A Week Without a Script

I'm still buzzing from a wild week in the world of improvisational acting. Here's the main thing I learned from the Immersion Workshop at The Second City Los Angeles Training Center: Improv is hard. But it's exhilarating too. I also learned to be more deeply aware of my partners, accept their offerings, try to give more back, and let things move forward organically in a framework of trust and mutual support. If that sounds more like a relationship seminar than an improvisation workshop, I guess that's the point. The Second City teaches "connecting emotionally" more than "making up stuff." The one-week course comprises five consecutive days of six-hour classes (including breaks) culminating in a performance before invited guests and paying audience members. To tell the truth, I took it mainly to have something else to put on my acting resume and to help with auditions, but if I'm not careful I could become addicted. I even went to an improv jam last night for another fix. I don't know whether to blame the sheer thrill of performance or the infectious enthusiasm of the faculty: Amazing Amy Seeley, Musical Michael Pollock, and most especially Rockin' David Razowsky. I already miss them and my fun-loving improv-class buddies. I hope we meet again soon.

The Course