Rebirth and Renewal Through Improv

I was lucky. For most of my 40 years in corporate communications I worked with and for people who recognized and valued my perspective on life and my sense of humor, both of which were somewhat offbeat and distinctly non-corporate. But for the last 8 years of my tenure, following a change in corporate ownership, it was clear that my new bosses were less comfortable with my thinking and approach to work. So, to keep the gravy train rolling, I had to conform to a more conventional corporate norm. This kept the money flowing but it also dammed up the stream of unusual ideas that had made me successful in my work for so many years. I learned to tone down my suggestions and often to just keep my mouth shut.

When I finally retired, the creative spark that was so vital to me in work and life had dimmed considerably but had not been extinguished.

Then, things began to change. Through my wife, Roni, I met GeGe [Beall] at SoulShine Studios where she led Nia and Yoga classes. Fortunately for me, she also offered a series of “Brain Games” sessions based on the improv games used by players at CSZ Richmond Theater where, I learned, she also performed. I had taken some acting and improv classes in college so, intrigued by the idea of improv, I attended some of the sessions at SoulShine and enjoyed them tremendously. Roni and I also started to attend performances at CSZ. Inspired by all of it, I started to feel like my brain was loosening up. Ideas were flowing again and the creative spark, once inhibited, was being rekindled. It felt pretty good, so with the encouragement of my family and friends, I enrolled in Improv 101.

It had been many years since I had the chance to collaborate with people who were intelligent, creative and funny. But my classmates in 101 were all of those things. We bonded as a group and, together, learned many of the basics of improv. We supported and played off each other in ways that were refreshing and, in many ways for me, familiar. And as we did that, the blockages that were put in place during the last years of my corporate life really started to crumble.

Much of my professional work has been as a ghost writer for corporate executives and I took great satisfaction in watching them receive a warm audience response after delivering a speech I had written or getting a great laugh from a joke I wrote. The showcase performance at the end of our 101 term was really one of very few opportunities I’ve had to perform and earn the audience laughs myself. It was exhilarating!

To continue my improv education, I enrolled in “summer school” where I’ve found more extraordinary and like-minded friends. Thanks to our exceptional instructors, I’m gaining new insights into the many facets of improv that are essential, but not apparent to a casual audience member. Watching my classmates grow and perform is a joy. As my own creative juices begin to flow again, I have come to appreciate the knowledge, skill and effort that makes improv effective and successful. Plus, the very process of learning new things at this stage in my life adds to the positive effect that improv itself has had on my thinking and outlook. For me, improv has been a renaissance or a reawakening. And I’ll tell you, there are few better ways to reawaken than to the sound of laughter.