Ask and you shall receive great advice from me, Edna von Improv, the oldest living improvisor! Have a question for Auntie Edna? Send me a letter, and I will answer as soon as these old bones allow.
Your improv question
Dear Edna,
I am having a crisis of confidence in improv. I desperately want to get better, but I feel like I’m in a rut. I’m not happy with any moves I am making, and I’m afraid that I’m ruining scenes by overthinking. Part of me wants to just quit, but I’m stubborn and don’t fully want to give up. Plus, improv is my main social outlet and taking a break from my team would make me sad. What should I do?
Thanks,
Self-Conscious Scene Partner
My improv advice
Dear Self-Conscious,
I’m sorry you’re feeling like you are at the point of quitting, but I’m glad you came to me. You said it yourself: you’re too stubborn to quit. But I think there’s more to it than that. You are committed to this wonderful art, and even though you’re going through a bad moment, it’s exactly that. Just a moment. It, like everything in improv, will pass. Take comfort in knowing that every great improviser goes through this phase, myself included…if you can believe it!
I remember my first improv crisis like it was yesterday. It was the summer of 1945, the war was over, and we were hard-pressed to find theaters willing to take a chance on our young all-female improv group: Rosie and the Revilers. I felt stale every time I got on stage, and with each show I got in my head more and more. It wasn’t until my good friend Viola Spolin encouraged me to take a workshop from a group of traveling circus clowns that I was able to return to the stage feeling renewed.
I think you can feel this way again, love, but it sounds like you have a few issues you need to address in your improv life. Let’s take them one by one:
First, try changing up your routines. It sounds like you’ve been working with the same group for a while. Take a workshop, class, or find a coach to help you learn something new. It’ll help you find a fresh perspective. Try a class in something wildly different from improv, like clowning or acting. It’ll stretch your performance abilities and ultimately make you a more confident player. Also, if you need to take a break from your team for a week, a month, or longer, there’s no shame in that. As long as you follow my next piece of advice…
Second, be open with your team about how you’re feeling. If they are good improv friends, they will not only be supportive, but they will appreciate your vulnerability and try to help you both on and off stage. In the off chance that they are not supportive, go find a new group. There are too many supportive improvisors in the D-sea to waste time on the ones who don’t truly have your back!
And finally, I saved the most important for last: do not seek validation from improv. When you perform you get instant feedback from the audience in laughter, silence, or (sometimes) groans. Depending on how the show went your teammates will give you lots of accolades, or they will quietly find excuses to go home early and feed their non-existent cats. Your coach may give you high praise or lots of things to work on. While you should take the feedback and learn and grow from it, none of that actually matters. Audiences, teammates, and coaches will all come and go, and if you rely on them for validation, your confidence will go with them.
What matters is inside of you. You need to feel good about what you’re doing. You need to remind yourself over and over and over again that you’re doing your best. And if you don’t feeling like you’re doing your best, then you can remind yourself that you’re working hard to do better. Take it easy on yourself. Your confidence may feel like it’s wavering, but the fact that you are reaching out for advice means you care a lot about your craft. That means you have a great improviser inside of you. But how do you let them out? How do you get out of your head?
Be present in your scenes. Forget about “mistakes” you made in previous scenes or shows, and don’t worry about what’s going to happen next. One of the best ways to get out of your head is to focus your attention on your scene partner. Think about ways you can shower them with “gifts” in a scene. This will make them feel good, which will make you feel good, which will make the scene feel good. Over time, the more you focus on things in your control like helping your scene partners, doing object work, and finding validation from within, you should be able to regain your confidence.
Try this exercise the next time you have a rehearsal or class:
1 Favorite and 1 New
- Pick one of your favorite characters to play, then go out and play them. Whether you love being a British street urchin from the 1800s or playing a brain surgeon in the 2000s, go out there and remember what it feels like to play a character you love to play.
- Now pick a completely new character you’ve never played before. Think to yourself, what is the opposite of my favorite character? Go out there and try to play this brand new character.
- Keep trying this exercise to help you switch back and forth between boosting your confidence and expanding your range.
Thanks for submitting your question dear! Follow my advice and I think you’ll feel your confidence come back in no time!
Love,
P.S. Send your improv questions my way by filling out my improv advice form, darlings!
