A fantastic start to the weekend as I kicked off Improv 5 today with a bunch of familiar & new faces. To top it off, some of us are back with Kerry as our teacher this term!

At the risk of sounding like I’m about to recap the entire class, we began with some warm-ups before transitioning to games involving scene work. Toward the end, we focused on a series of two-person short scenes in a line-up.

I was pleased with my own scenes today, though I identified a few areas for improvement—things I plan to work on through practice (and maybe therapy!).

One of the games we played involved speaking only a set number of words at a time. I was assigned 4 words, while my partners got 1 and 7. Fun, right? I took some suggestions from our pretend audience and we chose fitness training. The scene started with Dillon pretending to get stuck while lifting a very heavy weight, and I jumped in to help him. The whole scene was a fun, as we supported each other throughout.

The feedback we received was to avoid using wh-- questions. For example:

Fitness Trainer: What’s your fitness goal? Me: I want to lose. Dillon: Weight.

Could have gone like this instead:

Fitness Trainer: You seem ready to crush some goals. Me: I want to lose. Dillon: Weight.

The latter feels like a stronger offer and helps keep the scene moving forward.

Another scene I performed was with Rohan during the line-up. He started with the offer that I’d gotten him a cat, but he was allergic. At one point, I made the mistake of asking a question:

Me: Should I get you a shot to fix this?

A stronger choice would have been:

Me: I’ll fix this! [Hits him with the allergy shot.]

Beyond that, the scene went great. A recurring gag was me administering the shot in the wrong spot while Rohan kept insisting I aim for his thigh, which everyone laughed at!

I also performed a short scene where I began with the physicality of taking a golf shot and looking off into the distance to see where the ball went. It ended with one of my partners pointing out that we were in a mini-putt course, not on a golf course!

So, what did I learn from all this feedback? Funny you should ask! I realized I need to start being more authoritative in scenes. It reminded me of feedback I once received from my director: I shouldn’t have to ask for permission to act—sometimes I can just do it. She explained the concept of two-way decision doors (leaving options open) versus one-way decision doors (committing to a choice). I wonder if this hesitation ties to confidence on some level—something to explore in therapy, perhaps.

Another takeaway: I need to stop stressing about being funny. At the end of the day, what really matters is having fun with my partners on stage. I also think I perform better when I focus on supporting my partners, which makes a world of difference.

All in all, I’m very excited for the weeks ahead and look forward to learning more and more!