the first time i considered improv as anything that could be "dramatic" in structure was when Jeremy started to steer the Jury away from short form and games and into longform, an area none of us were particularly familiar with at that point ("you want us to do relationship freeze for 20 minutes? that's IMPOSSIBLE!"). it was still comedic in nature, but it had dramatic structure because our concerns became more about communicating character, relationship and narrative...just with jokes too. it was when i started to think of improv as being more akin to theatre than stand up comedy.
we did a format one weekend at the Blue Theatre, wherein we took an initial suggestion on the first night. then interpreted it one night as a drama and the next night as a comedy (or vice versa...my memory gets fuzzy with old age). and the weird thing was that the drama came out better. the comedy was okay, but mostly flopped while the audience was genuinely compelled by the story and characters in the drama. we didn't avoid comedy or humor, as others have pointed out. we just dealt with the themes a bit more seriously. it's such a small perception shift between the two if you're already bringing character and narrative into your comedy because comedy IS part of drama (even Oedipus, for all the incest and eye gouging, has funny moments). the best part in my opinion was that my sister convinced a bunch of her friends to come see the show and hyped us up as these incredibly funny guys and that they'd be in stitches, etc. and then they came to the dramatic show. and they all came out saying they'd loved the show, but that it wasn't overly funny. which for what we were trying to do is about the highest praise possible.
most of that came from the fact that every member of the Jury had a background in theatre. so a lot of it comes down to acting chops. but if you can do genuine and honest comedy and keep an audience enwrapped like that, you can play good drama regardless of "acting" training because you've already got the skill set...engagement, honesty, and most importantly heart.
on another note...while prepping for it, i'd recommend going in the exact opposite direction from "reality." one of the most useful formats we ever did were our avant garde shows. you take it to this extreme and surreal almost absurdism and it yields great comedy...but it also forces you to find new ways to express and communicate emotion without worrying about "will this get a laugh?" the laughter comes from the absurdity of the situation and the odd things you're doing. which frees you up to focus on getting to the emotional truth in a very semiotic way. i remember doing and watching scenes that made little sense but were utterly heart breaking. so that was extremely helpful for me. your mileage may vary. but i thought i'd throw it out there and see if it sticks to the wall.
