Audrey A McGee

For most of my life, I was terrible at improvisation. I did all the theatre games, took all the improv classes, loved it with my whole heart, and yet I would

FREEZE.

Any time I had to come up with an idea on the spot.

I felt like an imposter in the theatre. An imposter…actor. Do you know how damaging that is??

Over the last year, however, I’ve noticed that my witty banter is acceptable, and my storytelling has become more think-on-your-feet. Where could all this skill and confidence come from?

I think of three main sources for this change:

1. Seniors.
   • I started working at a retirement home as a waitress, so I got to befriend the residents and chat them up every day. That being said, you’re really only able to have a pleasantries exchange of a few seconds before you’re off to get the next order.
   • I ended up with an arsenal of a few common phrases I could say to everyone, and, as I got to know them better, was able to throw out the quickest joke I could think of.
   • It was a very forgiving environment for poor jokes and word fumbles, so I just tried my best and got better!
2. NaNo.
   • As I’ve covered in my past blog posts, NaNoWriMo was really difficult for me last year, but very rewarding. I got comfortable with creating an abundance of content.
   • A lot of the ideas are going to get thrown out, but a lot of them will be kept in, and I just learned to have fun with the story, instead of thinking it has to be perfect the first time.
3. Kiddos.
   • I started teaching theatre this year, mostly to kiddos ages 7-10. I had no idea what I was doing, but the kids didn’t know that! They expected me to be in charge, so hey! Guess what activity we’re going to do next… *cut to me flipping wildly through my teaching handbook for a game*
   • This summer, I’ve been teaching theatre camps, where we have the kids create their own characters and we write a story based on that. The turnaround for a full 10-minute script is 2 days tops.
   • Their imaginations are rubbing off on me, and my writing style from NaNo is helping organize them. I have to say, “Yes, and…” to as many ideas as I can, and then I ask questions to connect the threads together.

So, have I stunned the world with my newfound improvisational skills?

Not yet. Right now, I’m quite content being able to make a split-second decision of whether to yell, “Ships!” “Shore!” or, “Captain’s coming!” But I think that, when I do make it back onstage, you’ll find that I’m not the one to freeze. I just needed:

• Immediate deadlines
• Permission to fail
• Fun people
• And a bit of time.

If you’re terrible at improv, fear not! It’s a skill like any other. I hope this was helpful, and that you can go seek your own places to fake it till you make it!