Improv weirdly exposes your psychological flaws, and I love that.  Today, I got personal notes from my Magnet Level 6 improv class, which is pretty much a three-month audition for the theater’s house teams.  I was told the same thing I keep telling myself in life: you have great instincts, just make a choice about who you are.  I could probably not read into it, but so often in my improv scenes, I wait until the other person’s done something, and then I respond (super hilariously!).

Too often I define myself relative to others, in improv and in life.  It should be simple.  Pick an emotion, say stuff, respond to stuff, discover what’s funny.  But there’s no responsibility if i just react to them.  To their scene.  If I merely add to their idea, and it fails, I did my best to make their idea funny.  No fault of mine.  Because I fearfully made them make the first move.  And I think that’s true of a lot of things that aren’t going the way I’d prefer in life.  I’m waiting to react.  I want someone else to make the first move.  So I’m working on first moves.