Oh England, how I love your cold and gray March days. Some may wonder why I’d travel for dreary days during the last days of winter. But why not go to the sun and surf? A tropical island adventure! Nope. I’ll take a rainy cool England adventure instead! Sure maybe it’s not the most fun walking a mile in the chilly rain to the train station. But I much prefer this to sweaty soiled travel clothes and sunburns. As long as I have my favorite jacket and my waterproof Merrell boots, I’m the happiest kid in town. And even happier…
This is the title I wanted to use for every Christmas card I never sent. For too many years I wanted to alert the masses that I found someone to write home about. If only a love interest could validate my existence, because I was incapable of doing this for myself. Over the years I’d be in and out of finding those someones. I spent my life trying to perfect the best relationship scenario. Each one was finally it! Spoiler alert: none of them were ever “it”. This year I finally grew exhausted by this pattern. Every new potential someone…
December is really here. And I’m doing that thing where I retreat and get in my head over the events of the year. There have been a lot of incredible moments. I’ve done things artistically that I only ever thought about. It’s been really cool. And I realize that I may have not gone down this path if I had never met a quirky group of silly people eight years ago. There was a time when my entire improv world revolved around a team called The Hinges. I auditioned and joined the group a year after a divorce. They were…
For years I thought about doing a solo show. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I also had this pull to share the ridiculousness of my journey. The many times that I have tried hard for “fairytale endings”. How I’ve failed at so many attempts to have the life I thought I should have. Making something of the mistakes felt important to me. So I took classes and workshops. I had long conversations and asked so many questions. I was inspired by the witty and ever so amazing Carla Cackowski. I took her workshops series…
Okay, I’m kind of obsessed with vulnerability. I’m all about it. I can’t get enough honesty and realness. But at times I’m so busy talking about how great it is, that I forget the utterly terrifying feeling of putting yourself out there. Maybe I have gotten a little bit comfortable, I’m not sure. But lately I’m reaching out of my comfort zone, and I’m really feeling it. I remember the feeling I had when I taught my first level 1 class at Finest City Improv. I had already taught improv classes, but somehow I was still frozen in fear. There…
Photo: Christina Perry As I type this there is an improv festival happening in my community and I’m not there playing, supporting and socializing with so many wonderful people, because I feel this epic pull to retreat for a bit. It is hard to let go of the feeling of missing out. And the feeling of not being there to support friends and new friends I could be making. It’s hard to sit here and tell myself that I need this time. It’s even harder to believe it. Sometimes I need extra time because it seriously takes a day (or…
I was anxious about getting the third vulnerable night planned already six months since the last! So I was pretty excited to set a date with my favorite coffee shop. It meant a lot to have a special space to gather. A couple nights before the event, my contact at the shop let me know that he’d resigned and that they were currently closed. I saw this message at midnight and went into a spiral of cry fits and social media holes. I was sad about the event and I was sad about my favorite place that had felt like…
When I first started doing improv I had no idea what kind of journey it would take me on. All I knew in those early days was that the laughter was wonderful. I had been going through a rough time and the levity helped so much. As the months and years went on I kept exploring all the different ways I could keep learning and growing through improv. Little did I know I’d end up on a trip in Europe doing improv with friends and meeting new people. I wrote the post below for my facebook page while riding from…
No matter how passionate we are about the work we do, we all have those days when we feel a bit deflated or lost. It’s important during those times to focus on something that recharges the inspiration within us. One of those things for me is a group of college students from Cal State Fullerton called the Funny People Society. I spent 5 years taking classes and workshops in Los Angeles and it is all anyone can do to get me back up to the area, or even close to it. But I don’t even think twice when asked to come…
Sure, you’re probably thinking what does vulnerability have to do with improv? It’s supposed to be funny! We want to laugh! Have you ever thought about the moments that make you laugh? Aside from the bits and silly stuff, think about the times you laugh. It probably includes some realness and something that goes a little deeper that you can relate to because, damn it, you’ve been there. One dimensional characters are just okay to watch. But good improv with rich characters is so much more than that. Get your audience so involved that they forget all about their life…