As I expected, I didn’t get a call back.

As I left the DC United game (Super fun! And they won! I must go to more games this season!), I looked at my phone saw two missed messages. I pushed a series of buttons to see my missed call log, and it wasn’t any unknown callers. I said to a friend, “OK, there’s still 9 more minutes before 10. It could happen.” I looked back at the phone eight minutes later. I watched as the time changed to 10 p.m.

Anywho, still proud of me. No way in 100 millions year would I have thought I would’ve tried to audition at this time.

Next time will be harder because I know I’ll want it more.

When I began improv classes in September, I didn’t have much idea of what I wanted to do with what I was learning other than having a good time. I had no desire to perform. Being in a real improv group–not something I saw myself doing.

Funny how a few months can change things. Doing improv is just so much fun that why wouldn’t I want to perform? So when word got out that my favorite WIT group, Caveat, was holding auditions … I blew it off.

I deleted the e-mails announcing auditions, and I clicked past the webpage with the details. I named off 15 different reasons why I shouldn’t audition and didn’t want to. Yes, I think I want to perform, but not right now. And no way do I feel ready to play with Caveat. They’re just so good!

But. Saying no and making excuses is not why I’m learning improv. I’m doing it because every scene, class, show, potential performance is one more opportunity to push myself a little farther. That’s so terribly cliched, can probably be found in some self-help book in a shelf in Borders. But it’s true. I love the sense of “I don’t think I can do this…whoah! But I did. Holy amazing.”

So I signed up, I showed up, and I played it up! I can’t  really say I was too nervous. I just wanted to be able to perform as best I could, just to see what I could. There were only four people in my group, and I knew two of them. It was a very casual, playful experience. I just kept reminding myself, “Jump out! Have fun! Do it! Be anyone or anything but you!” There were players doing funny moves, and so I laughed. And like how it goes in improv, I had some good moments, and I had some moments where I think back and realize I could’ve done it better had I done bolder, stronger choices. I heard in my head, be physical, have emotion, go to your environment. But it’s still tough to remember everything and keep it going. Practicing more, no doubt, I’m sure, will help.

Surprisingly, I was more nervous about playing with people who I think are really good and not so much about being judged by the group’s members. I had two of them as teachers, so I knew they knew my strengths and weaknesses. And the other two guys are way friendly and supportive. I really hope I helped the others in my group play the best they could to.

I’d like to believe that every audition will be as friendly. I doubt that’s the case. Hopefully, when the next set of auditions rolls around, I’ll remain as calm and mindful of doing my best and having fun.

A lot has happened since my last post.

•  Survived big annual conference at work–even had to give presentation and moderate panel to substitute for my boss who was ill. Was I awesome? Basically, yes.
• Completed improv class 1B. Had showcase. Showcase wasn’t our best performance, but it was pretty good. I’m proud of the character I played.
• Had private performance with a small group at another venue in the city. It was an improv performance only for our friends. Seemed to go OK, but I wasn’t totally feeling it. Friends said it was great though.
• Completed a one-day class about storytelling, specifically of the “get up in front of an audience and perform” variety. I have mixed feelings about it. Part of me thinks it would be fun to pursue storytelling as a creative outlet; another part says improv is just too much fun, storytelling is too much work.

No doubt some other cool things have happened, but I have already forgotten about them. Anyway, tonight I begin improv Level 2! I’m excited but not nearly as much as I was previous levels. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had enough of a break (like the infinite-seeming time between 1A and 1B). Maybe it’s because my old 1A class has split apart farther, and I’m in the class with some people I’d rather not be in class with. Maybe it’s because I know it’s going to be more challenging. Maybe I need to stop worrying and just go have fun.

I think that’s what I need to do. And so I’m off to start Level 2.

I completed WIT’s Level 1B. I didn’t recap all that happened during the class very much, which is a little bit of a shame because so much good stuff happened. All the different tactics, techniques, exercises–a lot of it just seemed to fall into place and click. I still have so much to improve, but I stopped feeling like I’m the worst improviser-type person ever.

The showcase is Sunday. I feel fairly confident that we’ll do a solid job, despite a few worries and concerns regarding some stuff I’ve seen us do in the past. But I think we’ll be OK.

Now I’m waiting for WIT to open up registration for the next session. It’s on to level two! But before that, I’ll take a one-day storytelling class through another fun-looking group. I think I’m pretty good at weaving together words on paper to tell a nice nonfiction narrative. But doing it verbally? In front of people? Hmmm…we’ll see.

Well, hello there.

Every night after improv, or every time I return from doing something fun, or often when I hear or see something ridiculous, I think about this blog. And I think I should write. But then I don’t because other stuff gets in the way. And so it goes. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Improv the past two weeks has been incredible. Challenging? Yes, and so excellent. Last week I left class (it was about solidifying the scene) feeling a little blah–not as much as I had at other times, but just enough to overthink all my problematic scenes or exercises.

But then on Wednesday, J and I had practice with one of the classmates from his advanced class. HOLY WOW! I felt on-fire. Yes, there were scenes I did (we did just two person scenes) that were weaker, but overall, I felt myself doing some fabulous stuff. Really reaching deep and pulling out a big emotion or focusing on setting up a location. Wednesday practices give me faith that I may just be able to pick this improv stuff up afterall.

 Class yesterday heightened that feeling (look at me, using improv words outside of improv world!). The exercises were challenging, but I put my all into them. I felt silly at times, even botched up one–but I my classmates and instructors just rolled with it. And yes, it’s very true, mistakes in improv can be gems.

In one exercise, which seemed horribly terrifying in the beginning, we were given a location and had to play within the environment but without talking or pretending there was another person around. The teacher would call out expand and we’d play with whatever we were stuck on, finding different ways or bigger emotions to work with. When he called out advance, we’d continue along, advancing the scene, maybe finding someplace else to go or finding something else to pick up.

My place was the Metro. So I started by attempting to insert a Metro card into the slot. I hear “expand,” and I bend the card, rub the card, shove the card in again and again. At the cue “advance,” I put the card in my pocket, open the emergency exit gate and walk through. I’m now on the platform. I stretch out over the platform, crane my neck, looking for the train. I’m impatient. I check my watch. I sit down on the bench. I make a disgusted face and pull my bag closer to me, cross my legs and read. Eventually, after expanding and advancing, I’m frantically pacing the platform, yelling and grunting and so, so annoyed and furious that the train is not yet here. Oh, and I think it started raining too. Yeah, I yelled really loud.

I know there are ways I could’ve done better. I accidentally started “talking” to some invisible station manager before remembering we weren’t supposed to do that.  Instead, I could’ve just thrown down the card and walked through the gate. And I could’ve finally had the train arrive, and I’m so busy pacing and screaming that I miss it, causing more anger. I’m sure there are way better things I could’ve done if I was better at miming.

But I’m still awesomely proud of what I did. Mainly because I didn’t wait to be last.

I did a fun scene with Lisa too. Two catty girls–high schoolers, we’ll say–who were in a bathroom, making insults about hair and clothing. I can’t really recall specifics except something about a 1996 copy of Vogue and my acid-washed jeans. It seemed like we were listening, reacting and heightening, and the scene went fairly smoothly. Although, it was so conflict-y. When you heighten to the point that both people are yelling, how do lose and still say in character?!?

After class, as we all gathered our things to leave, the teacher reaffirmed that as you practice more and as you get more used to jumping in with emotions, characters, environment, relationship, heightening, it all really does become more natural and instinctual. Building up that mind muscle and stuff.

So, there ya go. Two weeks anticipating my next post, and it’s all about improv. I’ll throw in a few odds and ends to dilute its strong improv-concentration. This season of “Lost” is already amazing after only the premiere. Today is Fat Tuesday, and I’m seeing a whole bunch of people tonight and celebrate with fruity drinks. And Saturday is a fun trip to Annapolis with k.ball people.

Now only 96 percent improv.

I started Level 1B of improv last night, so you know what that means–a lot of improv blogging. In the day after the first class, I feel good. My first thought: I didn’t suck. Second thought: The first class wasn’t nearly as haha bellybusting fun as the first class in 1A. That could be because of a different teacher, or it could be because we already know improv is fabulous, fun, and there’s no need to tease us by making us laugh so much we want to pee.

My class consists of three of my fellow 1Aers, two 1Aers who had a different teacher, and two guys who didn’t take 1A. Unlike last time when I foresaw one or two ‘mates dropping out (only one did), I don’t see that likely happening this time. Which is good because I generally like all of them (especially the three I know from previous class, of course) already, and I think we’ll be a nice cohesive, fun group.

The class mainly focused on everyone getting to know each other and just getting back into the improv groove. It’s nice that it didn’t take me long to feel comfortable at be or feel goofy. Among some other games and exercises, we paced around the room, focusing on increasing and decreasing our range, tension, and pace (? No, it wasn’t pace, but I can’t recall what we called it) and emotions–going from a scale of neutral to 10, back to neutral and then down to a 1. Blah, blah, boring. Basically, at times I was walking around all jelly-like, arms waving about (that’s a 10 for tension) and at other times, walking in super slow-motion (that’s a 1 for speed/pace). And I yelled a lot and cried a lot and gave big yelps of joy for anger, sadness, and happy respectively.

We ended the night doing the thing I hate doing most – two or three line … eh, there not really scenes. Just saying a line and responding. I hate them! I just don’t really like initiating very much, which means I’m going to have a GRAND OL’ TIME next week when that’s the focus of the class.

Unfortunately for this session, the run of shows doesn’t start until the end of February, meaning I have to go about a month before I get to see any of the shows and see how everything I’m learning falls into magical, improv place.

J is going to Charleston at the end of the week to see Caveat and Season Six perform at the festival there. He’s just going for a day. He’s also taking Level 2 concurrently with 1B. I have mixed feelings about all this, but overall, I’m OK with it. Performing is something he wants to do, and wants to do now. It’s also wonderful to see him have such a strong passion for something like improv, which definitely fits his outgoing personality.

I’m already mulling over possibilities trying to decide what I want to do next. I’m talking of taking golf lessons again, but really–they are just nowhere as near fun as the classes I take now.

UDPATE: In October, I posted my improv geek score after taking a quiz. While I’m still “improv weak” at 12.72727 percent, I have doubled my geek percentange. Yes, I’m proud.

Yesterday was a day of feeling accomplished and creative — two feelings that don’t seem to come to me as much as they have in the past.

At work, I managed to complete a few assignments before deadline. Yes, before. This is rare for me. Especially when I have so much else I feel like I want to do. But nonetheless, good for me.

Work has felt incredibly great this past week, so much so that I am slowly losing the feeling, wondering if leaving my old job was the right idea. I was walking home from the Metro a few nights ago, thinking of all the ways that I should’ve started off the communications program at the old job. Instead of trying to overhaul everything at once, I should’ve done small things first. But the problem was, actually there were two problems, that they expected an immediate launching and that I did not have an agreeable communications assistant working for me.

So, not much that I really could’ve done afterall. I’m so much happier here, and I know I’ll get past some of the things I originally saw as pitfalls (like so big, expensive lunches for my birthday.) (They did however give me a surprise gathering with delicious raspberry chocolate cake. And I really don’t like cake very much, so me saying it was delicious means it’s very true.)

Last night was Wednesday so that meant another imformal improv practice session. Last night I started to feel it. I started to feel what happens when you and your partner listen, support, heighten and find the pattern and then create some really awesome scenerios and fun scenes (maybe even funny). It felt amazing!

I’ve witnessed my classmates do such things previously, and I think I’ve probably even done a scene or two where everything felt perfectly pulled together. But last night seemed like the first time that I did it once and could keep doing it well in any scene we did. No matter the word, no matter who I was playing with, the three of us created magic.

Some scenes I loved doing:

• monks – Two of us chanting about craving pizza while a third monk (who won’t chant and therefore we chant how we don’t hear anyone talking) tempts us to stop chanting by bringing us pizza.
• kneecap – Two people talking about how they are going to bust out my kneecap while I obliviously practice some weird blend of tai chi, dancing, Rockette kicking, and stretches. They spend so much time discussing the best way to do it, that they never get to actually take me down.
• bookstore – One person is a customer at a counter buying books, I’m a clerk. Behind the customer is someone completely ticked off at how long we are talking about the customer signing up to join our special membership club, receive a copy of the enewsletter, get free gift wrapping, etc. The annoyed guy (not buying anything) just wants to know where 4th street is, but no one in the store has heard of 4th street (I call it out over the PA system to all the customers, naturally). The scene ends when we discover the guy is in the wrong city.
• Hawaii – We’re doing cardio-hula, of course.

Not only was I getting it, but I seemed to be doing more object work and more emotions! And reacting! Oh my gosh, I may actually be OK at this improv stuff afterall.

So thank goodness classes start in mid-January. I’ve been getting a good fix between practicing and attending the holiday shows. But real classes will just be awesome.

After practice, I went to Blues Alley in Georgetown to see Bob Baldwin. I had never seen nor heard of Bob before, but a fan invited me to see it and I agreed. I had always wanted to check out Blues Alley because it seemed like the closest thing to the blues bar venues I’d go to while in Chicago.

The place was fabulous and intimate. The music was fun and captivating. I want Bob and his band to perform at my wedding (not that that’s happening anytime soon). That’s how awesome the show was.

Wednesday was a great night for improv of the theatrical and musical kind.

After Thanksgiving, I went to Puerto Penasco, Mexico, and then Las Vegas. I went with an old friend from college and some of her very fun co-workers. Great times. I had a lot I wanted to blog about regarding the trip, but I no longer really feel like it. What I did love about our stay in Mexico was that it was a true blend of touristy and local flavor. Not far from the condo where we stayed, there was utter poverty. People living in trailers and shacks so shabby and worn down that it briefly made me shameful of all my credit cards, clothing and never-ending wishlist of new toys and things. Not that this stopped me from spending more money on food and drinks I probably didn’t need — or my later trip to Las Vegas. But briefly, just briefly, it made me yearn for living with less.

I’m 31 now. The evening after I returned from Mexico/Las Vegas, I threw a happy hour at a Mexican restaurant to honor my birthday. It was mostly good — great because of the diverse different groups that came together (including an old high school friend). It was bad because I really hurt someone at last year’s surprise party and that person was feeling less than enthusiastic about participating in this year’s event. That made me feel terribly sad. BUT another birthday has come and gone. I’m anal about wanting to celebrate my birthday ON my actual birthday. But the next time my day falls on a Friday or Saturday — I’ll be not far from 40. (cringe.) I think I’ll need to start planning weekend celebrations for the next few years.

I went to our improv practice last night. Now that our 1A class is over, a group of us have been practicing by ourselves on Wednesdays. I’m conflicted as to whether this is a good idea. On one hand, practice is practice. And last night I felt myself doing some good stuff. Some of my scenes were not so great, but I had a few really good ones that I think could’ve been brillant had they had the chance to go on. I feel like, in many ways, my class is starting to gel. We’re starting to pick up on things from other people and we’re getting it. Even more than when we were simple 1Aers.

BUT. There’s are alot of weird vibes that are passed around. Because people get frustrated or annoyed or I don’t really know what they get but they don’t seem to be happy with what’s happening and what can you do? I don’t know if it’s an expectation of all of us playing together perfectly well. Or if there is something else going on that I’m not picking up on. At any rate, it all makes me wonder if I should just take a hiatus and wait for the next class to begin.  I think most of us are taking the same class anyway. My fear of missing out–or that my classmates will magically develop those improv skills, however, makes me think I should keep plugging along because practice is practice.

Speaking of improv (HA! Like I ever speak of anything else!), Saturday I am volunteering at the show. I’m doing the lights and sounds, and oh man, I’m nervous. I’ve shadowed once before but that was when the groups played at a different theater. Plus, I didn’t do it myself. But this week, they are desperate. I originally said I’d help out, but I wanted to work with someone once or twice again before going solo. Well, no time for that. Hopefully, all will go well. If not, at least lights that go on and off at the right times are better than no lights at all.

Last night, my class performed in the student showcase. All the various levels of WIT classes had their 10-15 minutes on stage in front of a lot of people, mostly other improvisers and friends and family.

Most of my worry before the show was about being able to find a time to jump in. At least 10 or so of my friends were there and I wanted to be able to do something to let them see me do anything.

Luckily, I had my chance, even though — like always — I didn’t think I was that great. But I am SO proud of my class and how far we’ve come in two months. I remember our first class where we could barely remember how to play word association games.

So it sounds like most of us will take 1B and do it together. That means eight more weeks of classes, eight more weeks to obsess about improving and eight more weeks until we get onto the stage again. Well, officially. In the meantime, our class is going to hold practices every Wednesday. Just to keep our gears turning and keep playing together. We’re a fun bunch, and I feel good about what we’ll be able to do in time.

In other news, less than a week until I’m in Mexico!

Improv Class #4. We worked on agreement and we played some fun games. Once again, I had some strong moments. But once again, I sucked–I mean, horribly, awfully, terribly sucked–with my opening initiation. My first instinct was just to go with something small and simple (“Where should we go for vacation?”) and at the last minute, I blurted out something so confusing and convoluted that even I was immediately disappointed. Oh. It was bad. By far, the weakest set up of the game.

I really, really have to go with small and simple instead of trying to set up this big, complicated scenario. Thinking about it, it’s pretty much common sense. The more complicated I try to create a scene with my first line or two — the more difficult it will be for my partners to get what I have established. So that means they’ll respond probably in a way that I wasn’t expecting, which means that I’d feel frustrated that no one knows what I’m talking about, and then nothing is going my way, and then it just all falls apart.

Instead, if I go with simple — I have no preconceived thoughts about where things are going. I just throw out the idea — my partner plays with it — I toss back another idea — And so it goes. And like magic, a funny, brillant scene is created.

Simple. I need simple. Other people can maybe pull off bigger right now, but not me. Probably in the future. But for now, I need to stay simple.

I did a very good slumpy, apathetic sales person in a meeting. It was good until I got out of character and shot to attention when the boss said he was going to fire someone. My gut was to stay slumped down, but again, I went with my second reaction — to seem like I cared about my job afterall. Again, way too complicated.

Last night’s class was much better than the previous week. I felt good and happy. I’m seeing the show on Friday and then learning to do the lights on Saturday! YES! I’m an improv dork. Officially.

Added:

In a related area, I just read this interview with Charna Halpern, who is considered by some a founding mother of improv. She says:

In my mind, it’s not necessarily the initiation. It’s usually the second line that makes the scene. [laughs] You can come out with anything and it’s what the second person does with it that makes the scene work. Anything makes a good initiation. You can come out and cry. You can come out and give a piece of a information. You can come out and stand there and be a statue. I don’t think there’s a such a thing as a bad initiation. You can say ‘Fuck you. I hate you,’ and that’s right. What makes it good is somebody get out there, and if somebody’s out there, good.

She didn’t see the scene I started last night. OUCH. But I appreciate and understand what she’s getting to. And I’ve seen it done — where the initiation is really not much, but it turns into something awesome.