Valley PR Blog

Insightful Improv

By Linda VandeVrede on October 8th, 2007 In Professional Development

I’m taking an Introduction to Improv class at The Originals Improv in Scottsdale, and when I tell people this, I generally get a variety of reactions, ranging from blank stares to approving nods.   I have only had two classes so far, which doesn’t make me an expert by any means, but I have learned a few things. 

The biggest misconception I had was over the word itself.  “Improv” doesn’t necessarily mean funny, and in the acting world it apparently has a much different connotation from what we in TV consumer world perceive.   To improvise is to simultaneouly compose and perform, on the spur of the moment, and without any preparation, a scene, song, play, or movie.   All of our scenes and exercises so far have been in the drama vein, not comedy. 

I’m one of maybe six or seven people in the class.  There are two other friends I commandeered from the business world – the rest include an actor, a few theatre majors and even a fifteen-year-old who tends to lump me into the “Mom” role when we have scenes together, which I find personally frightening.

I can’t speak for my business friends, but I know I’m not completely “at home” yet with the class.  It’s different, fun, exciting, but I hadn’t realized how years and years of business life can put a “veil” over your imagination, even in a creative profession like PR.  Giving an impromptu speech to a crowd is 1,000 times easier than synching up mentally with a complete stranger on stage.   I’ve never blanked out at any public speech or even the piano recitals I had in high school – yet I’ve blanked out in Improv class.

Improv is very much applicable to PR, however, for the one of the most important lessons of the class – the importance of listening.   You have to work cooperatively, usually with one other person in what’s called a “scene.”   It’s like a tennis match, back and forth, and if you don’t listen properly, the scene fails, plateaus, or goes off into nowhere.   In my daily life, I find myself trying to slow down now in conversations, listening more, and amusedly noticing how many people don’t listen and cut me (as well as others) off before I can get a complete thought out on the table.

The instructor, Matt Rosin (pronounced Rose-een) has the kind of diverse background that makes a great teacher.  His career took him from undergraduate studies in English Literature and Russian to spending 3 months as an intern for Coca-Cola in Moscow, returning to the U.S. to open an insurance agency, travelling the world, and along the way, developing his improv skills and training with the best.   He returned to Phoenix in 2002 as a professional actor, teacher, director, and producer.

If you want to try something completely different from PR, check out www.theoriginalsimprov.com.   The classes are 8 weeks long and are available both in South Scottsdale and Tempe/Chandler.    Matt says his ideal student is one “who doesn’t mind getting instruction in public – they can’t get wounded.”  His feedback is honest, timely and thoughtful.  

Being in class reminds me of Monty Python’s classic line, “And now, for something completely different.”   Try it out – and then we can compare notes at future ValleyPR Buzzes….! 

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