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Today I attended several improv workshops hosted by the Dallas Comedy House. Unofficially it was my first attempt at improv in over a year.

How exciting yet how nerve racking.

Amanda and Clay brought the talented Chris Trew & Tami Nelson from Austin’s New Movement Theater. Needless to say I was the most inexperienced person in the room, but was welcomed with open arms.

The Harold

Chris layed down the foundation for performing the Harold. Many of us were very confused. But when we started to “get it” it was a beautiful thing. Performing a Harold is very complicated, but simply understanding the principles and running through several excercises helped me see the possibilites.

It’s obvious why some of the best improvisers swear that “it’s better than sex”.

Straight/Absurd

The question was asked if anyone wasn’t familiar with “Straight/Absurd”… to which I said ME!  I was the only one in the room that wasn’t familiar with it. It made for a slight moment of humor. Whoosh, spotlight on me.

It was a little of a difficult game to play and maintain. Basically in every scene someone plays the straight person as the “voice of reason and the audience” and the other person plays an “absurd” role in which they assumed strange characters.

Although in theory that may seem easy, it isn’t. I did find it fun to see how some of us naturally played one and struggled with the other.

Personally I had moments (small ones) where I did ok. Yes just ok. I will have to revisit this principle and see how I use it in scenes.

Top of the Scene

I was really looking forward to this workshop. The main lesson here is to establish certain things at the very top of the scene within the first couple of statements that would then make the rest of the scene easier.

In my previous experiences, I struggled with this. It can simply be a couple of sentences that establishes who, what, and where, and a certain dynamic between the characters in the scene.

I believe I had couple of good offers and several lousy offers.

(Why can’t I just be an expert already? Too much work and pain! ahh! )

Lessons and Takeaways

Despite my inexperience I knew enough about the basic principles of improv that allowed me to fake my way through the exercises. The uninitiated may not realize how physical improv scenes can become.

I was slapped around, received high-fives from a passionate man, poked on my forehead. My lovely hair was messed up! And I loved it!

The journey to Mastery begins.