I am more me

Today, for most, is one that will be marked with tons of beer, green, and rowdiness. Today, for me, is one that will be marked as the day I started level three of improvisational comedy class at the Upright Citizen's Brigade theater.

I was inspired to write this post because I came across a blog on the UCB message boards where a UCB performer challenged himself to write about improv every day this month. Since March 1st, his posts have chronicled his experiences performing, taking class, seeing shows and living in the world of comedy.  If this sounds interesting to you, take a look here- I really enjoyed reading it.

It got my wheels turning about my own experiences with improv thus far. Recently, Cara and I were at a happy hour and I started talking to some dude about improv. Cara was engaged in a different conversation- but looked over and could tell by the look in my eyes that whatever I was talking about was near and dear to my heart. "Ohh god she's getting intense," she interjected. It's true, I do get overly excited when I talk about improv... and I become a bit too theoretical. I think some of the greatest 'rules' of improv could be applied to society on a grander scale: listen to others, play at the top of your intelligence, gift those you are sharing the stage with, be physically in tune with your surroundings and examine your element to find what is 'working' and then hone in on it.  and all this time you thought your therapist was going to tell you how to correctly live your life...

The first time I saw an improv show was actually my Sweet 16 party. I opted out of the traditional Cinderella moment and decided to see a show at Chicago City Limits. To keep my Long Island Princess ego in check, my Mother surprised me with a limousine; then she, my sister Kaitlin, my Godmother and 7 of my bestest gal pals headed into big bad Manhattan for a night at the theater (said with snobbish exaggeration). My brother's girlfriend at the time was the one who recommended I see the show, "it's just so you, you'll love it."  She was right, I did love it.

The show became particularly special when my mother was picked as an audience member and the latter half of the show was an improvised musical based on the story of the time my father vacuumed up our pet bird. (Sonny Bird R.I.P.) Maybe my Mom can guest blog one day and share the story with you... or it can be a vlog in the near future.Anyways, I longingly stared at the performers, envious of the fun they were having- suppressing my own dreams of performing that had been relegated to acceptance speeches in foggy bathroom mirrors and production of living room Broadway Reviews starring my younger sisters and me. (All video taped and ready to one day be released to E! True Hollywood Story. See photo below for a teaser)

 (Left: me, Right: my younger sister Kaitlin)

While watching the show a quiet thought inside my head said, "I think I could do that." But the dominating voices telling me to continue with my school spirit agenda, Editor-In-Chief, extra-curricular superstar, were louder. So I strayed from the theater for a bit more until I took an acting class my senior year of High School.

"Why haven't you been in the plays all this time?" my teacher, Ms.Keyishian, wrote in my yearbook at the end of senior year. Along with that statement of support, my greatest memories of that class were: performing "Who's on First", reading a comedic monologue I wrote in the voice of my cell phone and an important, life changing day- the one when we learned improv games. The premise was simple: two class members engaged in dialogue and at any given point a 3rd party yells out "freeze" and enters the scene, replacing one scene member, and then starts the scene with the last spoken line of the person they are replacing. Playing, felt natural and the laughter from my classmates was encouraging. The voice that had once thought, "I could do that," changed it's tune and started to sing "I should do that." (Insert appropriate Barbara Streisand movie title: Funny Girl, A Star is Born, or The Way We Were) *(The Way We Were is not applicable but any opportunity to mention that movie must be taken)

A  few weeks into my Freshmen year at American University, I saw a flier posted by the entryway to the dorms. It was hand written and sketchy looking, but the words "improv" and "audition" spoke to me. I marked the date and time of the audition in my university provided planner and kept my plan as a secret to myself. One of the worst things you can ever do is tell people you do improv. "Oh yea- say something funny," they reply. When you tell me you're in accounting do I whip out my W2 and ask you to do my taxes? No. Consider that the next time you ask someone in comedy to "say something funny."  I didn't need people I had just met pressuring me to be hilarious; more importantly at such a vulnerable time in my life I didn't need to publicly admit to 'not making the team' if I didn't get onto the troupe.

So I secretly left the dorms one evening and headed to the student center where auditions took place. There I saw some famous campus faces- three of the troupe members were stars of "Rip-Off" a popular show on the campus TV station. Within three weeks of  being at AU I knew who they were- and being in their mere presence was enough to make my foot nervously shake at 95mph. I remember whipping out "Birdie" one of my favorite characters that had been created at an 8th grade sleepover, everything else about the audition is blurry. I was called back later that night, all of this having a frightening "The Skulls" secret society vibe to it. The troupe members seemed remarkably close, giggling at inside jokes and encouraging funny moments with each other. As a new college student, I couldn't help but admire their relationships and think to myself, "will I ever be that close with anyone here?" Shortly after the audition, I was given my own invitation to join their world. And so, my time on Mission Improv-Able begun.

If this were a movie, now would be the moment for a montage. It would open with an excerpt from my first practice, and you'd see me quickly quip at my troupe mate Rebecca, "I'm from New York bitch" during a warm up game. Pan to: her own face of fear, "Who is this monster we've invited on our troupe?" (Lesson Learned: sarcasm and humorous sass can easily be misunderstood during a first impression)  It would then lead into various scenes of people laughing, hugging, partying, arguing, debating, partying, laughing, partying, laughing, arguing, laughing, laughing oh and partying. Throw in one or two "we're on a field trip" type shots and you have the five years I spent with Mission Improv-Able. No, I wasn't in college for 5 years, I stayed on board an extra year as the "alumni adviser"/"person who can't let go of her college years." 


There is an insane closeness that I share with the people I spent majority of the time on my troupe with. We know each others personalities through a scope that few others see and experience. We spent every Wednesday night together for 9 months out of the year, constructing and criticizing our attempts at being funny. Our bond lies in these practices where we ultimately bared ourselves to better understand the people we were sharing the stage with. Spending time together outside of practice proved to be just as significant to our strength- the more we knew each other off the stage, the easier it was to connect on it. My loyalty to them may be what makes me say they are to this day the funniest people I have met but I more so attribute it to the incredible memories I have of laughing and learning with them.

To explain the transition from my comfortable AU improv troupe to my immediate experiences at UCB would best be summed up with the big fish/little pond-little fish/big pond metaphor. I'm back at the bottom. In a community of actors, actresses, entertainment professionals, aspiring SNL cast members, Funny or Die video creators, viral "Improv Everywhere" types- I am again starting from the ground up. My teachers and people I recognize from house teams are the "Rip-Off" stars of my college years. I aspire to know them, to work with them- but for now, I relish the fact that I get to learn from them. In class and on my practice group, I've met a bunch of incredible people who I love to do improv with. They reciprocate my energy and enthusiasm for improv. People who may want to make it big- but who more so want to continually be tickled by the joy of performing and practicing.

Like many people I take classes and practice with, I dream of being an SNL cast member. If you like to make people laugh- you certainly want to make a career out of doing so. But more importantly, I am committed to always doing improv. It's my outlet, my creative combustion, my place for release and engineer of thought. I never want to lose that feeling. And wherever the journey takes me, I"ll be grateful- but ultimately I'm just enjoying the ride.

So the next stop on this trip is Improv 301- I begin today, March 17th 2010. Tomorrow, when I wake up I will not have a hangover like most of you celebrating St.Patty's instead I'll wake up  feeling richer than I did today. The fortune of doing what you love is greater than any pot'o'gold. It's not always about what's hanging out at the finish line- sometimes, even when you're not eating Skittles, you just gotta taste the rainbow.

BOOM

POW

OWWWW

Love ya.
-Jac

a retrospective:

Freshmen Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year

Year Five (Alumni Advising)

UCB101 Class at our final performance show

 UCB 201 Class at our final performance show