2005, evening. A cool breeze comes in from the big, open window, I am sitting alone on the living room sofa, I need to make a decision. The head says one thing, the gut and the heart say another. By now, it’s pretty clear what my decision is going to be and my heart starts pounding with fear.
That same afternoon I got two job offers. I was in the middle of an artistic dry spell. A show I was in, “Forgetfulness” was about to end its run (because there’s a limit to how many friends and family members you can bring as audience…) and there was nothing else in the horizon. So, having two offers come on the same afternoon was a lovely, pleasant surprise. The first – to play the lead in a well-known Greek play – I know the director, I know the cast, I know the play and it’s likely I’ll do a pretty good job, oh, well…an excellent job. And the other – oh… the second offer made me weak at the knees, made my heart race and led to a minor anxiety attack – teaming up with a group of actors from a certain acting school (I’m a graduate of a different acting school) to start an Improv ensemble with them.
I spent that whole afternoon getting flashbacks from acting school – third year, our final production, “When the Stars Moved”, which we were writing with the director and in order to do that, we had to improvise. Every time I go on stage all my brain is capable of producing is one single sound – beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. The sound of death. Cold sweat on my forehead, thoughts racing through my head about how I stink and what am I even doing here and perhaps the floor will be kind enough, open up and swallow me whole? Every idea that pops in my head seems to me not good enough, unoriginal, unfunny, un… just un-everything! Those improv moments were torture for me.
So, I’m now faced with these two choices, one will lead me to all that’s familiar and convenient and the other – to the depths of pure fear. And even if I don’t really know why, I finally realize what my choice is. (Because no matter how stubborn the brain – the gut always knows best). So what does one pack for a trip to the depths of pure fear?
Once in a while there are crucial moments that change your life. You can count them on one hand, or if you’re lucky, on two hands – and you remember all these moments very clearly. That moment where my knees shook, and I took a deep breath – realizing what my choice is going to be is without a doubt one of those crucial life changing moments
Years later (and after many adventures, of which I will tell), I’m a “bona-fide” improviser (That’s actually an impossible title), teaching Improv to religious and orthodox women at the “Aspaklaria” Acting School. They nickname me “The Rabbi”; For them, something about Improv relates to life on a spiritual level and I found that fascinating. I knew what kind of process I had gone through with Improv and how Improv skills have changed my own life, but there, at “Aspaklaria” of all places, where I thought Improv would have to be restricted due to religious constraints, I discovered the spiritual and practical aspects of Improv in life.
One day, after class, one of the women sent me a link to a TED lecture: The Way of Improvisation by Dave Morris. I immediately clicked on it and watched the lecture. By the end of it, my eyes were shining, both because I laughed so much and because I had had a more profound understanding of what I had realized long ago – that Improv doesn’t belong only on stage – Improv is for life! I’ve seen that lecture dozens, if not hundreds, of times since and it inspires me every single time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUO-pWJ0riQ
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