Another opening, another show!

Come see grads of KSI perform comedy funny ha-ha! TUESDAY, JUNE 5! 7PM at
HA! Comedy Club
163 West 46th St in Times Square!

Improv out of context

I have been meeting with lots of companies, law firms, pie shoppes lately to introduce them to the idea of improv in the workplace. It never ceases to amaze me how applicable improv is to all walks of life.

We all need to learn to communicate better,
to better speak our truth
to work work easier as a team
to listen bigger
to trust our instincts
to say yes
to not be afraid of being wrong
to open our imaginations
to be more playful and have more fun

And THIS is what improv does! In an amazingly effective and FUN way. It's accessible for all and impossible for none! Improv is the new black!

IMPROV!!! ...not just for actors anymore.....

CALLING ALL IMPROVISERS-----

I'm organizing am improv troupe! This troupe will be practicing and performing longform with some games and music at Stand Up NY in June and again in August. I am looking for experienced long-form improvisers who are playful, smart and wanna play. Some pay based on door sales...

Interested? Send me your stuff.

ALSO---

Starting a new SUMMER INTRO to IMPROV intensive. 2 weeks/$65. midtown location. Great way to introduce yourself to improv and me. Saturday and Wednesday sessions in June. Email me to register or for more info.

Thanks! JUMP!

Email me at kimschultzimprov@gmail.com

What Sally Fields says.....

I was shamefully watching an episode of my new favorite show, "Brothers and Sisters" the other night...maybe it was even last night. And Sally Fields had met a new boy she was considering dating. She then brought him on a weekend getaway(Seemed a little premature...) Foolishly and secretly, he went off in the woods and kissed her arch-nemisis Holly. Sally was classy about it of course, but she nonetheless, threw him a gem...a real keeper: "We present ourselves fully in the first moment we meet someone. When I met you, you were sleeping with a 22 year old undergrad. What more did I need to know?" Or words to that effect.....

Sally is so smart. A. because she took work on a good series and I'm glad to see her working again and B. Because she's right. we do present ourselves fully in the first moment of meeting someone. That's why we have instincts about liking someone right away or disliking them immediately.

Improv is all about being yourself more fully in each moment. Not always easy. Sometimes it's easier to be a shell. But even then, that's who you are at that moment and that's what people get.

I was teaching high school non actors improv this week. They were visiting from North Carolina.
Ahhh, the high school years!

They were so worried about looking bad or different or committing fully or being wrong. There is such a fear from the start of adolescence of being FULLY OURSELVES. Unfortunately, it often carries over into adulthood. So I pushed the high school girls past their level of comfort(Because that's what I do!) and saw glimpses of who they were or could be. Improv can do that. It can fully flesh out who you truly are. So when you meet Sally Fields, she can say right away, "I knew you for what you were! I adore you! I could tell in the first moment!"

P.S. Is anyone else sick of Calista? Gya!

This is the game.

I was playing an improv game with my class last night. It was a simple, silly child's game focusing on playing and not thinking. Everyone was playing by the rules, doing their job in the game--but something was missing. They were doing what they had to do to participate in the game but nothing more. It took me a minute to realize this. And to notice also that no one was having fun. No one was 100% committed or being 100% playful. It was if people were waiting for the class to start, the real class, the real exercises, the REAL games. And in fact it already had. And they were missing it. This was their game. This was their class.

How often does this happen in life? We sit around waiting for our "real life" to begin. Once we're out of debt, out of school, or in love, or land that perfect job...all the while missing out on where we are right now. Missing out on what is right in front of us. Improv reminds us that 'THIS" is the game. This, right now, is what we should be playing, not anticipating the future, better game, but playing this one fully and with committment and conviction.

I called my students out on it and they started to play the game more fully and miraculously we ALL started to have more fun. And that's the funny thing. When we commit to the game now, it becomes more fun, more engaging. We don't know what the future holds. We may not even have a future. We only have right now------ to play fully.

This is the game. This is the moment. This is your life.