How do I light the fire?

“I want to be smacked around a little bit.” She said. “I want to be challenged.”

Lights Up.  The classed giggled and the woman apologized. The maestro said there was no need to apologize because after all, nobody knows what’s going to happen.  He asked the class again:  "Why are you here today? What brings you back to improv?"

On a cold January night, 21 improvisers gathered at The Improv Shop in St Louis for a “Winter Warm Up Workshop”.  Music played as each one entered and shuffled off their chillly layers. Some of them, the maestro had seen before, veterans of the theater who continue growing as artists by coming to workshops like this.  Many of the students were a nice new breed of devotees to the art of “Yes And”.    The Maestro took role, and asked "Why are you here today?”

“To play. To learn. To have fun. I like playing with my friends. I like the challenge. I like that I get to be myself. I get to be someone else. It scares me. I love it. I hate my life. I don’t know. I used to do Comedy Sportz. Short form! Long form. It’s the atmosphere. The camaraderie. The community. The class description said something about lighting a fire, what’s that all about, how do I light the fire? I want to be smacked around a little bit, I can take it…”

He listened, he nodded, he agreed, he had no idea what he was doing. Then he wrote something on the board:

“I have no idea what that means. Let’s begin.”

The three hour class consisted of the following activities.

• Yoga and QuiGong to warm up the body and breathing. 
• Guided Breathing to invite students to be in touch with themselves, with their classmates, and with the rest of the world. 
• Guided emotional warm ups inviting students to feel sadness, fear, rage, and joy.  
• Guided movement inviting students to discover, embrace, and expand emotions together visually, physically, and with sound. 
• Guided character explorations inviting students to take on the physicality and emotional perspective of a dozen comedia del arte characters. 
• Short form games: Blind Line, Moving Bodies, and New Choice focussing relationship through discovering & playing their character’s emotions & physicality.  
• A final hearty round of Freeze Tag, inviting the students to freely play with the lessons they appreciated.  
• And a thorough round of questions and comments with the Maestro.  

“When we were doing the emotions, I had trouble accessing joy.” Said a young woman.

“But you are smiling right now.”  said the maestro.

“Yes, I know. But this is me. I had trouble finding joy as a character.  Any suggestions?”

“You are the character are you not?”  

“Yes but-”

“Practice.  The Actors Gang is in the Business of Humanity. Each week they gather to practice comedia characters and tapping into the emotional states always burning in the world. Comedy Sportz is in the Fun Business and they comes together every week to practice rediscovering the joy of playing games together.  Your class is an opportunity to practice. Your team’s rehearsals are opportunities to practice. Every show at The Improv Shop is an opportunity to put it all to use and play.  But then again, I have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Another student raised his hand and asked, “I know how I myself feels but how do I tap into how other people feel?” 

 
“When you go to a funeral, and the room is sad, how do you feel?  When you go to a wedding or a party, and the room is happy, how do you feel? If you allow yourself to be human, you have the opportunity to be humane, to feel empathy, to practice compassion. Maybe. I dunno.”

The young girl who had trouble feeling joy was smiling, “You told me to stop moving in a scene. But I thought motion and emotion are the same.”

“In Comedia del Arte, they suggest that your character ‘Move then Speak’ or ‘Speak then Move’.  The short form game, Moving Bodies, is an opportunity to discover how the movement makes us feel.  When you are constantly moving while speaking or while your scene partner is speaking, not only does the audience not know where to focus, but you yourself can lose focus.  The audience wants to appreciate the vulnerability of your character. The constant moving can be a way of avoiding vulnerability and we end up looking like a puppet tangled in it’s strings. Sharing one’s emotions is always moving. Right? I dunno. Maybe? Sure.”

A young man in the back straightened up, “The description of the workshop said something about lighting a fire that would last all year. What’s that about? How do I light the fire?”

“Improv Comedy is an opportunity for us to comment on the human condition. All Art is created for humans, by humans. A robot or computer can be programmed to paint a picture or write a screenplay.  But only a human being can know what it’s like to be human.  Our jobs and society often ask us to obey like a robot or computer, but the Arts are an opportunity for us to reclaim our humanity.  What makes us human?”

“Our emotions?”

“You are always on fire.  We are always burning.  The whole world is an inferno of human emotions.  Improv is just one opportunity to rediscover the flickering flames of sadness, fear, anger, and joy.  We players light our characters on fire, and illuminate the stage with relationships played within games, bits, scenes, and themes. We laugh and the audience is invited to be happy, that in itself is a form a warmth”

He smiled. He stared at the ceiling, spaced out, and closed his eyes.  Then he opened his eyes and shrugged.

“Look, I’m an idiot, but if you really want to learn something, look around the room and tell someone something you appreciated about them today.  The greatest lessons come from practicing and playing together. If you really want to be smacked around, all you have to do is allow yourself to be human cause maybe  ‘To be human, is to be humane, and to be humane is to practice compassion.  Maybe. I have to go now. I need to catch the train.”
…
After the class was over, students mingled and chattered before leaving in groups to get dinner or go home to kids and families. They smiled and thanked the Maestro.  He smiled and could only hope they had fun and learned a little something useful.  After the students left he layered on his winter clothes and thanked one of Theater’s managers who was cleaning and closing up for the night. The maestro walked to the train mumbling to himself in the cold winter’s air... 

“...I dunno. I am no thing. I am no one. I am still here and I still care. But I dunno. I am no thing...”

                                                                    LIGHTS OUT

images hosted at steemimg.com/jacobts . 

i Appreciate the Up Votes and follows.

All the Best, Jacob TS