said she loves Hoptman
because he makes learning fun. When a lesson becomes too stressful, he may
crack a joke or two to lighten the moodhere is when he comical sides really
surfaces in the classroom. And after this quick joke-filled scene break, students
minds seem to be refreshed and ready to learn.

But when it comes to acting, Hoptman doesnt have the same sophisticated
techniques as he might have for the classroom. He sits down, learns the lines,
and learns the character. And this has clearly worked well for him.

Graydon Royce, a theater critic for the Star Tribune, has seen Hoptman perform
about five or six times. He said Hoptman is always committed to the role he is
playing, and he understands the role of a character in a drama.

He is very focused and very good at being able to concentrate on the moment
he is in, Royce said. And this allows him to use his talents.
Royce said that Hoptmans principle talent is his dry sense of humor, which he
uses to create effect. And he knows how to underplay a scene, which is an
important element in theater as well as in teaching.

Even in his broadest, largest moment, I have never seen him overact. He does
what is required, which is rare, Royce said.

Liberman said Hoptman carries his knowledge lightly, so that you never really
know much he knows. You would never feel how much he knows, but he knows
a lot, he said. And he uses that for both functions as an actor and as a teacher.
Hoptman uses these different sides of himself on every stage he encounters,
making each performance unique and enjoyableits one that everybody wants
to be a part of. Every semester, his classroom is filled with students eager to
learn from the great Herr Hoptman. And every seat in the auditorium in which he
is performing is always taken.

Hoptman is unfettered in everything he [does], hes comfortable, and hes [great

at] feeling the mood of the audiences, Liberman said. And this is precisely what
makes him such a great actor, comedian and teacher.