Improv Blog One

 “Hi, my name is Heidi and I’m an improv acting addict.”

“Hi Heidi”

“Actually, to be honest, improv acting is my therapy. It’s a fine line. Some say, “Improv is not the same as therapy.” but I beg to differ. I’ve been to therapy and it is a great way to speak your internal thoughts if you can allow yourself that but if you can allow yourself to speak them in improv with a partner improviser, you get an immediate alternative perspective back, not something you necessarily want to hear but oh so much more and you need to respond to the other player’s response in the moment, not in a negative way, like it or not.”

“How does that make you feel?”

“One of the great things I learned in improv therapy was to eliminate critical judgment of myself or others. That took some work over time as therapies will do. No one suggested this to me. It just became apparent and I honestly believe I am a better improviser (team player) and person for it.

“There are so many lessons of discovery I’ve gleaned and continue to learn the more I practice. I first realized how much it improved my verbal interactions by not talking over other people because if you’re talking, you’re not listening and it is one of the most annoying things in conversations that can occur for me. You are planning what you want to say, which means you may be reacting to only the first phrase of what the other person said or you may have preconceived what the other person is going to say. People like to be heard. On stage, the audience can only focus on one person’s line of dialogue at a time. Talking over each other is only saying the characters don’t really get along.”

“You say you are a visual artist.”

“I have been and I will continue to be but sometimes I need improv to get my creative juices going. Improv is a more left brain in that it’s verbal but it is also right brain in that there really is no right or wrong...just better or another way of performing. The same is true of painting however, I have not managed to be able to create an artwork without an idea of an outcome before I start. Creativity requires letting go of expected outcomes. Artistry is a process that may yield a product but the desired result usually comes first. Creating comes with many unexpected twists and turns which is what makes it so interesting for the artist and hopefully for the audience, as well. Some artists have a definite message they want to relate yet nobody really knows how another will perceive your expression.

“With my visual art, I need my private space and that can be very lonely. Improv is a collaborative art. I have taught visual art classes in that and I find the results exciting to me.

Part of my hang-ups comes from comparing myself to others. I experienced that when I began doing improv acting but as I’ve been able to let that go, realizing that in improv we are meant to help each other, not try to be better than the other actors...unless you are working on status which is one of the narrative tools in the improv practice and that’s for another blog.”