I finally did it. My husband has been taking classes and performing at The Comedy Arena for the last several years and everyone has been asking me when I would be taking a class. Last year I did take Storytelling, but that was writing and memorizing a personal story that was rehearsed and performed alone.
When The Comedy Arena agreed to host my book launch, I finally took the plunge and signed up for Improv I. Six weeks of class that culminated into a one hour showcase performance.
The class started with six students and the nerves were sky high. But I was excited too. I turned my attention off of my own anxiety and did what I could to help others get past theirs. There was one student in particular that was very “in her head” about everything. I stayed after class to reassure her, but the next week she didn’t show up.
But we still had six students because we gained one. The new addition clearly had a performance background and it didn’t really seem to matter that they had missed the first day. I did reach out to the missing person to find out if they would be coming back, which I was happy to hear they planned to.
And on it went. Every week we were missing one or two people. There were only two of us that made it every week. Which was frustrating to me and I started to not really want to be there and just went through the motions. Of course, my doctor had also upped my anxiety meds right around then, which might have played a factor.
At the last class only five of us showed up. One had told us in advance, but the one that was all in their head just didn’t come. I know it has nothing to do with us, but it made me sad that the anxiety won for them. We had even been messaging each other throughout the week, so I thought for sure they’d be there.
Last night was the showcase. We had been tasked with deciding on a group name and I’d told a few of them my word for being both anxious and excited at the same time and they decided it was a great name. So we were introduced as Anxcited.
We started with fifteen minutes of long form improv, inspired by the suggestion of watermelon. It felt really good getting laughs and feeding off of each other’s energy. When we moved into short form games each of us had one we were not involved in. Watching the others was so much fun. At the end of it all, we were all super proud of how it turned out.
There’s a level two that starts in two weeks. I went ahead and signed up while on the high of performing and before the anxiety can slip back in. It will be interesting to see who else continues and if there are any new additions to our group.
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