My Week of Improv
Disclaimer – I’m a terrible writer. At the best of times I am not great, but I do ok. In this case I am still having trouble concentrating so I apologize for grammatical errors in advance! I just need to get this one out.
I have not been feeling well the past few weeks so I haven’t been able to write much. Not only was I not writing but I was having trouble enjoying the other areas of my life. The purpose of this site is for me to cover the things I feel passionately about. However everything seemed sort of numb and I needed to do something to break out of the funk. I didn’t feel great but I know I enjoy improv so I jumped in hard with a week of Improv, and it paid off!
Monday we had our final troupe practice for the Hard to Handle Show. We talked about the show, how things would be organized and who would do what. This is sort of the irony of improv because you think of improv by nature having no planning. Really the best way to think about it is practicing for a sport. You practice the skills, go over the game plan, maybe study the other team, so when it comes time to perform you have an idea what to expect. Then you get to the point that if things do not go to plan you can adapt and adjust. We never know what scenes are going to look like until we are on stage and get a suggestion from an audience. However over time we get to know our troupe members, trust our training, and go out there and get the job done. This practice is almost better than performing on stage because it is the journey, rather than the destination, that gives me the most joy from improv. That said I was team captain this week so I knew the onstage part would be pretty intense and pretty fun! That was Wednesday’s problem though.
Tuesday was sort of a special day for me in my improv journey as it was the first day I got to help instruct new improvisors! AJ was leading the class and I was there to support and help any way I could. Obviously this was AJ’s show but it was an awesome feeling to be able to see a group of people standing where I was two years before. While I realize I have so much more to learn it was nice to show how far I had come while being able to help, and relate to, people new to improv. In fairness it was pretty easy as they all seemed enthusiastic about the class and were eager to learn. It was also fun in a way to see them being good without maybe realizing it themselves. I actually think I learn more from them than they do from me. Really I didn’t need to do much as AJ had his lesson plan and they had been through 5 of these classes already. In the end I just tried to remember what it was like for me and relate that experience to them, giving little tips here and there.
Wednesday was show day!! Now I am not going to write in too much detail about the show (as I hope to write a blog specifically about a show day and everything that happens) but I will go over the highlights. It was my first time as a team captain so it was my job to help explain the games and gather suggestions from the audience. Explaining the games went well, but I learned that I need more practice in getting ideas from the audience. It isn’t as easy as I thought and I didn’t think hard enough about how to solicit the appropriate things from the crowd. That said it was a great energy and we had a very full room! I can’t thank everyone enough for the support as it really does help to give us fuel to perform. Our team didn’t win the “showdown” but in the end it doesn’t matter. Stepping on stage with the rest of my Hard to Handle members (and Jenn and AJ) was amazing and I can’t wait to do it again!!
Thursday my improv week took me from performer to audience member as I travelled to Waterloo to see Theatre on the Edge perform scenes based on our own original writings. People from the audience could write a story or a sentence and have the improvisors act it out on stage. Call it “Whose Line” on steroids. And the end of the show I was very inspired by what they were able to do and clearly very entertained! It reminded me what improv can be, which is pretty much anything! It was just another reason why I love doing what I do and love spending time with great people. I left Waterloo that night in a much better place than when I woke up on Monday morning.
So I will leave with a small, parting thought. I am not just in this for myself. During times where I feel personally down, I immerse myself with people whom I enjoy, doing something I enjoy. It doesn’t fix everything but it sure as hell is a start.
I can’t wait to see what next week brings.