Improv Class

Dropped in at improv class with two friends recently. The idea was to shake us out of our comfort zone a bit and meet people we don't usually run into in our daily lives. We each experienced the class in a different way. A was able to express being silly and child-like - make outrageous claims and statements as we developed scenes together with people we had never seen before. S was able to physically relax with both absurd sound and movement in the warm-up exercises. We were the only three novices in the group. I had the most fun delivering outrageous lines as seriously as possible, introducing drama and complexity into the plot.

The most rewarding experience was to have strangers play along and amp it up even further - take it in directions well beyond my capacity for absurd. For a solid two hours, we acted in funny ways that we normally don't, enjoyed seeing friends in new and interesting light and came away feeling pleasantly relaxed. On the way back we discussed how it went and thoughts about returning to class.

 As much as it was fun for all three of us, no one wanted to commit to getting better by practice. It was fun to drop in and we may do it yet again but the idea of ongoing classes and incremental progress seemed a commitment no one was ready for. We joked about how this was like a fun first date after which nothing happens even though the parties can objectively attest to it having been a good date.