Normally the 10-day(ish) stretches of blogging come during the school year when I get buried under papers and the normal scholastic madness. The lazy crazy days of summer often bring forth the blogging mojo.
Not this one.
Shortly after returning from SLA and various other excursions, I decided to embark on a project I am calling the “Summer of Doing Things.” It’s a desire to live, to try, to say “yes” to everything. While I love lounging by the pool and the television, and playing around on Facebook, etc. it’s an empty life. And I live near one of America’s great playgrounds, New York City. There’s always something to do each weekend.
Thus, I made a mid-year resolution to get out and “do things” on weekends and evenings. It wouldn’t be difficult. There’s always museums, concerts, theater, parks to be had in our fair city. I am documenting as much as I can in pictures and hope to post everything to the blog, Facebook, Flickr page, etc. very soon.
One of my favorite activities was yesterday – my first ever improv comedy class.
A dear friend had been gently encouraging me to try improv (he’s done it for several years, just for fun, and he is tres talented!) and after another gentle push from another darling pal, I decided to bite the bullet. I found a free Sunday morning class at the Magnet Theater, and signed up.
The class was yesterday.
And I never had so much fun in two hours as I did in my entire life.
Of course, it’s a little intimidating at first, and you feel kind of dorky. (The fact that it was on a Sunday morning did much to provoke a sudden chase of shyness.) Once you get past that hurdle, and get on stage to actually speak (in our case, rant), learn to give and take with your improv team, and build characters and scenes, it’s a world of fun.
After the warmups, we practiced stage presence and the concept of “what is real is what is funny” with an exercise in ranting. My classmates came up with some interesting rants – parking tickets in New York City, skanky men that hit on you, subway delays, bad internet service, late people, nasty suburbanites on the train (that was mine!), tourists – all funny, because they were all real.
A mock cocktail party taught us “give and take” on stage and working in a group to ensure everyone is heard. Our topic – adoption. I ended the scene when asked who I would want to be adopted by – “Barack Obama.” 
The final exercise (and my favorite) was a chance to build characters and scenes using the concept of “yes…and.” This is most like what you see on “Whose Line Is It Anyway” – boss and employee, couple breaking up, two people competing for the same toy. My partner and I performed in a sketch in which we were two people waiting at the entrance to the bar. In our case, it turned into blind dates that turned out not to be who we expected. In fact, when given the scene, I had an idea forming in my mind (two women meeting the same guy for a date, either not knowing about the other) and it turned into something different (two dates who weren’t probably there for romantic intentions). That is the beauty – and the fun – of improv.
Now mind you, this is not a career change – it’s just for fun, and is great for improving public speaking skills and stage presence. If time and (more importantly) finances permit, I will take the full 8 week class in the fall.
I really didn’t have the chance in high school and college to act much on stage – both theater troupes were full of people worlds more talented than I – and in college, some of the theater people were very cliquey. (Note I said some, not all. There were some very wonderful people in the Players, and I am glad they were there to balance out the less than wonderful ones.) But improv comedy – where you can create, nourish and grow character and scene in real time, and even bring more of yourself into it than in traditional acting, might just be my bread and butter.
To my two friends who encouraged me to do this (you know who you are), I cannot thank you enough. You helped bring out the actress, commedienne and charmer that had been lingering for too many years in the dark, waiting for her turn.
Posted by librariankate7578 
