By Pam Victor
After studying improvisation for a
dozen years, interviewing the masters for the last several years, and
performing it for that same dozen years minus six months or so, I’ve relatively
recently started teaching it. And one of the most delightful discoveries I’ve
made is when I find myself channeling my own teachers. Now and then, I'll be gifted with the opportunity to pass along the words of Susan Messing (“Smell it touch it taste it feel it fuck it”) and Lyndsay Hailey
(“Shoot the grandma”) and Mark Sutton (“Nobody in an improv audience anywhere
has ever turned the person sitting next to them and said, ‘Man, I sure hope
they fix that bike’”) and Joe Bill
(“Shut the fuck up”) and Craig Cackowski
(“Specificity begets specificity”) and, of course, lots and lots of TJ
Jagodowski (“If you keep putting brick and then mortar and then another brick,
the mortar is the story. It’s the thing that squeezes out if you just keep on
putting people together and exploring their relationships”) and lots and lots
and lots of David Pasquesi (“Listen
to the foot”). People I’ve only seen
perform inform my lessons, like sometimes I’ll be visited by Jill Bernard,
whose drop dead brilliant one woman historical musical show is seared into my
mind and heart and who teaches whole lessons with her infectiously joyous, child-like 1000% commitment to her performance. Even people I never will get to meet visit me while I’m teaching, like Del Close,
whose gravelly, take-no-prisoners voice speaks through my teachers and my
teacher’s teachers and, when I’m lucky, me. And so many more – I couldn't even dream of doing justice to sharing with you in one, small tribute all the many great teachers I've had - instead I'll devote myself to the quest if you care to stick with me for a lifetime or two.
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| Mr. Sutton and pie |
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| A photo on the wall of iO Theatre of Mr. Pasquesi and his teacher, Mr. Close |
People I’ve worked with. People
I’ve seen perform. People I’ve interviewed. People I’ve learned from. And, more
and more, people I’ve taught. As we’re all struggling to put into words the
secrets to improvisation – and, let’s be real here, folks, the unsolvable
secrets to life - all their words come through me while I’m teaching in this
joyous, challenging, ultimately impossible self-propagating cycle towards
infinity. And while I work hard on developing my own voice and message, I love
that I get to say their names, are joined by their gentle guiding presence,
feel reinforced by their experience and wisdom. It feels so much less alone and
scary. It quiets the internal screaming meanie of, “Ohmygod, are they fucking
hating this crap I am spewing? They are. They’re fucking hating this crap,
aren’t they?” And on a purely selfish level, it makes me happy to get to spend
some more time with these teachers, my friends and colleagues and heroes.
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| Mr. Jagodowski and his teacher Mr. Gregoropoulos |
When I say, “Shoot the grandma,” I
see Lyndsay Hailey’s beautiful, beaming smile. I can picture her pointing to
her arms and crowing, “Goosebumps! You guys gave me goosebumps!” When I try in
vain to conjure Messing’s sexy rasp, I feel her reminding me that if I’m not
having fun then I’m the asshole and I should get on the joyride and probably
something else super smart and insightful about vaginas that makes me smile
inside my soul. When I tell students about his bike metaphor, I see Mark Sutton leaned
back in a chair holding a fishing poll (you’ve probably been there) or clad
only in an adult diaper (I’m sorry if you weren’t there) and I can taste the
best
fuckin’ berry pie in Chicago (you should have been there). Saying their
names and words summons to my mind Cackowski spinning a Bentwood chair in iO’s cabaret
theater and Joe Bill’s slow Indiana drawl that comes out when he’s been
drinking or trying to be charming (which is pretty much all the time) and TJ’s
generosity when I was terrifyingly interviewing him for the first time in his cozy
living room and David Pasquesi that one time when I said something stupid
that made his eyes twinkle.
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| Ms. Bernard performing "Drum Machine" |
As I step into each new improvisation
class, of course I stand there, first and foremost, to share my robust
adoration of this art form with these unreasonably kind folks who for some
reason have chosen to spend a few hours with me. But my secret pleasure is when
a moment arises that reminds me right away of something wonderful someone once
said to me and I have the opportunity to be visited once again by my committee
of geniuses, poets, and artists, my foul-mouthed gurus, and my spirit guides.
And that’s when I feel like the luckiest one in the room.
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| Ms. Hailey |
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| Mr. Cackowski |
Read Geeking Out with...Dave Pasquesi
in which Dave says,
"Improvisation is itself an exercise in faith.
In faith of Improvisation.
That if I do the next tiny thing, all will be fine."
*
Catch up on past improv geek-a-thons:
Geeking Out with…TJ Jagodowski of TJ and Dave
...Mark Sutton of BASSPROV
...Craig Cackowski of iOWest and Drunk History
...Susan Messing of Messing with a Friend
and many more!
Pam Victor writes "Geeking Out with...," the popular comedy interview series. She is the founding member of The Ha-Ha’s, and she produces The Happier Valley Comedy Show in western Massachusetts. Pam directed, produced and performed in the comic soap opera web series "Silent H, Deadly H." Pam also writes mostly humorous, mostly true essays and reviews of books, movies, and tea on her blog, "My Nephew is a Poodle." You can see all her shit at www.pamvictor.com.
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