Improv can be terrifying.

Stepping onto a stage in front of a room full of strangers with nothing in your head can be truly and utterly terrifying. Especially when you happen to be the newest member of the Stevie Ray's Improv Troupe.

When I first started performing at Stevie Ray’s Comedy Cabaret, I let fear and self-doubt affect my time on stage far more than I like to admit. I would often panic and jump into a scene as a one-legged pirate or a sentimental lamp. Basically, I would try to become anyone that wasn’t my real, “boring” self.

Over time, however, I learned one of the many secrets of improvisation: The truth is funny. 

It took a considerable amount of side-coaching and unwavering support from Pamela, Stevie, and my troupe mates for me to understand what that seemingly-simple phrase meant. 

The most compelling comedy does not derive from punchy characters or well-timed punchlines, but from discovering the humor in the reality of the moment together. An improviser must put his or her trust into the hands of the ensemble and know that everything will be okay.

At Stevie Ray’s, I have learned that if I act and react honestly in a scene—like I would in any real life situation—the audience will always be more receptive to me. I’ve learned that whenever I’m unafraid to reveal my own opinions, experiences, and insecurities, someone in the audience will understand where I’m coming from and appreciate my honesty. Once I was able to relax and be my sincere self, that's when I finally started to experience the magic of improv.

Now before each show, I quietly remind myself to: “Be Your Best and Real Self.” As a result, instead of wasting energy creating some ridiculous new character, I am able to focus on saying “Yes, And” in the moment and committing fully to my troupe partners and whatever situation we find ourselves in. The more I am able to trust myself, the more fun I have on stage.

So if you are to take anything away from my little story, I would say figure out how to always be the best (and real) version of yourself. Learn to trust yourself unconditionally. And appreciate where you are right now and who helped get you there.

Being yourself is risky because no one has ever done it before. But it’s the best risk you can take.

I make my living as a high school teacher, and I wish there were some way to bottle what happens in improv class and have my students drink it down.  It would be an elixir of fearlessness, imagination, generosity, and support.  It would transform them into better students, but, more important, better people.  Improv really does this.

And you wouldn’t need a damn test to show it, either.  You’d have real results -- or, in educational parlance, observable outcomes.  Laughter.  Camaraderie.  Inspiration.  And, finally, a joy in living.  These things are all the result of good improv, or good improv is the result of all these things.  One generates the other.  I’m not sure which is the chicken and which is the egg, but if you just trust the natural order of improv and don’t overthink things, every once in awhile you lay an egg that happens to be gold.

And then, as you hope would happen (though it’s far too infrequent when it comes to high school), you apply what you learn in the classroom to real life.  You take risks.  You treat mistakes as opportunities and gifts rather than failures.  You dive into things with faith that the result will be good because… well, just because.  You live this way long enough that the lessons are no longer things you have to remind yourself, but second nature.

How much better off would kids be if schoolrooms were more like improv classes?  If students trusted and supported each other?  If “No, but,” became “Yes, and?”  If every answer were right?  I know, how can every answer be right?  Sounds crazy.  But no more crazy than kids cramming random facts into their short-term memories just long enough to eke out a percentage.  How much of what we learned in high school do we really use in life?  Well, until someone hands me the script for what the future holds, I can truly say that I improvise every living moment.

It is a pleasure to perform with Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret. I've been lucky to perform with Stevie Ray's for several types of audiences in different types of places over the years. Hotels, Lake Harriet Rose Garden, Minnehaha Park and now Chanhassen Dinner Theatres!

It's always fun to look out into the audience and decide how to make the show entertaining for everyone. Before shows, the troupe gathers to read any notes about special events and people who might like to be recognized during the show. Whether it's a birthday, anniversary, bachelorette party or a company get together, it's always fun to hear the surprise laughter and excitement when people get recognized during the show. We couldn't have a show without an audience, and it's great to recognize our audience through a special shout out, song, scenes or bringing them up on stage. 

As a member of the touring company, I'm looking forward to creating shows individualized to meet group needs. Having Stevie Ray's come to a company can turn a regular get together into a laughter festival. People tend to loosen up with comedy. In turn, groups can become closer and work better as a team when they have shared a good laugh. Like I said, it's a pleasure to be a part of this process.

Absence Makes the Work Grow Weaker

One of the most common complaints I hear from managers these days is the fact that Generation Y employees (Millennials) seem to need instant feedback about every aspect of their work. As a point of reference, I use the generational model: Traditionalists (born 1925-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), and Generation Y (1981-1999). There is some truth that, because they grew up with technology that offered instant feedback at home and at school, they expect the same from the workplace. 

Many managers I have worked with are frustrated by their younger employees’ need for instant feedback, often mistaking it for immediate gratification. There is a world of difference between the two. Although there will always be employees who need more hand-holding than a manager is willing, or able, to provide; feedback is always best when delivered hot out of the oven. Think of the number of professions that have always been afforded instant progress reports; sports, medicine, politics, and sales, to name a few.

We accept the fact that these professions get instant feedback because we know that the job could not be done as well without it, but what is often overlooked is the fact that many professions have feedback built into the process. It is when feedback must be added to a process where it did not previously exist that managers get frustrated. It becomes something else they have to add to the to-do list when, in fact, feedback should be at the top of every manager’s list. And to characterize the desire for instant feedback as childish, needy, or self-centered is not only inaccurate, it is counter-productive. If you can see the foolishness of a chief of surgery waiting for year’s end to provide direction to an ineffective surgeon, it is just as foolish to make any employee wait months to receive valuable insight from an experienced colleague.

This is where the creative juices of managers should get flowing. With the internet, laptops, tablets, and smart phones, a creative means of giving praise, critique, and course corrections is only a click away.  No one likes to walk into someone’s office unsure of what the conversation will entail. Consistent feedback takes away the surprise and makes working relationships easier for everyone.

Take away the surprise, and stress, of annual or bi-annual evaluations by creating innovative, real-time methods of feedback. Rather than creating more work for the manager, it will actually decrease time spent on the more traditional evaluation meetings. You will get more out of your employees and have a more engaged workforce.

This article was originally written for The Business Journals. You can find Stevie’s other articles HERE.