Such a ham!

This past week I hit the stage for my first Improv performance…  

As you know I’ve been attending Improv classes since May and currently completing level C, in fact next week is my final class at this level.  I’ll miss it, no I think I'll miss my classmates most of all as we've really bonded.

Improv rocks!

There is always a little angst amongst the group as to whose moving on to the next level and who is going to take a break.  I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been with four of my classmates since we began way back in May, which isn’t bad for a class of 13.  With the final week looming there are a number of my classmates that are still undecided as to whether they’re going to come back for level D.

For me it hasn’t been a hard decision to continue as I’ve been hooked on Improv since my first class, well that isn’t entirely true…perhaps I should have been more specific.  Even though my first two instructors were good the classes during the first two levels felt more like party games, albeit getting more advanced as we went, but party games none-the-less. 

Level C has been more serious in that there has been a greater level of focus and expectation in developing our Improv and performance skills and our willingness to create and develop characters for use on stage.  In addition to this the skits we’ve been developing are moving to a longer format, and now lasting up to five minutes or more.  Clearly, this level has changed it up both in terms of our thinking and approach to class but also in our commitment to learn the fundamental skills required to be an onstage.

The characters I'm developing, well still learning about and tinkering with are:  

Miranda is a 40's something Yoga teacher with two kids - Apple and Lotus and who is constantly flirting with all and sundry around her. Her most endearing quality is her outrageous british accent and, who finishes every sentence with a long drawn out "daaaarling".  I used Miranda's character in the wedding skit we performed this week.  

My second character is "Tyrone Pussyweather" a 70's pimp with a significant strut and an outrageous southern accent...including the imaginary fedora with requisite feather. One of my classmates observed that I looked "way too comfortable in the role...enough said!   

My third character is known as "the Big J" (Jaguar), a palaeontologist with an exaggerated stride, actually more of a slither than a walk but he always dreamed of making it to the big leagues (baseball) and favours every conversation with baseball references - can you say annoying? Unfortunately for the big J he has a rather unfortunate trait of peeing his pants when excited...   

As you can see I have a rich palette to work from as I continue to develop them over time J. 

At the start of our term the Instructor mentioned that to pass this level we would have to perform in front of a live audience onstage.  Over the ensuing weeks we determined that in fact our class had to be onstage for 30 full minutes doing a number of skits.  Not that anyone overtly panicked but there were a few who were less than thrilled at the prospect.

Our show was this past Wednesday and we were encouraged to bring family and friends to watch the performance.  I guess I was less than concerned given that I actually like being on stage and the center of attention (I can hear you…inside voice please!) J

Perhaps it may have been because both Zach and Sami declined my offer to attend, likely because they’re embarrassed that their father enjoys Improv and goes to class each week.  Maybe they didn’t want to see my bomb in front of an audience, or perhaps they’re scared that I will in some way embarrass them, which were both distinct possibilities.

I guess if they only knew how much I’ve been onstage in my past, for slightly different reasons but onstage just the same they may have been less afraid.  You see during my days at Accenture I taught at their three internal universities (Chicago, Kuala Lumpur and London).  During my last year and a half with them I was asked to be the school lead for a number of courses both in Chicago and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia which entailed being onstage and delivering the Plenary sessions for up to and sometimes over 400 participants at any one time.  Generally over the course of a week as a school lead I would have been onstage anywhere from 10 – 15 hours depending on the mix of schools and attendees.

So as you can see me getting comfortable with being onstage in front of a large audience has been a skill developed over many years.  To be honest I love the rush of being onstage, a feeling which I would characterize as "intoxicating"…

Our 30 minute set was perfect in terms of our content

Hence my lack of fear or concern about being onstage for our performance on Wednesday and in fact felt very much at ease, although on reflection I must admit I was a bit of a ham onstage, but an enjoyable one...I think J   That being said the audience was extremely charitable about our group’s performance and clapped heartily at the end of the show.  Nice touch – thanks everyone!   

Thank goodness no video evidence exists...posterity is soooo overrated!

Our performance started a big night at the John Candy box Theatre as we were followed by the level D group (who personally they blew me away as they were so much more than where we were in terms of performance skills) they were then followed by the Toronto Improv Festival and the “real” Improv players…so many more levels and layers.

I guess that’s what I have to look forward to right?

Prologue:

I also want to give a big shout out to my classmates - Omar, Jessie, Jason, Angus, Andrea, Stanya, Will, Adam, Roman, Tony who joined me onstage - you guys rock!