Mar’s thought of the day

by moppezzo

Gotta be honest, I don’t blog, I don’t do Facebook, and I refuse to Tweet. So as Lindsay mentioned that this class is stretching her to be open to things she wasn’t previously down with, here I join her! :)! So Yay! my first blog. Ever

I think one of the things I hate about Facebook and Twitter, though, while I’m at it, is the reason why I think I appreciate Improv.   Facebook, twitter, rehearsed speeches, “that guy” at the party that has all the lines and makes people laugh….all of those things have this sort of self-focused / self-importance that totally make my eyes roll back into my head and down into my stomach, subsequently making me vomit up my own eyeballs. (OK, that part is mostly for “that guy” at the party.) But it’s self-presentation and output with no regard for the needs or thoughts of the other people who are receiving it. Acting sort of has that, too. Obviously you respond to the other person, but you respond to the other person in a planned and scripted way, so you don’t have to truly listen as if listening and searching for cues for the first time.

Improv, on the other hand, truly relies on you not only being open to your own responses and ideas, but totally in tune with the other person / peeps on stage as well….sort of like in real life convos and situs.  The special thing improv has over life, though, is that there is this implicit rule that the other has your back. The line in the reading said it best: “A truly funny scene is no the result of someone trying to steal laughs at the expense of his partner, but of generosity- of trying to make the other person (and his ideas) look as good as possible.

I wish real life were more like that (uh oh, is that too dark?) But sometimes we don’t always have others in mind, or we think we do but we totally don’t listen to understand where the other person is coming from. Instead, we— well, at the very least, I — sometimes hold onto my interpretations and just barrel ahead with what I think is right. This class is a cool chance  to be able to practice listening to others and trying to figure out what their thoughts and ideas are, and truly responding with them in mind.  Maybe with some practice it’ll leak out into life, too :)!

On the other end of the spectrum, my dislike of self-importance has caused me to occasionally sprint away from my own ideas and prefer the ideas of others. Improv is not just about listening to others, but also ourselves, and not judging our own thoughts! So here’s to that happening a bit more, too 🙂

Awww…. (Or are you currently digesting your eyeballs?)