Another Year of Improv

So the school year is coming to an end and with that so is improv. It's been a great year though I have loved every minute of it, and have gained some of my best friends ever from it! I feel like everyone in our troupe is just a big family! We have so much fun together and it makes our performances that much better, cause we all trust each other. I think it's rare to find such a good group of friends in life. I don't mean it to be cynical but it's hard to find people that are so different in so many ways but can still all be in the same room and enjoy every minute of it. It's just nice to have my own family away from home. There's just something great about us, I can't really describe it. Maybe it's just all the Improv Magic.

Performances have been great this year! Towards the beginning of the year we were playing at Club New York which was great fun! But then Club New York decided to cheat on us with some bands. So we took our humor and our natural raw talent and left. We then did some shows at Spoon ME. Which was always nice, but it's a smaller venue. Then we've done a few shows on campus which have also been great. Not to mention doing a show with Off The Wall, and we hosted a verses show against Choking Hazard. Then we just got done with a huge Improv festival we had so many people come out and play, we had Choking Hazard, Off the Wall, QuickWits, a Mismatched troupe, and lots of performance slots for ourselves. I would say it's been a great year for performing and we have so much talent in our troupe. I love that we have so many new people this year, that have improved over the year, I even feel like I'm loads better then I was last year.

On top of our own Improv endeavors we've made new friends. One troupe we've gotten better acquainted with is Off The Wall from Ogden, Utah. They're extremely talented at what they do and have been doing Improv for much longer then most of our players. What blows my mind is I hang out with some of these guys and they think I'M FUNNY. That's right little ol' me who makes silly pun's and snarky remarks is considered extremely funny by these professionals. In fact there have been times where they respect my opinion and enjoy talking improv theory with me.

I actually became more acquainted with them when I went down to help my brother start his troupe Choking Hazard. So I taught a few lessons, and Joe and Josh from OTW came to support the group. So here I am face to face with these pro's teaching a lesson and they're acknowledging me and telling me I'm funny. It was one of the most intimidating thing of my life! Then I managed to get a date out of Josh and I talk to Joe on occasion. Then I've hung out with Calvin, probably their most consistent player, a few times. It's fun to just play the flash forward game. About a year and half ago was my first time seeing Off The Wall and Josh was playing, as well as Joe and I do believe Calv. At that moment I thought wow what humorous comedy giants, never would I have guess that a year later I'd be friends with them, acknowledge by them as a talented Improviser. It just flattering and fun I guess you'll never know.

So anyway since this is my blog I'm going to talk about me and my performance over the last year. I have actually played quite a bit and I've loved every minute of it. I think I've come up with a lot of strong characters, I've gotten better at making bigger choices, I've gotten better at establishing relationships and locations at the beginning, become a better listener, learned new games, and figured out my style a bit. I tend to play off status, and I am very good at playing the silly girl, but I've also discovered it's really fun to just play the crazy characters that are needed. I got the chance to be in the group that showcased the game Stir Fry at the festival and it was SO MUCH FUN! I love stir fry, it's where you get a location from the audience and come in as a character you would find in that location and you do a scene, and every scene you're in you stay the same character. It's such a blast! So I've played a crazy ref, the heartbroken school girl, the Hawaiian climbing mount Everest, the girl who can't sing in the school choir cause of Asthma, and then my favorite was actually a Stir Fry I did down with Choking Hazard. I played the receptionist in an office named Jessica, and everyone was in love with me, Including Calvin who was my creepy boss, Joe who was some creepy Internet stalker, and Josh who was the security guard who gave a mean and delightful 30 second shoulder rub. That was probably my favorite Stir Fry moment and my honorable mention will be when we did a High School Prom and I was the girl with Headgear that kept trying to kiss her date, who was in a medieval dress. Crazy I know! This year I've also gotten some new favorite games, I love playing the new game Sitcom, as well as Game-o-Matic. I love and will always love Hoe-Down even if I am not excellent at it every time. I love Rant, and I am also a fan of Build your own Adventure an Antics original. Paperback writer is also a game I would like to play more. Anyway that's my spill on Improv. I love it! It's my life. If I could do it for a living and make good money doing it I would!