Once upon a time, where dreams come true, Amy and I got chosen to teach and perform with our ladies of Swim Team in the big city of San Francisco!

I’m putting the TL;DR right at the beginning of this post.
GET YOUR TEAM ON THE NIN AND SUBMIT TO A FESTIVAL AND DO IMPROV IN A DIFFERENT CITY. IT’S LIKE A HOT VANILLA LATTE FOR THE IMPROV SOUL.

You get to learn
The first thing I had to do when we went to the city was sign up for a low risk, high reward of a 15$ drop in class. I hustled my way down to the former SF Chronicle building on our first day there to be greeted in a room full of San Franciscans (they had hoodies on! and expensive boots! and they looked like they all worked for an awesome tech start up). The teacher was from Leela Theatre and did an awesome job of getting us all playing together. I love how they did their drop ins because literally everyone could just come in and play— even if they had never done improv before.

Lesson learned: You can totally do a La Ronde after an hour and a half with people that had never done improv before. Seriously.

You get to play
There are a lot of memories I’ve made doing improv (Jesse doing the splits in his elf costume in the Christmas show is waaaaay up there)— but seeing the Femproviser workshop page with Rachel Mason and Susan Messing’s faces right next to Amy and mine’s— well that is something that made me squeal in my house and call out to the improv goddesses. In a room full of 8 improvisers, we got to experience some awesome exercises and learn while teaching. It was incredibly rewarding.

Lesson learned: People from different cities play different, and in a way I can’t express in words, it’s just a gift to be able to pick up on their personal voices and stories.

You feel inspired
There’s something about being in a new city— drinking new coffee, going to new bars, sitting on the BART, getting lost on the BART, sitting again on the BART…it all comes out on the stage when you get to perform that night. Swim Team had one of our best shows because there were new eyes on us, there was a different spirit in the room, and we were feeling READY to put it all out there. We reminded ourselves before we went on that 1) we love the shit out of each other and it’s a pleasure anytime to play together and 2) that this was a special show, but not a SPPPEEECCIAL show. Meaning: play like we always do. Don’t put too much pressure on it. Enjoy the results.

Lesson learned: A show is still a show. Just be you. Also: learn how to read the BART map.

I truly thank Jill Eickmann and all the amazing producers of Femproviser fest. It was an incredible weekend that gave me exactly what I needed.