A comment to my previous post got me thinking about touching… so get ready for some random thought process…

Obviously, physical contact on stage is going to happen. Most improvisers don’t use it enough. I know I sure don’t - but there are reasons why. Are they good reasons? I might get myself into trouble here, but one of the main reasons I don’t touch as much as I really should… I’m a man. When you’re doing comedy, as long as you all trust each other and have general consent, gender shouldn’t be an obstacle. But it is.

Human interaction encompasses a huge amount of kinds of physical contact, but we don’t display much of that range on stage. There isn’t one person in any group in which I play that I would be totally comfortable planting a kiss on if the situation called for it. I would do it, but if I’m not committed to the choice, it won’t have the right effect. And sometimes, a kiss (especially between men, for some reason), can bring the house down.

As a group, the active Roving Imps are largely women. Unusual for improv in general… par for the course for us. Also, they’re ages 18-25. Maybe this hearkens back to my days as a middle school and high school teacher, but there’s something deeply ingrained within me that says, “You will get yourself in trouble.” So, as a general rule, it’s hands off the ladies. Maybe it goes back to my last post… maybe we just don’t have a high enough level of trust yet. Maybe I have a mental block. Either way, I think it’s really limiting an important portion of improv that we can do. According to Trish’s comment from yesterday, my group is not the only one that could use some work with this, which is at least some small comfort.

During our show last weekend, an improviser (who’s also my sister, Julie) and I were playing “Stunt Double,” and I was the stunt double. As I was called in to substitute for the other actress, Julie said, “hop on,” and indicated that she wanted me to jump onto her back. What I should have done: immediately trusted and agreed with her, jumping on. What I did: hesitated, and half-denied, until she persisted, when I finally hopped up on her back. It was great… the audience loved it, and it became a really memorable moment.

Instead of trusting and being in the moment, I took time on stage to worry about the effect my 193-pound body would have on my little sister, who I shouldn’t have worried about. In case you’re wondering, she describes herself as being “built like a football player,” which comes in handy when you want to pick up tiny teenage boys, which she’s done on more than one occasion, always with hilarious results.

The second thing that prevents me from initiating physical contact is the fact that when it comes to the Imps, I’m in charge. I’m not only an actor on the stage, but I’m the director, who casts the troupe and the shows.  Ever since I directed my first show at age 19, there have been jokes and insinuations about “John’s casting couch,” and perhaps after so many years, I’ve got more mental walls up than I want to acknowledge.

Perhaps what I need to do is start trusting that the women of my troupe are both grown-ups and professional, and know me well enough to be able to have their butt smacked or boob grabbed every once in a while. Maybe. Where exactly is that line? Being an introspective male director/performer is hard.

We need to start doing more exercises getting comfortable with trust and physical contact. Anyone have any favorite exercises for this? I’ve got a couple, but obviously not enough. I’ve got to get the ball rolling on this, because if I’m second-guessing myself even with the experience I’ve got behind me, then the newbies in my troupe have no hope.