Nov. 12th: GOOOOOOOOAL!

I had what I am pretty sure was the hardest improv gig of my life on Saturday.  Very difficult, but still very rewarding.  First the support of my fellow players was absolutely awesome.  And then we also had a lot of kids in the audience who ended up giving off this amazing energy that was occasionally a little distracting.  And extra special was that I had some serious support in the audience including one of the first people to ever get me into improv - Mr. Hugh MacLeod.

I have performed for kids before but usually only one or two kids in an audience of around 100 people. Not 10 kids in an audience of no more than 50.  While it was distracting, it was really awesome seeing how excited they got with some of the scenes.  They were all over "Moving People" and they seemed to be excited when I did my "Monologue" - which was a new game we came up with for the night.  I asked one of the boys what he did that day and he said soccer, so I did a monologue about playing soccer and scoring from the other side of the field (which I'm pretty sure is an illegal move - but that's irrelevant).  Apparently I painted a pretty good picture because once I scored the goal, a bunch of the kids got up an cheered with me.  I didn't actually notice because I was too busy jumping around in a circle, but the kids seemed to love it - and that's the important part.

It was also awesome seeing Hugh in the audience and chatting with him at the end of the show.  I can be really hard on myself but having him there was just as encouraging as always.  If I could have him at all of my improv gigs I would be the happiest improviser in the world!  Unfortunately it's a little hard with him living in Hamilton.

The next time I head home I NEED to stop by The Staircase. Returning to those roots could do nothing but good things for me.  All of those people helped me realize who I was and who I wanted to be.  Without Hugh and the rest of them - who knows what I would have done? When improv became a regular part of my life again at the beginning of this year, I remember thinking that I finally felt like my true self again.  I'm so grateful that I found that person to begin with!  Thank you Hugh for all of your encouragement and positivity!