I got afternoon everybody I’ve been a
storyteller for as long as I can
remember
and one of my earliest theatrical
memories is performing skits and my
grandparents living room on holidays
starting when I was around five years
old every family gathering would begin
with me corralling my cousins and
younger brother upstairs around the old
electric typewriter in my grandparents
bedroom once there we brainstorm write
the show make the program and pick the
music and after a little while it was
Showtime things would inevitably go
wrong lines would be forgotten and props
would get lost and sometimes the
grown-ups would have pretty different
reactions than we were anticipating it
wasn’t until years later I realized some
of our dramas were actually comedies but
despite any obstacles as truth as beans
do we persevered we rolled with the
punches and we made it work as I
continued to grow with the ongoing
support of my parents I found more and
more outlets for my burgeoning passions
and one summer at camp eagle feather I
was under the drama ten playing a
theater game called wait for it
verbal vomit it sounds gross but stick
with me essentially you’re given a topic
and have to speak as if you’re an expert
doesn’t matter if what you’re saying is
factually accurate just snow hums or
herbs or pauses allowed and whoever goes
on the longest wins at risk of sounding
smug I totally own did this game any
topic you could throw at me I would go
on four minutes to the simultaneous awe
and chagrin of my fellow campers years
later I was able to put these strange
talents to the test once again this time
at Trinity College as part of the
orientation week exercises specifically
the Joseph C Clarke extemporaneous
public speaking contest it’s a slightly
loftier titled in verbal vomit but it’s
essentially the same thing and I am
happy to say that I won first place now
I bring this up not only to brag but to
share with you what I discovered is the
key to the silly game and that is this
say yes that’s the number one rule when
you’re doing improvisation games except
which are given and make it work if you
don’t like it use it anyway
turn your garbage into gold there’s
another part of these games that made it
easier for me to succeed – there were
rules there was a framework I have to
stand topic and present myself
appropriately
but beyond that it was up to me I had to
color within the lines but the materials
textures and patterns were all my own
verbal vomit is a structured
improvisation game there are hundreds
thousands of these played every day in
classrooms and rehearsal halls and
living rooms and stages all around the
world and what makes these games
different than pure improvisation is
that there’s this degree of built-in
metaphorical scaffolding to serve as a
support system if I pointed at you right
now and said be funny what would you do
you look a little scared don’t be scared
okay but it’s hard right it’s like I
don’t know or do something be funny
dance monkey dance it’s like literally
infinite possibilities but you can’t
think of anything it’s like if your
teacher walked up to you and handed you
a piece of paper and said write
something 500 words make it good go how
do you do that like it can I guess sort
of but there’s this immediate mental
paralysis that I think we’d all
experience in a situation like this
structured improvisation on the other
hand is like Oh whose line is it anyway
sketch I don’t know if any of you watch
that it’s on the CW now but I started
when Drew Carey was hosting pre prices
right days they do all sorts of wacky
games inspired by and infused with
information from the audience like give
me the name of a person some facts about
them and I will come up with an original
song about her right here on the spot
takes a lot of skill to do and do well
but it’s super helpful to have a
starting points a writing prompt seed
you can water and feed and nurture and
help to grow there are still infinite
possibilities in this situation but like
one of our speakers earlier said it’s
just now a slightly smaller infinity
because it’s been focused and for that
reason I think we need to look at life
itself our individual and collective
journeys on this planet as their own
structured improvisation z’ just on the
macro level rather than the micro and in
these improvisation z’ we accept our
given circumstances and the rules
associated with them as conditions
precedent and by that I mean our natural
abilities and aptitudes our hopes and
dreams financial situations living
situations weaknesses fears and
shortcomings is kind of like looking at
the stats for your avatar in a video
game and as we develop this astute and
thorough mindfulness about our present
situation we say yes not in the sense of
resigning ourselves to circumstances
were unhappy with or accepting them is
what we want for the future but just
simply a
knowledge announced the only way to move
through it and begin carving out the
future it’s the only way we can figure
out where we’re going and realistically
how we’re gonna get there I’ll use my
college experience as an example I
didn’t start at Trinity I transferred in
when I was a sophomore I’m from
Connecticut and when I was initially
applying to schools I decided to not to
even look at any in my home state I was
fully committed to having the college
experience and even though I plan to
reside on campus I equated going to
school in Connecticut with continuing to
live at home long story short I was
wait-listed at all of my top choices and
ended up at what for me was a safety
school I didn’t feel awesome about it
and when I was back home on Christmas
break it really hit me and the option of
a potential transfer began to dance
around my head but I was torn because
I’m this type of person who likes to
stick to things when he makes a
commitment whether it’s good bad or
otherwise and I felt like if I left I’d
be a quitter but at the same time I had
to ask myself did I want to spend the
next three and a half years at a place
that I felt was kind of a force fit said
I want to be in my 30s one day wistfully
wondering what it would have been like
had I pulled the trigger and made the
switch now ultimately the potential of a
better fitting future pushed me to take
the plunge I applied to two liberal arts
schools in Connecticut that I should
have considered when I was a senior in
high school crossed my fingers that it
would work out and was eventually
blessed with an acceptance letter to
Trinity and this only happens because I
said yes to how I was feeling I
acknowledged what was real and acted
accordingly I’ve got a caveat that this
wasn’t a decision based on some fleeting
whim it wasn’t a shallow grass is always
greener kind of thing the decision to
leave my first school was carefully
researched keenly considered and deeply
felt and ultimately I ended up where I
believe I was always supposed to be but
this doesn’t mean my college experience
was fated to be this way when I was
initially applying to schools I firmly
believe that I did in fact have the
capacity to be more thorough and open in
my search just because I wasn’t it
doesn’t mean I couldn’t have been I just
elected not to be I allowed myself to be
affected negatively by preconceived
notions now this isn’t to say that
anyone going to the college experience
or any major life decision blindly
coming in with a strong point of view
and healthy sense of judgment it’s
totally imperative that’s the structure
part of the improvisation the problem
for me was just that some of my opinions
at the time weren’t grounded in
statistics of reality
and because of this I made a
not-so-great choice that in turn
determines and locked me into what all
of my next potential options were but I
can’t be too hard on myself my motives
were pure I was young and I was
improvising
and because of it now I know how to
improvise better so this begs the
question how do I make sure I’m doing
the right thing and we’re aware of the
boundless possibilities in any given
situation it can be overwhelming because
if you choose something you’ve
inevitably and invariably not chosen a
million other things I had an acting
teacher once tell me that in theatre
there are no right decisions just a lot
of potentially wrong ones I don’t know
if I agree with that across the board in
every situation but the seat if it rings
true with me in acting we’re taught to
embrace the happy accidents
prop falling miss line a broken costume
piece they’re things that we don’t want
or wish to have happen but if they do as
paradoxical as it sounds we often
welcome them because out of the mistake
we can frequently make something
beautiful immediate and alive it’s this
degree of randomness and our response to
it that makes art so visceral and
exciting every night when you’re
performing a show every take when you’re
shooting a movie is room for something
new and wonderful not necessarily better
or worse just different happening in
this moment but it only works because we
have the infrastructure in place to
allow it and by that I mean our training
our technical support our administrative
support and in earned confidence and
what we have to bring to the table as an
actor a writer director and producer
I’ve been fortunate to work with
incredible technicians and artists both
in the limelight and behind the scenes
to bring amazing stories to life and
I’ve really got to say when a group of
passionate dedicated in skillful
craftspeople get together there’s no
predicting the kind of fire that will
ignite and the best circumstances it’s
an unstoppable think-tank a magical
conglomeration of thinkers doers and
dreamers a perpetual stream of
inspiration and action but without
proper preparation support and focus it
can be catastrophic which is why I’m not
suggesting a pure improvisation approach
to life knowing the rules both how to
use them and how to break them
appropriately gives you freedom
structure of the right type and in the
right dosage is what allows for
meaningful spontaneity and the ability
to choose
your own adventure does a great play by
Nick Payne called constellations that
deals with this – first got on my radar
a few years ago because when your
teachers here let me borrow the scripts
when I was working with her in New
England recently got him a radar again
after I saw a really moving production
at home at Theatre Works and Hartford
Connecticut that’s where this photo is
from the tagline for the play is one
relationship infinite possibilities over
the course of seventy minutes we watch
two actors go through the trajectory of
a romantic relationship again and again
and again the play exists in a kind of
multiverse in which and I’m quoting the
show here every choice every decision
you’ve ever and never made exists in an
unimaginably vast in Samba love parallel
universes we watch brief scenes play out
five six seven sometimes ten times in a
row often with slight variations
sometimes with huge variations in words
in tone and intention Sun has the scenes
end the same way sometimes completely
differently but it’s always these two
characters living breathing and choosing
now whether or not you believe in this
parallel universe stuff what’s awesome
about this is that we’re watching two
people steering themselves through life
directly and immediately affecting their
own destinies at the core of the show is
this theme out of the immeasurable stars
in the night sky every choice you make
connects them in a different way which
in turn opens up a googolplex of other
possible next steps in effects as you
journey through life you are creating
your own constellation the play also
explores another inescapable truth of
the universe but this one is not as fun
bad things will happen as sure as I
stand here this is a fundamental
certainty of existence over which we
have no control in constellations the
female character Mary Ann always
develops a serious illness it’s where
all the stories lead sometimes you can’t
escape fate so let’s keep connecting
this to the real worlds traumatic
breakups death in the family is bad
grades getting screwed over by a
colleague I’m a hopeless romantic and
unabashedly Mizpah guys I’m sorry no
matter how hard you try to avoid it no
matter how much you think you’ve covered
every single base it’s gonna happen but
that doesn’t mean you should live your
life in fear console
we bracing for impacts the solution at
least the best one that I found is just
to maintain strong intention in the
midst of discomfort adversity and the
Uwe T heartbreak anger grief because the
more you wriggle around in quicksand
without direction the faster it’s gonna
envelop you the more you panic the more
you’re gonna help it pull you down but
if you calm yourself
take your time even if you feel like the
clock is ticking keep breathing and work
with the sand rather than against you
stand a far greater chance of making it
out alive now of course the ideal is to
never wind up in quicksand in the first
place but like I said even if you’ve
meticulously mapped out the topography
there’s always going to be a surprise
coming to terms have been accepting that
is the first step to making something
great piece of our relationship your
life or just your morning commute
because then when something negative and
unexpected happens it won’t necessarily
have to be an all-consuming catastrophe
sometimes it can just be a bump in the
road in a weird way somewhere down the
line you’ll end up being almost grateful
for some of these experiences you’ll
have learned something about yourself
and about how to deal with conflict so
that you can do better and hopefully
avoid a similar situation next time
these moments might leave scars in fact
they probably will but there will be
stories behind them and they’ll define
your character that said sometimes it is
going to hurt like hell sometimes it’s
more than just growing pains sometimes
something will happen that really is not
okay for which there’s no intrinsic good
or silver lining and your recovery is
not going to be elegant like a really
bad technical error in a theater show
the struggle is going to be obvious to
everyone it’s going to be awkward and
uncomfortable but that doesn’t mean you
stop trying to move through it
especially in these situations it is
your responsibility to actively
recalibrate to MacGyver your way back
when it seems like the light is
completely extinguished bad things are
gonna happen
but it is how emotionally and mentally
prepared you are
how strong-minded and collaborative you
are that will determine if good things
will happen to sum all this up I’m gonna
turn to one of my favorite philosophers
Forrest Gump
he says I don’t know if we each have a
destiny or if we’re all just floating
around accidental like on a breeze but I
think maybe it’s both maybe both are
happening at the same time we’re all
born with distinct advantages and
disadvantages strengths and handicaps
our own metaphorical box of chocolates
in some ways it’s limits us but in
others it focuses us and having a
holistic appreciation of the personal
factors at play allows us to fully
utilize them to achieve our goals to be
prepared for and to embrace randomness
as it comes we all have this
unbelievable gift of consciousness that
unites us a force that allows us to be
both inside and outside of ourselves
simultaneously at once observer and
participant actor director and audience
of a glorious structured improvisation
all at the same time it’s this
incredible balance of perspectives that
allows us to have an awareness of our
own potential but this balance doesn’t
mean standing still it never does by
definition balance is a constant
redistribution of weight remaining
quietly grounded and strong and aware of
ourselves so that we can respond
appropriately to outside stimuli when
paired with an open mind and heart the
more will be able to inspire others the
more they’ll be able to inspire us and
the more we’ll be able to take full
advantage of all the surprises that come
our way and those are the makings of a
really awesome improv show thank you
you [Applause]
storyteller for as long as I can
remember
and one of my earliest theatrical
memories is performing skits and my
grandparents living room on holidays
starting when I was around five years
old every family gathering would begin
with me corralling my cousins and
younger brother upstairs around the old
electric typewriter in my grandparents
bedroom once there we brainstorm write
the show make the program and pick the
music and after a little while it was
Showtime things would inevitably go
wrong lines would be forgotten and props
would get lost and sometimes the
grown-ups would have pretty different
reactions than we were anticipating it
wasn’t until years later I realized some
of our dramas were actually comedies but
despite any obstacles as truth as beans
do we persevered we rolled with the
punches and we made it work as I
continued to grow with the ongoing
support of my parents I found more and
more outlets for my burgeoning passions
and one summer at camp eagle feather I
was under the drama ten playing a
theater game called wait for it
verbal vomit it sounds gross but stick
with me essentially you’re given a topic
and have to speak as if you’re an expert
doesn’t matter if what you’re saying is
factually accurate just snow hums or
herbs or pauses allowed and whoever goes
on the longest wins at risk of sounding
smug I totally own did this game any
topic you could throw at me I would go
on four minutes to the simultaneous awe
and chagrin of my fellow campers years
later I was able to put these strange
talents to the test once again this time
at Trinity College as part of the
orientation week exercises specifically
the Joseph C Clarke extemporaneous
public speaking contest it’s a slightly
loftier titled in verbal vomit but it’s
essentially the same thing and I am
happy to say that I won first place now
I bring this up not only to brag but to
share with you what I discovered is the
key to the silly game and that is this
say yes that’s the number one rule when
you’re doing improvisation games except
which are given and make it work if you
don’t like it use it anyway
turn your garbage into gold there’s
another part of these games that made it
easier for me to succeed – there were
rules there was a framework I have to
stand topic and present myself
appropriately
but beyond that it was up to me I had to
color within the lines but the materials
textures and patterns were all my own
verbal vomit is a structured
improvisation game there are hundreds
thousands of these played every day in
classrooms and rehearsal halls and
living rooms and stages all around the
world and what makes these games
different than pure improvisation is
that there’s this degree of built-in
metaphorical scaffolding to serve as a
support system if I pointed at you right
now and said be funny what would you do
you look a little scared don’t be scared
okay but it’s hard right it’s like I
don’t know or do something be funny
dance monkey dance it’s like literally
infinite possibilities but you can’t
think of anything it’s like if your
teacher walked up to you and handed you
a piece of paper and said write
something 500 words make it good go how
do you do that like it can I guess sort
of but there’s this immediate mental
paralysis that I think we’d all
experience in a situation like this
structured improvisation on the other
hand is like Oh whose line is it anyway
sketch I don’t know if any of you watch
that it’s on the CW now but I started
when Drew Carey was hosting pre prices
right days they do all sorts of wacky
games inspired by and infused with
information from the audience like give
me the name of a person some facts about
them and I will come up with an original
song about her right here on the spot
takes a lot of skill to do and do well
but it’s super helpful to have a
starting points a writing prompt seed
you can water and feed and nurture and
help to grow there are still infinite
possibilities in this situation but like
one of our speakers earlier said it’s
just now a slightly smaller infinity
because it’s been focused and for that
reason I think we need to look at life
itself our individual and collective
journeys on this planet as their own
structured improvisation z’ just on the
macro level rather than the micro and in
these improvisation z’ we accept our
given circumstances and the rules
associated with them as conditions
precedent and by that I mean our natural
abilities and aptitudes our hopes and
dreams financial situations living
situations weaknesses fears and
shortcomings is kind of like looking at
the stats for your avatar in a video
game and as we develop this astute and
thorough mindfulness about our present
situation we say yes not in the sense of
resigning ourselves to circumstances
were unhappy with or accepting them is
what we want for the future but just
simply a
knowledge announced the only way to move
through it and begin carving out the
future it’s the only way we can figure
out where we’re going and realistically
how we’re gonna get there I’ll use my
college experience as an example I
didn’t start at Trinity I transferred in
when I was a sophomore I’m from
Connecticut and when I was initially
applying to schools I decided to not to
even look at any in my home state I was
fully committed to having the college
experience and even though I plan to
reside on campus I equated going to
school in Connecticut with continuing to
live at home long story short I was
wait-listed at all of my top choices and
ended up at what for me was a safety
school I didn’t feel awesome about it
and when I was back home on Christmas
break it really hit me and the option of
a potential transfer began to dance
around my head but I was torn because
I’m this type of person who likes to
stick to things when he makes a
commitment whether it’s good bad or
otherwise and I felt like if I left I’d
be a quitter but at the same time I had
to ask myself did I want to spend the
next three and a half years at a place
that I felt was kind of a force fit said
I want to be in my 30s one day wistfully
wondering what it would have been like
had I pulled the trigger and made the
switch now ultimately the potential of a
better fitting future pushed me to take
the plunge I applied to two liberal arts
schools in Connecticut that I should
have considered when I was a senior in
high school crossed my fingers that it
would work out and was eventually
blessed with an acceptance letter to
Trinity and this only happens because I
said yes to how I was feeling I
acknowledged what was real and acted
accordingly I’ve got a caveat that this
wasn’t a decision based on some fleeting
whim it wasn’t a shallow grass is always
greener kind of thing the decision to
leave my first school was carefully
researched keenly considered and deeply
felt and ultimately I ended up where I
believe I was always supposed to be but
this doesn’t mean my college experience
was fated to be this way when I was
initially applying to schools I firmly
believe that I did in fact have the
capacity to be more thorough and open in
my search just because I wasn’t it
doesn’t mean I couldn’t have been I just
elected not to be I allowed myself to be
affected negatively by preconceived
notions now this isn’t to say that
anyone going to the college experience
or any major life decision blindly
coming in with a strong point of view
and healthy sense of judgment it’s
totally imperative that’s the structure
part of the improvisation the problem
for me was just that some of my opinions
at the time weren’t grounded in
statistics of reality
and because of this I made a
not-so-great choice that in turn
determines and locked me into what all
of my next potential options were but I
can’t be too hard on myself my motives
were pure I was young and I was
improvising
and because of it now I know how to
improvise better so this begs the
question how do I make sure I’m doing
the right thing and we’re aware of the
boundless possibilities in any given
situation it can be overwhelming because
if you choose something you’ve
inevitably and invariably not chosen a
million other things I had an acting
teacher once tell me that in theatre
there are no right decisions just a lot
of potentially wrong ones I don’t know
if I agree with that across the board in
every situation but the seat if it rings
true with me in acting we’re taught to
embrace the happy accidents
prop falling miss line a broken costume
piece they’re things that we don’t want
or wish to have happen but if they do as
paradoxical as it sounds we often
welcome them because out of the mistake
we can frequently make something
beautiful immediate and alive it’s this
degree of randomness and our response to
it that makes art so visceral and
exciting every night when you’re
performing a show every take when you’re
shooting a movie is room for something
new and wonderful not necessarily better
or worse just different happening in
this moment but it only works because we
have the infrastructure in place to
allow it and by that I mean our training
our technical support our administrative
support and in earned confidence and
what we have to bring to the table as an
actor a writer director and producer
I’ve been fortunate to work with
incredible technicians and artists both
in the limelight and behind the scenes
to bring amazing stories to life and
I’ve really got to say when a group of
passionate dedicated in skillful
craftspeople get together there’s no
predicting the kind of fire that will
ignite and the best circumstances it’s
an unstoppable think-tank a magical
conglomeration of thinkers doers and
dreamers a perpetual stream of
inspiration and action but without
proper preparation support and focus it
can be catastrophic which is why I’m not
suggesting a pure improvisation approach
to life knowing the rules both how to
use them and how to break them
appropriately gives you freedom
structure of the right type and in the
right dosage is what allows for
meaningful spontaneity and the ability
to choose
your own adventure does a great play by
Nick Payne called constellations that
deals with this – first got on my radar
a few years ago because when your
teachers here let me borrow the scripts
when I was working with her in New
England recently got him a radar again
after I saw a really moving production
at home at Theatre Works and Hartford
Connecticut that’s where this photo is
from the tagline for the play is one
relationship infinite possibilities over
the course of seventy minutes we watch
two actors go through the trajectory of
a romantic relationship again and again
and again the play exists in a kind of
multiverse in which and I’m quoting the
show here every choice every decision
you’ve ever and never made exists in an
unimaginably vast in Samba love parallel
universes we watch brief scenes play out
five six seven sometimes ten times in a
row often with slight variations
sometimes with huge variations in words
in tone and intention Sun has the scenes
end the same way sometimes completely
differently but it’s always these two
characters living breathing and choosing
now whether or not you believe in this
parallel universe stuff what’s awesome
about this is that we’re watching two
people steering themselves through life
directly and immediately affecting their
own destinies at the core of the show is
this theme out of the immeasurable stars
in the night sky every choice you make
connects them in a different way which
in turn opens up a googolplex of other
possible next steps in effects as you
journey through life you are creating
your own constellation the play also
explores another inescapable truth of
the universe but this one is not as fun
bad things will happen as sure as I
stand here this is a fundamental
certainty of existence over which we
have no control in constellations the
female character Mary Ann always
develops a serious illness it’s where
all the stories lead sometimes you can’t
escape fate so let’s keep connecting
this to the real worlds traumatic
breakups death in the family is bad
grades getting screwed over by a
colleague I’m a hopeless romantic and
unabashedly Mizpah guys I’m sorry no
matter how hard you try to avoid it no
matter how much you think you’ve covered
every single base it’s gonna happen but
that doesn’t mean you should live your
life in fear console
we bracing for impacts the solution at
least the best one that I found is just
to maintain strong intention in the
midst of discomfort adversity and the
Uwe T heartbreak anger grief because the
more you wriggle around in quicksand
without direction the faster it’s gonna
envelop you the more you panic the more
you’re gonna help it pull you down but
if you calm yourself
take your time even if you feel like the
clock is ticking keep breathing and work
with the sand rather than against you
stand a far greater chance of making it
out alive now of course the ideal is to
never wind up in quicksand in the first
place but like I said even if you’ve
meticulously mapped out the topography
there’s always going to be a surprise
coming to terms have been accepting that
is the first step to making something
great piece of our relationship your
life or just your morning commute
because then when something negative and
unexpected happens it won’t necessarily
have to be an all-consuming catastrophe
sometimes it can just be a bump in the
road in a weird way somewhere down the
line you’ll end up being almost grateful
for some of these experiences you’ll
have learned something about yourself
and about how to deal with conflict so
that you can do better and hopefully
avoid a similar situation next time
these moments might leave scars in fact
they probably will but there will be
stories behind them and they’ll define
your character that said sometimes it is
going to hurt like hell sometimes it’s
more than just growing pains sometimes
something will happen that really is not
okay for which there’s no intrinsic good
or silver lining and your recovery is
not going to be elegant like a really
bad technical error in a theater show
the struggle is going to be obvious to
everyone it’s going to be awkward and
uncomfortable but that doesn’t mean you
stop trying to move through it
especially in these situations it is
your responsibility to actively
recalibrate to MacGyver your way back
when it seems like the light is
completely extinguished bad things are
gonna happen
but it is how emotionally and mentally
prepared you are
how strong-minded and collaborative you
are that will determine if good things
will happen to sum all this up I’m gonna
turn to one of my favorite philosophers
Forrest Gump
he says I don’t know if we each have a
destiny or if we’re all just floating
around accidental like on a breeze but I
think maybe it’s both maybe both are
happening at the same time we’re all
born with distinct advantages and
disadvantages strengths and handicaps
our own metaphorical box of chocolates
in some ways it’s limits us but in
others it focuses us and having a
holistic appreciation of the personal
factors at play allows us to fully
utilize them to achieve our goals to be
prepared for and to embrace randomness
as it comes we all have this
unbelievable gift of consciousness that
unites us a force that allows us to be
both inside and outside of ourselves
simultaneously at once observer and
participant actor director and audience
of a glorious structured improvisation
all at the same time it’s this
incredible balance of perspectives that
allows us to have an awareness of our
own potential but this balance doesn’t
mean standing still it never does by
definition balance is a constant
redistribution of weight remaining
quietly grounded and strong and aware of
ourselves so that we can respond
appropriately to outside stimuli when
paired with an open mind and heart the
more will be able to inspire others the
more they’ll be able to inspire us and
the more we’ll be able to take full
advantage of all the surprises that come
our way and those are the makings of a
really awesome improv show thank you
you [Applause]
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