I've Got to, Got to, Got to Have Faith

So everybody's got an opinion.

It's not easy being onstage representing Rapid Fire Theatre. The last thing we want to do is make an audience member say:

"Come on, if he/she can do it, I can. That totally sucked. I can do better."

But here's the mountain of a problem that lies directly on the surface of our training: Embrace failure.

We are constantly working towards making ourselves better improvisers, each and every one of us. A good improviser is always learning.

We are entitled to complain about a show that didn't go wonderfully, and so is our audience. Keep in mind, we don't know what's going to come out of our mouths next. That's the beauty.

Sometimes, we perform something that could actually develop into a play, a full-on theatre production. Whoo.

Sometimes, we perform something that wouldn't seem out of place on "Kids in the Hall". Whoo.

Sometimes, things fall apart. Whoo.

I remember a time I was in grade 4, I wanted to do a really shocking, super-fly dance to George Michael's "Faith". It was for a talent show.
I picked a spot, right dead centre of the stage, where I spread out in a death pose in a brown robe wearing a freaky old man mask. The music started.
"Faith" begins with a church organ solo. I was laying there, perfectly still, ready to "surprise" and shock my audience. Right from the first strum of the accoustic guitar, I popped my head up. And you know what I got?

Unbridled laughter.

That mask saved my life that day. My first response was; "Oh god! I've failed! They're laughing at me! They're laughing at me!..." But I learned my first improv lesson that day: Embrace failure.

I forgot all about my planned dance. I launched into flailing my limbs and wiggling my hips, all 4-foot nothing of me, and I goofed around at a piano that was on stage. Thrusting my pelvis, I did my best "Jerry Lewis and Jerry Lee Lewis' Love Child" impersonation. I loosened my art for the sake of my audience.

And was that really so bad?

My audience loved it. They ruptured my damn eardrums, and I'm just some total loser from 4th grade. But instinctively, I knew what they wanted.

So, if my audience looks at me and sees an idiot, I'll recognize that. I do art with the best of them. I love an awesome story, dramatic tension, and moody lights and bold sound.

I am your Chameleon. Make of me what you wish.

Today's CD: Cake "Pressure Chief".
Tracks: "Wheels", "No Phone", "Take It All Away", "Dime", "Carbon Monoxide", "The Guitar Man", "Waiting", "She'll Hang the Baskets", "End of the Movie", "Palm of your Hand", "Tougher Than It Is".