To Amsterdam and Beyond!

Wow! IMPROAmsterdam was amazing. I met such wonderful, genuine, and hilarious people, and my show was a huge success. Some called it “better than therapy.” I was sure to note that I have no license, though. I am trained in improv, which I suppose it is its own form of therapy for me. I also had some great learning experiences while abroad.

I was fortunate enough to take a workshop led by Aree Witoelar, a Norway-based improv teacher, director, and performer from Indonesia, who led a course on improvising in unfamiliar territory. It focused on respecting other cultures and races and approaching scenes with curiosity. He led the group through a series of exercises to help us think about how to improvise in different cultures or as different cultures and the importance of not punching down. Improv, in my opinion, is about bringing people together. That doesn’t mean you should avoid speaking truths, but you should never make fun of a gender, race, or ethnicity. It’s cheap, and cowardly.

I left that workshop wondering when I would get an opportunity to put what I learned into practice. Fortunately, I got my first taste of it the night of my show, which—amazingly—Aree came to see.

One of the audience members who wanted to have a conversation with someone through the puppet was a person who wanted to talk to the owner of a bar down the street from their apartment. They were convinced the bar owner was up to no good, and that the bar was a front for something else. The person also noted the bar owner’s ethnicity, which to me sounded superfluous, maybe even loaded.

After the show I reached out to Aree about the experience and he was so kind and generous with his words. He said that I handled the situation well, sticking to neutral things like boardgames (which I decided was this man’s secret hobby in the bar) and I didn’t stoop to any stereotypes. Aree also gave me some great suggestions that I hope to employ in future shows, like giving the person a more ethnically appropriate name than the one that the audience member suggested, or weaving in more cultural references. It’s really just about being compassionate and leaving your biases at the door. For me, it was refreshing to be in a space where we could openly talk about this topic with an understanding that we are all trying to stay grounded in reality and put on a good show without being offensive.

Since that show I’ve booked a few more, in Chicago, Germany (!), and possibly Nigeria (!!). It’s so exciting. When people ask me about my profession, I say “I’m an accidental puppeteer.” But I think there might be something here, so I’m just going to roll with it.

I still haven’t taken a foot out of journalism, either. (What can I say, I want it all.) I just finished another children’s book for Scholastic and have been working on articles for a number of new and old publications.

Meanwhile I’m very close to locking the script for my solo show with the help of my stellar director, Vishaal Desai, and I’ll be talking about designs for my puppets with a puppeteer on Monday. I’ve got some great leads on theater spaces to stage my show, too, which has proven to be more difficult than I expected. But I keep showing up for the process and I have surrounded myself with good people with a common goal: to build and perform a spectacular show. So I’m grateful!

Here’s a list of upcoming shows:

Grief Circle | Friday March 13 at 8pm | Home Comedy Theater

Dear Tooth Fairy | Saturday March 14 at 3pm | Bartleby’s Ice Cream

Dear Tooth Fairy | Saturday March 21 at 10:30am | The Field Museum