Episode 4, We Live in Improv: Living life on the spot Video Link: http://wbtvn.tv/channel/coffee-with-claire
When I tell people I do improv, they are amazed. And I am amazed that they are amazed. Because here’s a secret, folks, — we all live in improv! No one hands us a script in the morning and says “this is what you are going to exactly say, do , stand, etc. all day long.” After some of the days I have had, if they were written by a scriptwriter, they would have been SO fired!
Seriously, think about it. We are all in this together, basically making it up as we go, based on “suggestions” that we receive from others: from our bosses to our families to our coaches. We live in the moments and work through them together.
Improv itself is a high-risk, creative activity; we get suggestions from the audience, we make up the scene or game on the spot, and then the bonus is that through our creativity we make you laugh. Maybe it’s the idea of being on stage in front of people, or maybe it’s a fear of looking like a fool in front of a bunch of people that make people react to what I do in the way they do, but we’re really all the same inside.
Improv to me is spontaneity – something many times we take for granted. It’s the freedom to explore something or create something that’s never been created before – even if it’s just in our minds. My challenge to you this week is this: do something spontaneous this week – go to a museum, catch a movie at the last minute, call a friend you haven’t’ spoken with in a long time.
Our guest for this episode is Von Daniel. Von is CEO of ComedySportz Dallas - DFW. He has extensive experience managing in the DFW area, having successfully hired, trained, implemented processes and led business teams of varying skill levels. Von has extensive experience as a performer as a part of improvisational comedy in Dallas going back to 2001. He has performed with multiple improv ensembles, both short- and long-form, for over 10 years and taught improv to various age and talent groups (from age 8 to adult students). Von’s strategic leadership helped improve performance quality of improv shows and increase the audience base of the programs. With 14 years of experience performing professional standup as well as community theatre,
Von also has immense professional skills in marketing, website, financials, and curriculum development. He has deep relationships with other improvisers in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, including those organizations listed as competitors. In all these endeavors, Mr. Daniel has been embraced and accepted as a one of the improv elite in the Dallas improv community.