Being Aware of the Big Picture

This post will get a little more social than any before. 

A couple of nights ago I went to the Glee Live concert. Don't get me wrong, I love the show and absolutely loved the concert, but something left a horrible taste in my mouth afterwards. It took me awhile to figure it out, but it came to me with a bit of embarrassment. Before the concert, the staff (dressed in cheerleader outfits) handed out airplane barf bags. Yeah you heard me, barf bags. What amazed me is that people were going insane for these things! Men and women alike were screaming their lungs out to receive one of these silly little plastic-lined bags. All gimmicks aside, the bags actually served no purpose. Then the moment: I saw this group of girls yell and almost pass out when they got one of these sick bags. 

That's when it hit me. WHAT...THE...F***?! What the hell is our country coming to? People are starving, war is upon our nations, and disease spreads ever so quickly; but nonetheless, we allow entertainment to divert our attention from such pressing matters. Of course, I am one all for the arts and what it can teach, and so this post will only ask you to be aware. To be wary of how we allow media and entertainment to influence us. Indulging in entertainment can give us inspirations and dreams, but they can also divert our focus from the truth.

In improvisational comedy, especially short-form comedy, we can lose sight of our overall goals on stage. We get so nitpicky about the rules of some games and the laughter surrounding our scenes that we forget that we should be focusing on strong scene-work, relationships, and trust. Just as we need to see the world from an external view, we also need to see improv scenes from the same view. The best improvisers can see scenes simultaneously from both an audience and actor's perspective. By developing these skills, scenes can mature and be both comedic and sophisticated.

So world, I ask this of you, don't get too caught up in things that don't "really" matter and be aware of where we are investing ourselves. Enjoy life, but don't let it blind you.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to tell me what you think. 

Changing Direction and Pushing Back

Improv and life have too many similarities. So many similarities in fact, that I've decided that improv is just another expression of life. The lessons that can be learned from both worlds are so rich and easily transferable. That said, I am now going to change direction for a bit and write about how life experiences and symbolic motifs can help in improv. But if you read closely enough, you'll soon figure out that this blog has really nothing to do about improvisational technique, but really anything you personally are working to aspire to.

Today I want to write about interpersonal relationships. A concept that dawned to me is the idea of "pushing" someone towards you. Yeah, you read correctly, "pushing," not pulling. To be simple, you CAN'T push a person towards you. You can only pull them--entice them if you will. Really think about that. YOU CAN"T PUSH SOMEONE TOWARDS YOU. It's impossible. Relating that to our silly little lives, if we want people to get closer to us (metaphorically), than we really can't force it. The best thing we can do is to leave the lure and hope they make the connection with us. I don't like thinking about people as objects that need to be lured, but it is the closest analogy that I could come up with to say, "you can't force friendship." If we do, the results will hurt. Forcing connections between people can cause relationships, but will they be strong?

Now for the improv tie-in. Forcing your ideas onto another improviser in a scene can be detrimental--fatal in fact. The best scenes come from teamwork. When both parties are pulling each other in. Think about the Lady and the Tramp. During the famous Bella Notte spaghetti scene, the two adorable dogs slurped the noodle into a kiss. How adorable, yet brilliant! The best results in improv come by a group of people pulling ideas from each other, never created by solely one person.

Through improv and life interpretations, I think we can figure out some amazing insights in how we can live the fullest of lives. This blog is goofy and serious in the same time. I hope you like it. Until next time buckaroos!