I feel good about my improv right now. It feels like it’s been a long climb back up from the closure of the Staircase, when I was getting on stage at least once a week with people I knew very well. Now I’m playing mostly Toronto, with people I don’t know and who don’t know me, but the time we’re spending rehearsing is starting to pay off. I feel much more comfortable than I did even a month ago, and I’m starting to take bigger risks on stage again.

This weekend was filled with improv. I’ve been observing the ITC Level 1 class on Saturday in preparation for maybe teaching it myself some day. This Saturday’s class was the final of eight weeks, and so I got to play with them in a bit of a fun jam. It was refreshing to play with this group, which includes the multi-talented Hesi 😀 After that class, I rehearsed with Big in Japan, and we sharpened up our Harold style, which includes an organic, narrative opening. I’m enjoying the narrative opening, which I think provides better fuel for our sets than the pure organic openings we were doing before. After the rehearsal, I headed back to Hamilton and performed in the monthly improv jam. It was a great show, actually. Audience and cast had a lot of fun. That was seven solid hours of improv in one day.

To top off my improv weekend, Big in Japan performed Harold Night at the Oasis last night. We had a solid set, with games that anchored us to our audience suggestion of “communism” and energetic scenes that clearly tied in those ideas. I can see that we’re really weaving together as a polished group. On a personal level, it’s the first time in a while that I left there without thinking, “Man, I should have said/done that instead.”