Improv.
“Please, don’t suck.”
That is the recurring sentiment that echo’s through Dillingerilla Studios. It is a modest studio with a stage and enough seating capacity for about one hundred. This is a random Wednesday evening in which twelve Austinites join to learn comedy.
The reason I took an Improv class was to challenge myself. The reason that I moved to Austin was to challenge myself. I mention that word challenge in just about every post that I toss up here for you to read. I find it an important element that is sometimes lost in the shuffle. I have this thought, that the greatest moments of our lives started out as the most uncomfortable. Thus, we challenged ourselves to battle through the displeasure of doubt and find solace in the survival of the moment.
The class is the highlight of my week. It is the moment in which I can talk with people that I consider to be friends. It is a moment in which judgment is removed and anything goes. It is kind of like going to therapy, except rather than delving into your personal unhealthy state, I just swear about random things and long for the “fuck it” moments.
Throughout high school I was an afterthought. I was not popular nor did I try to be. I did not enjoy the hierarchy of the cast system that high school creates. Nor did I enjoy the fakeness that those within the upper realm acted under. From the earliest days, I have wanted to feel and I have been a romantic. These are two things that caused me to look past being popular in order to gain a true connection with the people in which I communicated.
This was the first acting class that I have ever taken. I call myself a playwright and someone in which discoveries new things, yet I had never examined myself on a stage. There is something simply fantastic about getting on stage and getting out of your own skin. There is no judgment nor is there any ranking about who is better or worse. It is simply about the connection you make with the person in which you are playing. It is the feeling that I would guess took over the characters in the film “Fight Club.”
High school ended and I went to college. I was expecting these amazing changes with smart people trying to say smart thing. Unfortunately, it was the same system, this time I just paid for it. So, I continued my isolation from this society. Sure, I had friends and people in which I hung out, but it was away from the main stream. I thought of myself as above them. I had animosity for those who led these lives.
The class begins with an array of warm up activities. This gives way to some actual scenes in which the set up is given by fellow class member or Tom, our teacher. We play for a few hours and analyze how we could improve. From the first class, I began understanding what it means to act. Look, I am not going to sit here and tell you that I found the secret and acting is easy. Quite the opposite actually, I have found out just how difficult the entire thought of acting can be.
College ended twice for me and I decided to move to Austin. I figured that it was just the state of Arizona that was to blame for my general lack of participation within society. The entire state had it out for me and I would move to Austin, where smarter people would value education over pleasure. Yes, you are right, I was wrong. See, after living in this epicenter for Liberal belief systems I have found that life is the same here as it was in Arizona. Sure, it is a whole lot more fun here in Austin, but it is the same dramas and difficulties as living in Arizona or anywhere else would present.
I tried to really be funny and think of witty lines to make my classmates laugh. I would constantly write scenes in my head and re-work the other lines that my partner was to utter. I was doing the exact opposite of what should be done in an Improv comedy class. See, by over-thinking and trying to apply every bit of my “funny” material into each moment, I was tanking.
The following will be a list of things that have been taught to me in the Improv class that can be taken a step past just learning comedy, but learning about life.
“Get out of your mind and into your heart.”
Have a “fuck it” moment.
“Do not try to write out the scene before it ever happens.”
“Whatever you say or do, be confident with as if it makes sense to you, it is right.”
“We are all funny people, unfunny people do not take improv classes.”
“This is not work, this is fun so go out there and play.”
“The goal is to make your partner look good.”
“Scenes are about relationships and the connections between the characters.”
“Always go for the funny script, it will be a lot more fun.”
The above have been stated to me at least once throughout my journey in Level One Improv. Each of these statements have been very timely in terms of my development as an actor. But, more importantly they have provided some amazing words of wisdom to apply to life outside of the theatre. Each of these nuggets help me provide a positive attitude that can cause the perception I have on a moment or a day to change in a good way.
Austin has kicked my ass. It has caused me to grow in so many ways. It has caused me to better understand who I am as a person and the world around me. I have become more patient and a better listener. I found that life is really not that serious and should be taken a bit lighter. Any doubts that I have with an action will be my demise. Someone much smarter than me once said that the greatest attribute you have will end up being your greatest weakness. I think it is true, as my intelligence is my greatest asset and when I think of how smart I am is usually when I do some of the stupidest things.
Concluding, this is the Zen of Improv Level One at the Institution Theatre with Tom Booker. It was intended to break the circle of judgments that I had toward society. It worked in that it allowed me to grow past the pretentious jerk I was, and into someone who understands that there is no ranking when you are living. There is no score that is kept. Accurately, there are just moments in which you have to say “fuck it.” You have to get out of your mind and into your heart. You have to own whatever action you did or whatever words you uttered as they are meaningful to you. Living is not supposed to be work, it is supposed to be fun. Now, trying to make Ricki Lake fall in Love with you again is work!
Moral: If you are in Austin, run to take Tom Booker’s improv class as it will make you laugh, and he has been known to make people cry. Break down whatever it is that intimidates you; as life is much easier when you are happy and carefree. Ok, time for me to shake some shit up in my hamper.
Check out the link of the famous teacher. Pretty awesome.
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