File: Art

So, my worry was not needed. (I suppose it never is.) I felt really good about class. Man, I've missed doing improv. It's neat to come back to it. When I was doing it last time around, Charna told me that I have the knowledge about the ways to do it and knew the rules, but that it needed to come out in my body, that I needed to take my knowledge and translate it to the stage. I felt able to do that last night. I don't know why, I just reacted to what as going on around me.

Upon arrival, it was a little weird. I thought we were supposed to meet in the lobby; nobody was there. I heard the voice of Keith, my temporary teacher, in the theatre and walked in. I wasn't sure if I was in the right place, as I wasn't on his roster. Turns out, they put me on Matt's roster, but we had decided last night that wasn't a good idea, so I stayed in Keith's class.

I like this class. The people have different backgrounds: from a law professor, to an English teacher, to a carpenter, and all degrees of experience both inside improv and outside improv. They were all together for the last level so I'm the newbie, but they were all very nice to me and made me feel welcome. From what I saw in class and afterward (we went for beers), I like them as people, too.

Keith had us place ourselves on stage based on different criteria (improv history, placement in family, etc.). Then, we walked around embodying different emotions (the most joyful person we know, the most emotionally repressed person we know), Then, scenework. He's a good teacher. He gave us some great tools. The first came from the psychology book Games People Play (note to self: read). He gave someone in the scene a game, someone in the scene picked an action from the hat, and at the right moment, someone in the scene picked an emotion from the hat.

I didn't do so well with the emotion part. My emotion was affection (is that an emotion, really?). I didn't know how to play it, and the scene that was going on was a living room scene with Grandma trying to one-up everyone else, which was a fun game, but it got a little scrunched together and talky. I just was very huggy. Looking back, I wish I would have walked in with an animal or something else to care for so I could give the affection but wasn't the other players so I'd be able to play the game.

I did better on my action. It was in a kitchen. I cooked eggs. My object work is horrendous. It was fun because the staging placed me in the middle of a game (I'm really not attracted to you) which was well-played by a girl in my class, Caitlin. Matt, a classmate not my spouse, played someone who wanted fried eggs, which upset my character because he ordered scrambled eggs every morning. I wish I could capture the scene, but it was fun to do. I realized, after this scene, that I'm better than I used to be because in the past I was afraid to speak if I didn't have anything in mind. Here, I had nothing in mind and would just look at what was ahead of me and come back to it. "Pepper, salt?" Occasionally, I would come back to it with whatever came to my mind, "Pepper, salt, hand?" Someone in my class commented that was funny. I had no idea.

The first scene I did was the game. It went really well and was a nice relief that I was capable of doing improv. The game Keith gave me was "I'm so bad, see if you can stop me." It was so much fun. So much fun. I was nervous upon reading it because I had just seen another classmate, Louis, do the same game very, very well. He kept throwing apples and moving his feet like circles. It was damn funny. In mine, my scene partner was walking his dog/sheep (it kept changing). I don't know what made me do this, but I decided to love it till it hurts to see if they would stop me. "I'm going to lick it." At one point I was underneath the sheep/dog hugging it with my whole body. My third scene partner (I haven't learned everyone's name yet) walked in and said that it wasn't the same since our mother had died. At which point, I just reacted. I screamed a high pitch whine. And held it. And held it. And held it until people laughed. My partners would speak, but then I would scream again, playing with the volume and pitch length. It was a lot of fun (although it sort of hurt my voice). I didn't plan anything--I was just in the moment and reacting to the people and emotions around me. This is what I had been trying to do in my improv planning and performing before and never quite accomplished. It felt great to be able to do that.

We did some more object work, walking into a room with an emotion (rage) and interacting with all the stuff left in it by previous occupants, create your own, and then leave. I was the last one and didn't do the best job. You can't always hit home runs.

We played emotional symphony which is a cool game that's a lot of fun. (People emote to a given emotion conducted like a symphony). After class, I was emotionally and physically tired. I understand why Matt's so wiped after a CSZ show.

I realized that I have some potential. Some of my classmates found me to be funny (hooray!). Most importantly, I was relaxed, open, and enjoying everything that was going on around me. I need to remember this attitude and feeling because it's so much easier t be than to try. I hope I'm able to retain this as the weeks go on.

In the meantime, it feels so good to be back.