Will Luera's Improv Journal

A friend suggested I share this with a larger audience...so I am. In the world of theater, I don't believe in tokenism or affirmative action ...but I do think that a director, producer or someone in a position of power should be able to see potential in someone while taking into account how social constructs might have hindered someone's confidence or cultural development. I grew up in Chicago (in the city proper not the suburbs), but never went to Second City until I was in my 20's because growing up on the South Side, nothing existed north of the Sears Tower. I grew up listening to Techno and Hip Hop and knew nothing of Classic Rock, Grunge, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, etc. My Comedy heroes were Robert Townsend and the Wayans Brothers...I never even heard of Monty Python. When I auditioned for ImprovBoston in 1997 and I thought I had no chance because I did not share the same cultural vocabulary that many of the cast members had. I did however, have a passion for the ...

{EAV:8c9f48541e674e8a} I've been improvising professionally since 1997 and have been an Artistic Director since 1998; first with Blue Screen Productions and then with ImprovBoston. Since I started, I have been keeping an ongoing journal of my thoughts and revelations about improvisation. Some have helped in the unique development of ImprovBoston, others have fallen by the wayside but all of them have been crucial in my development. I didn't start improvising until I went to Boston College even though I grew up in Chicago, the mecca of modern American Improv. In a way, I am grateful for this. This allowed my ideas to develop outside of the tunnel vision and bubble of the Chicago Improv experience. While I am jealous of everyone who has had a chance to commit years to the iO, Second City, Annoyance models, I am happy that I had to seek out knowledge on my own in Boston. It's allowed to discover nontraditional concepts and to take different roads to the same goal. This has...

Remember your first Improv class? We've all been there... I've had the pleasure of working with many beginners. Many of them have become performers at my theater; many have gone on to use improvisation in their professional or personal lives; and many were happy with their one class and left satisfied that they tried something new. Regardless of what they got out of the class, it is our job as instructors to make sure that each student feels successful regardless of how long their experience in improv is meant to be. With this in mind, sometimes working with Beginners can be intimidating. I challenge instructors that instead of being daunted by this responsibility, we should see this as an opportunity to share our joy with a new person. All of your students are coming with tons of potential and it's your job as an instructor to provide them with the right tools for them to take their first steps down the road you've come to know so well. Whether their goal is to ...