Since moving to Albuquerque, I have started doing improv. (Shout out Improv New Mexico.) It’s something I always wanted to do in LA but could never afford. I also thought about doing it in San Francisco, but didn’t have the guts to commit to a performance-based medium. Instead, I chose to hide away in my hidey-hole studios and make paintings.
Despite that, comedy has been a touchstone for me. I have spent hours listening to Marc Maron and The Nerdist podcasts in my studio while working. I have a thing for SNL, obvious to readers of Art Date. But I also love anything that Lorne Michaels produces, especially the Sandler and Spade/ Farley films of the 90s. My early education in gender and non-mainstream culture was formed by watching Kids In The Hall, produced by Michaels, and John Waters films.
In high school, my friends and I would go watch Comedy Sports, an improv troupe in Minneapolis, because it was one of the cool things we could do in Uptown as wholesome, non-drinkers under 18. It was comedy, happening right in front of you, and you were a part of it!
Since then I have followed improv from afar with the show Whose line is it anyway? on Comedy Central, and Brave New Workshop when I’m home in Minneapolis. Then in LA, I had my mind blown by The Last Improv Show where Rainn Wilson was one of their celebrity guests. The improv team included Danny Moinahan from SNL, Janet from The Good Place and that crazy guy from The League. LA really knows how to scale it up. The skits were not only hilarious, but the acting was actually believable and, at times, moving.
When I finally started doing improv myself, it felt like an old friend. The formats were new, but felt familiar. I was excited to understand the mechanisms behind the different sketch formats, and the reason for improv cadence, or the way that characters in a scene will be surprised by one another and somehow still know what to say.
There is an inherent vulnerability in doing a sketch, especially with only one other person. While it’s deeply embarrassing, I really love it because it breaks down social norms and hierarchies and anything else about the people to just a bunch of bodies in a room. It requires you to respond to a person and maybe a prompt or two in a moment and then move on just as quickly. The key is you have to trust that what’s in your brain is going to deliver for you. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
One of the more awkward/humiliating/hilarious things that have happened so far is me having to tell my scene partner “I love you” 15 times while looking him in the eyes as part of an exercise - something I barely do with my closest friends.
I feel like I have been playing at improv in my personal life for some time now, but the reason I signed up for an improv class is because I wanted to make life a little more fun. For those that aren’t familiar, improv is all about the idea of “Yes, and…” You have to accept the premise being offered by your scene partner(s) to move forward or otherwise the whole thing falls apart. This is an apt strategy for navigating the slings and arrows of fortune, one that I have tried to adopt - as if life is an improv teacher giving me prompts.
Life: Let’s have you come out as queer in your 40s
Me; Ok yes and, what if I adopt two kittens and struggle to find a job for a year at the same time.
Life: Yes, and now come out again, but this time you’re trans.
Me: Ok. Yes and, I move to New Mexico.
Life: Yes, and you’ll start a new job right away, but won’t find an apartment for two months.
Me; Ok, yes and my car just broke down.
Life: Yes, and your job is ending so now you need to find a new job.
Me: ok, yes and—
Life: —And a new apartment too, maybe
Me: Ok yes and…???
The whole deal with improv is that you change roles, locations, and emotions on a dime, but it’s fun and playful because you’re all scrambling to make adjustments in tandem with the other person or people in the scene. And instead of freaking out, you come up with innovative solutions to make each other laugh. Although being funny is not required in Improv 101, it helps in class and life too.
What if I could somehow make all these changes - not to mention respond to all the new prompts from POTUS, our self-designated Entertainer-in-Chief, while staying open and treating it like a game? Or handle a stressful situation with family and instead of reacting per usual at a classic trigger, doing a ‘yes and’ type of response?
I’m learning that if you really listen to your scene partner(s) for revelations about themselves or their character, things go a lot smoother and are more entertaining for everyone. Rather than focusing on something they say that you understand, the best scenes start with some personal tidbit that leaves you wanting more, then expounds on that.
Much like in life, you have to genuinely be curious and not afraid to react in a way that isn’t easy. Sure you could phone it in and say all the nice pleasantries, but if you react from an authentic place instead, everyone feels it. And it could be hilarious, and, at times, moving.
But also uggghhhhhh.
Happenings:
In other news, I am in a couple of shows coming up.
LA folks, I will most likely not be there but if you want, please stop by Durden & Ray to see Game Night organized by Lupe Quesada who used to run Casa Lu, an awesome residency in Mexico City that I attended before and during the pandemic.
I’ll be showing one of the paintings I made as part of my Queer Spells series. For this, I create paintings that are meant to act as spells to respond to or expand upon a theme or topic. The painting I will be showing is Spell for a revolution, 2024. See it in person, in all its fluorescent glory. Opening May 31, 7-10pm.
For folks in the midwest, I will be part of the Door County Contemporary Art Fair in Wisconsin with Dreamsong Gallery. The fair will happen in early June. For those familiar with the region, it’s due east of the Twin Cities not far from Green Bay. I love a good experiment and this feels like a well-produced one. Think Scandinavian design meets Green Acres.
Please check it out if you are in the area, or reach out to the gallery if you would like to inquire about any of the work I will be showing. I’ll share more as it gets closer.
Kitty Kneival
For those that read this far, a heartwarming? little tale about my daredevil kitty and my feeble attempts to control her.
Yesterday, Dior jumped from our balcony to the roof across the way with a 10-foot gap and a 20-foot drop between us. I freaked out because, for humans, the slatted metal guard rail would be too hard to navigate while jumping back such a distance.
I created a bridge out of a RamBoard tube from my studio that I was quite impressed with. She walked all the way to the edge of the tube, stuck her head out on the balcony side, then made the cat version of a pshaw noise, and went back onto the roof.
Then about 20 minutes later, while I was having a heart attack, she gracefully jumped from the roof in between one of the vertical guard rails, proving definitively that humans are the inferior species.
In case you thought that was the end of my catscapades, Didi brought me a still-warm, but dead bird and left it at my front door. I’ll spare you the photo.
This morning I went out and got them both special collars with bells on to alert our bird friends, and an LED bobble for Dior who likes to disappear around sunset. That is all for now
So impressed with your yes, And... attitude that was evident way before you took Improv - no wonder it's a good fit. Good luck with all those curveballs in Albuquerque