“The lesson we will focus on today is receiving.”<\/p>\n
I looked around at the other people in the class, knowing that I was the newbie and I was sure they would all be familiar and experienced.<\/p>\n
I’d never been to an acting class, even though this was Los Angeles, Mecca of all acting.<\/p>\n
I am a writer. I work with words.<\/p>\n
But I write about characters, and acting is about characters. Everyone is a character, so I wanted to explore how people interacted.<\/p>\n
This was an improv class. And I was impressed with the teacher<\/p>\n
“Every piece of information is a gift. Improv is about listening and giving back.”<\/p>\n
Knowledge is power. And if I know something you don’t, it can be really powerful to share that knowledge. Sharing our knowledge can change the world.<\/p>\n
Just look at Wikipedia.<\/p>\n
So the few of us learned about giving information to each other to start interacting.<\/p>\n
Which was really strange and weird, because we were acting. We were pretending.<\/p>\n
In this pretend world, giving each other very basic information was a huge gift. In the world of improv, where you are, who you were and what you were doing was enough to hang a whole universe on.<\/p>\n
Wait.<\/p>\n
I don’t think that’s only improv.<\/p>\n
Being aware of the surface of what is happening and who I am is extremely powerful.<\/p>\n
And I say that as one with a deep appreciation for what is below the surface.<\/p>\n
Who am I today and what am I doing in the world? I can choose that every single moment, but only if I am aware of it.<\/p>\n
I want to give myself that gift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“The lesson we will focus on today is receiving.” I looked around at the other people in the class, knowing that I was the newbie and I was sure they would all be familiar and experienced. I’d never been to … Continue reading