By Sonnjea Blackwell
Last night's Held2gether Improv Comedy Level 2 class was, like, totally AWESOME, as Missy would say. It made everyone stretch and work new improv muscles, and the entire class rose to the occasion.
The best thing about H2G is that we are committed to making improv accessible to everyone, and as far as I can tell it's the regular people who see the real power of improv - the skills it teaches and the personal growth it offers. Actors are wonderful people as well, it's just that most actors simply see improv as another way to perform and/or a way to improve their acting. Totally valid, of course and if you happen to be an actor, we'd love to have you in class!
What I'm getting at is that, the L2 class is made up of normal folks just like you and me. Okay, like you. I'm not normal, as regular readers of this blog can attest. And yet, no matter how you slice it, when you do improv you are pretending to be people other than yourself. Which is, technically speaking, acting.
ACCKKK! She said the A-word. Don't freak out. I figured out a way to get around my fear of acting and learn to be okay with being characters. I just call it make believe, or playing pretend. You did that when you were little, right? Played house and you were the mom or the dad, or perhaps you were movie stars or you were in the Army or whatever. When I played pretend, my characters were always named Lisa.
More information that you don't need. Sorry. Moving on.
Back to last night's class. (Sorry this article is all over the place, I'm already getting excited about H2G Presents Wait Till Your Father Gets Home tonight.) Last night's class was all about being characters. Each person was three totally different, distinct characters. It was super challenging, but SO MUCH FUN! It was awesome to see what everyone tried - there were sneaky, devious people, old crotchety people, self-important people, insecure people, geeks, nerds, sexpots, confused Oklahomans, snooty people, loud brash people and every other kind of person you can imagine.
I know if you come out to Elise's Tea Room for the show tonight, you'll see some of those devious, self-important, sexy, nerdy confused Oklahomans. And, seriously, who would want to miss that?
