The Breath Before the Plunge (albeit posted a few days late…)

Note: this entry is simply posted in the spirit of updating you on every painstaking detail of the journey – it was written on Friday and thus is a little out of order. Don’t worry – if things get too out of hand I shall contact security and have it removed from the premises.

So I’m writing this on the train to New London, where I am to spend the weekend with my sister-in-law Liz’s extended family!

I’m really looking forward to having some down-time (though I’m sure socially it will be pretty tiring) but just to have some head-space and digestion room from the improv and comedy stuff for a bit will be sweeter than maple syrup on a stack of blueberry pancakes.

Last night I went to Improv Asylum again, saw Bird Flu Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, their current mainstage show (again!) and afterwards managed to score an interview with one of their funniest (i.e. my taste) actors – he was very forthcoming with info on improv and how to direct it, and also gave me some great advice on the best shows to see in New York! I then chatted for a bit to Dana, their lovely Sales Manager – after picking her brain for a bit I commented how inspiring it was to see an improv venue in action that operates full-time and gets consistently great crowds! I feel so inspired about coming up with a vision of doing that in Australia – we’re not really ready for it yet, but it’s great to have a really tangible peek at what that could look like in a few years and then start working out the smaller steps to get there.

I then saw this amazing 2-woman late night comedy show called “Two Girls for Five Bucks” – wow. It really inspired me in terms of show format (my mind was reeling just from the way they segue into the next section of their show, not to mention the clever combo of monologues, sketch and just them talking about their lives) but most of all: the girls’ commitment to their performance. They were just so focused, so ‘on’ – it was, as they say, ‘all killer, no filler.’

And best of all, these girls were honest. Not only did their candid life confessions leave you feeling like one of their girlfriends, but their sketches got to truths about single life that were just so cringingly painful they were almost hard to watch. But they managed to tread that fine line between cruelty and comedy thanks to impeccable timing.

Girly. Edgy. And not trying to please anyone.

I dig. Or is that ‘dug’?

And now…excuse me while I go spend the next two days exhaling.