Day 83

"Like there's a snake in it!"

That sentence will make sense in a moment...First though, we played reality in Level 3 today, something I've been doing less of in my improvisation because playing characters tends to get me out of my head more quickly.  That's not to say I can't or won't play real, it's just I'm working on letting go and being confident...and putting a character veil on seems to help me do that.

So when it was announced, I got a little anxious.  Not bad anxious...excited anxious.  Like "this is the moment where I can test my confidence in a scene."

I had some hits and misses.  Early on, mostly misses...but the thing was?  I wasn't missing because I wasn't committing.  And in that respect, it was a hit.  I mean, even if I thought what I was doing was boring, I didn't judge myself, I just kept on going, repeating in my head "be confident in EVERYTHING you're doing up here, Tiff."

The moment I realized that I was doing this, the more comfortable I felt to just let go in a scene.

And that's when I made another realization...

...it's hard to retell what happened in an improv scene.  It doesn't sound as interesting or funny as when it's experienced---fresh, in the moment.  So I won't bother you with the details.  This is all you need to know:

My scene partner and I were playing roommates, and we were dealing with a jug of sour milk.  He asked me to watch him open it, this apparently swollen, assumedly stinky bottle of milk.  And he said, "When I open it, it's gonna, it's gonna..." He searched for the right word.

"It's gonna SSSSSSSssssssssssssssssss!"  he exclaimed.

"Hiss!"  I exclaimed back.

"Yeah, it's gonna hiss!" He fumbled with the improv milk jug some more.

That's when I honestly replied, "Like there's a snake in it!"

I didn't say it to be funny.  I didn't say it because I planned it out.  I didn't say it because I was trying to yes and with something off-the-wall.

I said it...
...because had that been a real situation, that's precisely the thing I would have said.

I realized that even when I play real, I'm allowed to be somewhat quirky and ridiculous...because in real-life, well, I am those things. 

And that?  That...was an amazing realization.