If you know me (Walt Frasier here), you know I struggle with things like indoor voices. I make an entrance. At some point I try to draw folks in, with something resembling subtlety. Then I like to leave with a bang, often times singing, or screeching, EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!
At a recent murder mystery, a gentlemen said to me “YOU MUST BE ONE OF THOSE THEATER PEOPLE.”
This did not have a complimentary tone. One, I caught him off guard. Two, he was basically asking an excuse for himself hiding in a corner.
Before an improv workshop, many folks will say, I’m introverted, I cannot act. They do not realize the best actors are often introverts.
Yesterday at an author fair (I was behind a table selling books, believe it or not lol) a charming young lady said she was an English teacher at a college upstate. When I suggested she us improv in her classroom, she had a noticeable nervous tick at the very thought of performing. But is not any teacher an actor of sorts.
I recently had a sales team elect to do some team building activity other than an Improv Workshop. Any sales or marketing team, and I quote, “TERRIFIED OF IMPROV”, needs to be doing improv workshops.
All of the above are serious defense mechanisms to avoid pushing comfort zones. I tell the kids and teens, every time you get on stage, that gets easier. Everytime you hide that too gets easier.
Anyone that tries improv, if taught by the right teach, is hooked five minutes into the session. We create a fun safe space to play. And then we simply play. You may or may not seek out more improv comedy classes. But you are co.fortable to give it a shot.
After every session, teachers, parents and project managers pull me aside. “I never expect him/her to participate. Not like that.”
Artists hate it when I say ANYONE could do what I do. But it also true, most people can’t do what I do simply because STAGE FREIGHT is the number of fear in this world.
But I have also seen shy 8yo kids leap out of their shells after a short workshop, leaving that fear of embarrassment in their wake.
The fear of consequences is good to keep folks from committing crimes or causing physical damage to self or others. For everything else fears are manifestations of YOUR brain that only hole YOU back..