First, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Second, I wanted to share this incredible moment last week at Improv Playground…and even better…Rachel took a picture of it!
Every week after Improv Playground I hold a free long-form improv session. It’s a one hour deeper dive into some aspect of improv. Sometimes we work on formats, or space object work, or editing, or…like last week…we worked on characters.
Character work can be hard, and the improv exercise last week was challenging: character monologues. We circled up, and any improviser could stand in the center while improvisers on the perimeter would gift character attributes. These gifts could be a name, age, occupation, accent, etc. After three gifts, the improviser would have to give a monologuye as that character. The monologue could be about anything, but inspired by the gifts everyone provided. Each monologue lasts about 30 seconds. That’s thirty seconds of people watching you.
Of course, I never pressure anyone to jump in, but everyone is invited to try.
Letting go and becoming someone else in front of peers….it can be easier said than done.
Lindsey was very nervous, but jumped in the circle. Watching someone punch fear in the face, and jump into a character monologue is pretty amazing! It’s nerve wracking to have all eyes on you. The spotlight is bright, and it can be intimidating, but Lindsey trusted herself, and discovered this beautiful character.
She became a pilot and teacher who wrote children’s books.
If that was the only thing that happened, I’d say, “That was fun! She crushed it!”
But the moment became more, because as her character continued she asked everyone to, “please sit down,” as if we were students.
And everyone in the group sat down!
I get a little emotional thinking about it.
I know. I know. You might be thinking, “emotional? Paul. Calm down. Why is this such an important thing?“
I’d be happy to explain. Thanks for the opportunity!
I always tell students in improv classes, “we’re a team.” Even if it’s an improv game, we still want to help eachother. We “win” by making out teammates looks good.
And, here was a teammate we all knew was nervous, and we wanted to help. The way we could help was to become the students sitting during the monologue. We were invited into the scene, and accepted. We didn’t ignore the request, we supported our teammate. ALL 14 other improvisers there sat down. It was a group-mind moment. NONE of the 14 other improvisers took focus, we just added the the monologue.
This was Lindsay’s moment, and she asked us to be a part of it.
We all begin improv as strangers. We don’t know what will happen, but trust in each other and the moment. We meetup every week because we want to explore improv together. Sitting down for Lindsay’s character was a reminder, that we’re here for each other.
Rachel sent me a picture, and I’m so grateful I can look back and hold onto this moment.
I’m very grateful for this supportive improv community. Showing up every week and sharing improv lessons and ideas, and seeing them embraced by strangers who become friends is one of the best parts of my life. I’m lucky to work with so many people willing to take risks, “yes, and,” be there for each other.
If you’re reading this and thinking, how can I be a part of this, join us at the Improv Playground.
I’m not trying to turn this blog post into a commercial, but I do understand a lot of people don’t realize they CAN do this. I guess that’s why the moment last week at improv stood out to me too, it was someone realizing they can create something, and everyone saying, “we’ll help!“