OK I promise, this is the last time I will write about Improv (no, never mind, I'm sure this is not really the last time) Friday night our troupe came together in a way that made us so proud of ourselves!! Our opening show at the beautiful St Marys town hall theatre was a blast! My cheeks hurt from laughing and the crowd was on fire (well not literally but they could've been with all the heat they were giving us) our Improv teacher who I have lovingly renamed "Chef Ramsey of the Theater" was laughing so hard at our work, we knew we had done a good job and made her proud and our work as her graduates!! After our pre-show warm-ups backstage, I I was getting a bit nervous listening to the people arrive, I worried that I would draw a blank. At that moment I decided I should revert back to my public/high school roll of joke making, disturbance creator, class clown and pull from my memory bank to keep my momentum up and myself on track. (ironically I would still have to painfully still keep quiet in my seat until centre stage) It made me think of my recent trip to a local school to do my Mini Music program with a kindergarten group. One little fellow had a rather hard time sitting still (I could relate to his struggle) and at the end when I decided to sing with them old McDonald had a farm he piped right up and sang it in his loudest (what I thought sounded like) true pirate voice, (making complete perfectimprov sense) I made sure to encourage his hearty pirate voice and joined in with him! He suddenly became the most enthusiastically and full participant!!! At the end he was the first to jump up and thank me and gave me great big hug!! Those are my greatest moments of feeling achievement and breaking through to ALL in my group! I always make it my goal to find a way to channel everyone's energy in a class,
mind you I'm not teaching math (my sympathies). But it do feel that "over active" youth often grow up to be the most energetic and enthusiastic people in communities. Some you may work with, or work for. There are certain people like myself who love the energy and connection of stage and audience and pull out even more material and information when the crowd is in the room, (which was not particularly appreciated by my school teachers!) a friends after the show mentioned it their high school drama days, which I realized I had not done! I saved my drama for the other classes and majored in typing and hanging out in the smoking area. (which was located just outside back hallway door in 80's) I remember Mr. Barns my high school teacher (who's voice I one day heard downtown in his store in St Marys and did a double take) when he asked me if he should take a picture of me, to remember who I was for next time I decided to attend class! Also the award I won for the most detentions. (proud to beat out all of my male competitors) and in the same fashion as I received all of my detention slips I received my well deserved award with a smile and a wave to
my fans!! Having said this, I did manage to pass and head off to college and take TV Broadcasting which I loved! I am sure that many of them would be surprised (including Mr Barns) that beyond my youth antics (I believe) I turned out to be a decent contributor to the planet! I give all of my students
the same respect and enthusiasm and guidance. I love people, making them feel better, making them laugh and I love an audience. Improv is my perfect hobby! For us class clowns it gives us a place to shine and for the shyest people it helps them to come out of their shell and to find their voice and courage. It is great to imagine and have fun and to think on the spot and to work with others in a supportive and positive team like manner while accept and support their suggestions, (many key elements in life). It also helps me working with kids, who already know all of these techniques and haven't been trained out of their imagination yet. ie. when I asked my one student what he wanted to do when he grew up, he said he and his friends had decided they were heading to Africa and would run a Zoo and his friend was going to ride his pet Lion! My reply:. OOOOOO sounds like a Wonderful Adventure!!!
OK I promise, this is the last time I will write about Improv (no, never mind, I'm sure this is not really the last time) Friday night our troupe came together in a way that made us so proud of ourselves!! Our opening show at the beautiful St Marys town hall theatre was a blast! My cheeks hurt from laughing and the crowd was on fire (well not literally but they could've been with all the heat they were giving us) our Improv teacher who I have lovingly renamed "Chef Ramsey of the Theater" was laughing so hard at our work, we knew we had done a good job and made her proud and our work as her graduates!! After our pre-show warm-ups backstage, I I was getting a bit nervous listening to the people arrive, I worried that I would draw a blank. At that moment I decided I should revert back to my public/high school roll of joke making, disturbance creator, class clown and pull from my memory bank to keep my momentum up and myself on track. (ironically I would still have to painfully still keep quiet in my seat until centre stage) It made me think of my recent trip to a local school to do my Mini Music program with a kindergarten group. One little fellow had a rather hard time sitting still (I could relate to his struggle) and at the end when I decided to sing with them old McDonald had a farm he piped right up and sang it in his loudest (what I thought sounded like) true pirate voice, (making complete perfectimprov sense) I made sure to encourage his hearty pirate voice and joined in with him! He suddenly became the most enthusiastically and full participant!!! At the end he was the first to jump up and thank me and gave me great big hug!! Those are my greatest moments of feeling achievement and breaking through to ALL in my group! I always make it my goal to find a way to channel everyone's energy in a class, 
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