When you’re on the back-line watching the monologist during an improv show you seem to be concentrating very hard. I’m just wondering what’s going through your head. What do you think about?
It varies. On a good night, I’m listening for something that I find funny. Like, actually funny to me. On a bad night, I’m doing one of two things; I’m either listening for ideas that I can wrestle into initiations -which usually doesn’t go so well- or I’m trying to get myself ‘in the moment.’ Sometimes I’ll notice that I feel sort of disembodied or distracted and then on the back-like I’ll be like, “Okay, okay. Just come back here. Come back here.”
A lot of it is just trying to return to the present moment and listen, which is actually surprising. That takes concentration sometimes. If you’re feeling scattered or anxious or you’re in a bad mood, to just redirect your attention back to what’s actually happening in front of you instead of inside your head takes, for me, actual deliberate focus. A lot of times that’s what’s going on.
Zach’s UCB Days