Class series: Better Living Through Improv

Life is improv. Just like a good improv scene, we make it up as we go. We respond to offers. We depend on our teammates. We don't overcomplicate, we stay flexible: we do what comes next. We try to keep the story interesting.The skills of theater improv can help us in daily life, just as they help us on stage. Some people think, no, I could never do that, I could never walk up on stage with nothing prepared. But if you've ever played a sport, you've already done that. You just walked into the game— you didn't know how many minutes you'd play, how many points you would score, or even where you would be from one minute to the next. But you had a set of rules to follow, maybe you had some skills you had practiced, maybe you had some teammates to help you if you didn't know what to do.That is just like life. That is just like improv. Come learn some of the skills that can help you enter unknown or unfamiliar situations with more confidence, more energy, and more plain old enjoyment. Come discover the best life hack for better living!

The instructor: Robert Nickel obtained his BA in Theater from Stanford University, where he co-founded the improv troupe Spontaneous Generation. He has studied and performed with San Francisco's award-winning Bay Area Theatersports (or BATS) and the ImprovOlympic in Chicago under Charna Halpern and Del Close (who literally wrote the book). He will be most familiar to the Point Loma Playhouse community as the director of this year's production of Sylvia. He is also a leader in the Point Loma children's theater community, so he is eminently qualified to help adults rediscover their inner sense of childlike wonder.

Host or Publisher Point Loma Playhouse