So a couple of weeks ago I randomly received a text from an old theatre acquaintance. He was able to get my number from a theatre I worked at in the past and wanted to know if I was interested in workshopping a play he was hoping to perform in the upcoming season. He is using improv as a device to explore the development of the play for the playwriter.

Yesterday we had our first workshop with a cold read of the play and introduced some of the improv exercises/games we will probably be exploring in the next workshop.

It was nice. I saw some old friends, worked with some newer actors in the scene, and felt like improv continues to be my foot in the door to explore a creative outlet that feeds me in ways other things just can’t. Bonus was the theatre reading because it is easier to have a script and work through it versus making things up with just a few bits of information. I cannot wait to do more next week.

I feel like that old clothes item people pull out of the back of their closet every once in a while to see if it still fits or works for the current outfit. Glad to say, I feel like I still can be in fashion when needed.

Back to acting. I decided in high school that I was going to go into Theatre for my college degree. While at the university, I remembered watching a black box, late night production of “Write Before Your Eyes”. It was an improvisational theatre experience with a handful of graduate students performing long-form improv.

Long-form improv is unlike short-form improv exercises/games most people are familiar with from shows like “Whose Line is it Anyway?” Long-form improv is typically story-based or longer than short-form games which typically range from 5-7 minutes.

I was hooked, I never knew improv could offer so much more than fun improv and acting exercises but about listening, being present, character exploration, and telling stories in the moment. I immediately started going to a Sunday workshop that the student organization had started. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship that helped me grow and learn, with laughter and many moments where I questioned if I was truly a masochist going back to it over and over again.

Wanted to channel some improv thoughts with my work. Today, I came across polarity mapping and polarity thinking. It is a ‘both, and’ conceptualization of choosing between two possible options. Instead of having to choose one or the other, you balance between the two options, weighing the strengths and possible ramifications of each.

There is more to it but I am still exploring the cyclical flow between the two options and then the next steps and actions that stem from each side to find balance or understanding.

Hi, All. It has been a while. I am going to try to get better at being on this for myself but not be long and windy. My goal is to get better at reflection, and my communication and writing style without being long-winded.

So given that, I am starting with something I love, I love it because it helped me as a teen/young adult feel better about life and find something meaningful to do and escape into. When I first got into theatre, it was a summer program at UH Hilo, I was there for six weeks and I loved it. I was away from home and I learned so much about being in the theatre and a part of theatre, it filled me in a way that I felt whole.

Now was I good at it? I would have to say, no. I was not a shining star born to do it but one of the first lessons that I learned about myself was that I cared about making a difference in a small way by allowing someone else to have a cathartic experience from something I performed in, I loved to learn, ask questions, and acting was just the sum of a whole bunch of little parts of a bigger puzzle. Because of this mindset, I started to pick up each puzzle piece and I tried to to get better at it one piece at a time.

The biggest lesson I learned at this time was that there were a lot of pieces to being an actor and to theatre. And yes, I loved it all.