In which I thank the cast of One Knight Wonders: Breaking out of your comfort zone (or “How to learn to crack your own shell”)

I’m performing improv for the first time in 20 years. I am full of butterflies. Not only am I performing for the first time in decades, but I am also performing with a group  that is easily, half my age. I never thought that I would say this, but I am old enough to be their dad. It’s kind of cool in some ways. I mean these kids are fresh, they are trying new things, learning how to trust themselves to be in the moment, and to accept everything to see where it will go. I kinda get there and see where I was when I was their age.

It has made me realize what I have been missing. It hasn’t been the performing. To be honest, I can do without some of that. It’s not the performance, it’s the scheduling. Maybe when the kids are older it won’t be so bad. They’ll be more self-sufficient, and I may even be able to include them. It’s great to hangout and work on stuff in a team environment, but the scheduling is just a bitch. It must be just as fun for the director.

What I have really been missing is the ability to break the box. I do that a lot in just the way I see the world. I don’t see it as a clear black and white world with delineated absolutes. It’s more like looking at a big petrie dish of amoebas. Constantly changing. However, in my work I tend to stick with what I am most comfortable with. I use the computer to draw, I use a very set scale pattern for bass playing, and my food is usually stuff that I know by heart.

What I miss is stepping out of my own skin and just seeing where the choices go. It’s one of those things that my kids have been teaching me. Enjoy experimenting, and watching the kaboom if need be.

It’s kinda fun.

That all said, I am truly looking forward to performing again. I am scared, excited, nervous, and ecstatic. I think it’s going to be a great time, and the best part is I have a great bunch of performers I get to work with. I good bunch of minds who are willing to break their own shells.

For this I would like to thank all of the students of the Marian University Theatre, the Performing Knights club, and the entire cast of One Knight Wonders. You helped make an old meneheune feel young again.