Today I had coffee with my writer pal Carla. Carla offhandedly mentioned something to me about taking an acting class and I lept on her with all the fervor of a Mormon missionary finally finding an interested party.
"YOU MUST TAKE SHANA'S IMPROV 101 CLASS!" I said in an Owen Meany-esque all-caps voice. "OH LOOK THERE'S ONE STARTING MAY 5!"
"Okay," she said. "But I was more interested in acting..."
"EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY INTEREST IN PERFORMING YOU SHOULD STILL TAKE IMPROV 101 BECAUSE ITS NOT JUST ABOUT IMPROV. ITS ABOUT LEARNING ABOUT YOURSELF, BEING PLAYFUL, INTERACTING WITH OTHERS, TAKING RISKS, COLLABORATING, UNDERSTANDING HUMAN MOTIVATIONS, FEELING GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF, FAILURE IS OKAY, MEETING NEW PEOPLE, AND A HUNDRED OTHER POSITIVE THINGS! IMPROV IS THE SNAKE OIL OF THE 21ST CENTURY, ONLY IT WORKS!"
I had Shana on the phone five minutes later sealing the deal.
Carla is excited about her class and I apparently get $25 off my next Merlin-Works class!
I'm just happy to preach the gospel wherever I can. Without improv, not only would I not be married to Bob, but we also wouldn't have played the most intense bout of "What Are You Doing" in the history of the game last night. Which we did. It was intense and descriptive and has changed our marriage forever. (I am not talking about sex. Purely a game of "What Are You Doing.")
Posted by Zerd at April 18, 2008 01:11 PMOwen Meany! I loved that book. Then I read Garp, and decided I did not like John Irving, only Owen Meany. FYI, the movie that was "inspired" by Owen Meany, "Simon Birch," is total shit.
OWEN MEANY!
Posted by: swilkes at April 18, 2008 02:21 PMWe totally threw out the rule book to "What Are You Doing?" where it was ravaged by strays in the street (two shepherd/lab mutts and an escaped weimaraner), causing a Serv-Pro driver to crash his fuel oil truck into an old NYNEX pole, dousing the place with burning home heating oil and scattering the dogs, burning the rule book to pure white ash which, lifted on the rising pillar of flame, spread downwind in a Gaussian plume of flaming particulate, deposited itself on "Dandy" Don Canute's Honda/Acura dealership just on the other side of the Schuylkill River, specifically across the row of Kiwi Green Pearl Elements, the pricy ones, the SCs, with the nice sound system, carpeting, armrests and center console.
What are you doing?
Posted by: Bob at April 19, 2008 04:35 AM