How I Stumbled Into Improv

It's been nearly a year and a half since I began improvising professionally. I was a freshly graduated theatre major who was struggling to be an actor. In my desperate quest to find more stage time, I googled "nashville improv" and was directed to the fledgling Nashville Improv Company website. They had a place to enter your e-mail address to be notified of auditions, and even though it seemed pretty sketchy I chose to sign up. It had been years since I'd improvised outside of a college class, but I wasn't really expecting to be cast in an improv troupe. I'd go and get some audition practice in, network a little, and move on with my life. The best laid plans, am I right?



When I arrived at the audition, something strange happened. I found myself having fun. I don't think I'd ever enjoyed myself while improvising before that night. I don't think I'd ever been at an audition and truly enjoyed another performer's work before. I know I had never felt so much support from the other side of the audition table before then. I was hooked, I had to work with these people.

They didn't cast me that time, but I began running improv games with my friends to practice for the next auditions. I creepily set my work schedule to match the Nashville Improv rehearsal and performance schedule. I attended a show a couple months later, and much to my surprise, they remembered me! They finally held auditions again and I showed up and crushed it. I felt amazing and overjoyed that I was able to just make stuff up with only a suggestion and a scene partner. It was so... freeing.

What Keeps Me Improvising

• Improv is blissfully direct. Does something need to happen? It's happening! Do we need a person to show up? They're here right now! Do I feel something? I tell you exactly what that something is!
• Improv is fast. At least compared to a movie or a fully staged play, anyway. 45 minutes for a long-form set or a 90 minute short-form set just seems to rush by without me feeling the need to check my watch.
• Improv is always in your own voice. This is the most important thing for me. There is not a single play that is regularly produced by commercial theatre companies that speaks to me. Sure, I can find ways to relate to The Odd Couple, Grease, or A Christmas Carol; but why should I work so hard to make art mean something to me? Shouldn't the art do that for itself? Improv is created by the audience and the performers working together, and they create something that's specific to who they are. It's beautiful.
• Improvisers come from a huge range of backgrounds. I know improvisers who are teachers, actors, bartenders, musicians, pharmacy techs, and every other job title you can think of. Improvisers are simultaneously just like me and nothing like me, and it's that breadth of experiences that makes our work interesting.
• Improv is built on teamwork. If an improv team can go create a masterpiece together, it's an overwhelming and wonderful feeling. If they go out there and suck big time; well, being on a team really takes the edge off. Some of the closest and most trusting relationships I have in my life are with the people I improvise with. We need each other and we're not afraid to admit it.
• Improv is fun! One night, I played a baby kangaroo doing capoeira on the moon. We did a long form featuring two talking camels debating marriage law. Those sentences hardly make sense and I can't imagine anything more fun than playing those scenes out was.

I'd like to say that I can't imagine my life without improv, but that'd just mean I'm unimaginative. My life would be much more boring. Much less fun. I wouldn't know nearly as many clever, hilarious, intelligent people. I'd also have a much more difficult time getting people to watch me make stuff up. 

How'd you get into improv? What keeps you involved? What's the silliest scene you've ever found yourself in?