Recapping A Journey Of Improvisation and Personal Growth

What started out as "something to do" to be social and learn something new on a Wednesday, and later, Monday night, became an amazing experience with new friends made and personal growth and confidence built along the way.

The ten-week Improv class I've been taking through Theatre Cedar Rapids concluded with our "showcase" earlier this week in front of an audience of, like, 50 people. Eeek! In a surprising turn of events, I was not the only nervous one. We all survived. I know I've become a better person for it.

Improv, or making funny stuff up as you go, is an extremely hard thing to master. If the class were graded, I'd get a C, but that's not the point. We became a support group for each other to do our best and learn as much as we could, even the ones who already seemed to be naturals at it.

Will I keep going with this? That question remains to be answered as future classes through TCR may be in limbo.

I would ask you, as they go through a leadership transition in their education department, to reach out to them with a message or two of support to continue this fun and beneficial community program.

Finally, thanks to our instructors and friends Anthony Jensen, Zach Parker and Zach Johnson (not the golfer), who were at the helm of the group during our class, and to the too-many-to-mention new friends I've made through the process of escaping my comfort zone.

Cheers to my fellow "Russian Margaritas"!

[Via TCR Facebook page]