The Line has Blurred
Well this is another one I could write thousands of words and thank thousands of people (well maybe a couple dozen). However I am going to try and hit the highlights focusing on the most impactful. I want this to be a comparison between being a performer on stage and watching from the audience.
I will start with our performance on Friday. The Shut the Front Door season ended with the Big Improv Show! It was a cumulation of all three troupes seasons so not only would Shut the Front Door perform, but Off the Hinges and my troupe, Hard to Handle, would share the stage. We had collectively raised $10,000 for Stevenson Children’s Camp and were all to be there for the cheque ceremony. The show broke down into two parts with Off the Hinges and Hard to Handle combining to put on a quick paced short-form show, while Shut the Front Door would come in with a more long form based show. Well, long-short form I guess would be a better way to describe it since it sort of morphs into a hybrid of the two.
Anyways I won’t focus on the details of the show so much as the people behind it. I loved working with Off the Hinges again, and we had an amazing amount of fun. We don’t get the play with them all the time, or even practice with them, but it was like we had been doing it together for months! It was very rewarding to get out there and hit our marks the way we did. We got some great laughs and great groans (one of my improv ambitions was to make room full of people groan… and I did!). We also did it in a room with a large amount of our friends from Waterloo; which was awesome! I’ve performed with a few of them briefly but never for them and it was very rewarding. After our set we got to watch Shut the Front Door from the sidelines and it was also amazing. I left the theatre at the end of the night feeling very accomplished. Not for anything I did, but just because I was a part of it in the first place. I can’t quite get over being on stage and performing for people like that. I remember being in the audience and wondering what it would be like to experience. Now I don't have to wonder.
Saturday I changed roles and went from performer back to audience member. We met up with our friends from Waterloo (and some from Toronto) to go watch the Second City Mainstage. Second City has an amazing history of comedic performance in both sketch and improv. Many of my comedic heroes came through this program. It was going to be both an entertaining and learning experience.
Boy was it ever, and not for the reason I thought. These guys are all clearly next level, but the thing that occured to me was that it wasn’t that different from what we are doing. Clearly they are very quick, have depth of characters, and much better production value; but they are still doing something very similar. It made me realize I have a long way to go but, paradoxical, not as long as I thought. This is because it is hard to see progress when you are experiencing it. Time just moves so slow in those circumstances. Like a lobster in a slowly boiling pot of water.
Watching them I was able to contrast to how I felt after watching my first improv show. I watched a show at the Comedy Bar and thought what they were doing was impossible. They were so quick, and so funny and so in the moment. I didn’t think there was any way I could do that. Then this Saturday I’m watching Second City perform and thinking “Yes I need to work on some things but I feel I can get there” and “oh I see what they are doing there, I may have made a different choice”. I can't believe I went from scared audience member three years ago to confident (maybe too confident now) performer/fan thinking of the ways I need to improve to get there. Not thinking it is out of my reach anymore.
Finally the thing that brings it all together for me are the people I’m with. Those on the stage and in the audience. They are now my people. I was lucky enough to share it with friends in both venues. From watching others perform and also having them watching and supporting you. It was a great way to spend a weekend, but also a great way to live. And I love doing it with these people!