2024: The Year in Review
Wow.
One of my goals when I opened Change Through Play in late 2019 wasn't to simply teach improvisation: it was to create a community. Portland, Oregon isn't always the easiest place to meet people. But, I’ve been really lucky to be a part of various improv classes, improv schools and improv communities in Los Angeles, New York, Connecticut, and via AIN, a global improvisation community. It’s been amazing string of opportunities to meet like-minded souls.
So why not create a community of folks who like improvising in Portland that aligns with my own core beliefs in the power, benefits and joy of improv?! So, I began to do just that. But, my goodness, although I started the process, the rest of it happened because of YOU. Along the way, I got some of my best ideas from students in my in-person Portland improv classes:
Kaushik suggested that we hold shows or showcases so that students could demonstrate the skills that they'd learned in our improv classes. Thanks to his fabulous suggestion, we now offer showcases 5-to-6 times a year. Thank you, Kaushik.
Fritz invited his improv class friends hit up a local McMenamins for some food & drink and then, again, at his home. He, like me, wanted our community to come together, both out of class and off the stage. It’s worth sharing: Fritz also helped me remove our old, awful fluorescent lights at the studio and replace them with our far better LCD lights. Thank you so much, Fritz.
Phil gifted me the amazing "emotional sensations" and "emotional behaviors" pillows. And, like Fritz, he also volunteered to fix up a few things for me at the studio. He also gave me the chance to refine my 1:1 sessions. Thank you Phil.
And on, and on, and on... Thanks to their efforts — and others! — our studio is nicer, our community is more inviting, and our students are more honored, cared for, and appreciated.
A Bit of History…
When I opened the studio in late 2019, I taught just one evening class a week. To just four students. Then, the pandemic & lockdown hit and, sometimes, I had as few as two students for my one online improv class. . Honestly: I didn't mind. I loved my work so much and I felt it was super cool to work with smaller groups (or individuals) as I honed my curriculum and approaches.
Those earliest students — Mary Pat, Jim, Lisa, and Myra — all gave me the chance to turn my intentions and ideas into reality. They also gave me suggestions on how to improve as a teacher. Because of that, I'll be forever grateful to them.
In 2021 & '22, as more students found the studio, several suggested that I should split my improvisers into groups with similar abilities. Smart idea. But, back then, it was a risk: I still didn't have enough students. Despite that, I took the leap and began offering three different classes a week to better serve a more diverse and (what I hoped would be a) growing community: Foundations (or intro), Community Play (or intermediate) and my Advanced Lab. The idea worked. Classes last year were mostly full across all of those classes. I’m so grateful to all of you for that.
In 2024, a bunch of students suggested that I should offer online improv classes again. As I couldn't teach additional weeknights or weekends with a wife & 6-year-old kiddo, I did something radical: I launched an online improv academy. I designed it to be a go-at-your-own-pace reference. Kind of like reading an improv book, only better: students would get the same discussion and breakdown of improv as they might in a book, but with far more interactivity. I provided 10 lessons on core concepts, each with it's own written curriculum, homework, and an 8-15min video that explains and demonstrates important concepts of that lesson. I event made a free lesson on defining improv actually is. (hint: go look!)
In late 2024 — again after students suggested it, we added a fourth class — "Daytime Playtime". This class is devoted solely to playing in a group, with no goals of performances or showcases. It is, quite simply, a no-pressure class focusing on pure play with other members of our community.
I cannot thank you enough for all of your amazing suggestions and hope you'll continue to offer them. We’re better as a community because of you.
It Takes a Village...
If you're going to offer more and more classes, then you need a small army of talented and devoted people to help make that happen. There’s no WAY I can do this alone, so I'm very fortunate to have met and now work with some of the most talented, able, and kind women on the planet.
Mary Pat McCoy started teaching the Foundations class series starting in 2023 and has been a beloved rockstar in our community. She’s the best kind of human to teach an intro to improv class: kind, supportive, calm, and insightful. While she's on leave, Natasha Von Salza has stepped into her role and is filling them so well! With good reason: Natasha shadowed Mary Pat for the better part of a year, learning our approaches and curriculum in order to make it her own. We couldn't be more excited for her or more grateful to Mary Pat for having guided her so well.
And, of course, behind the scenes are two other rockstars: Brittney Van Eck and Christine Frieje. Brittney has been helping me setup and run ALL of our platforms since 2023. That meant: sending all of you newsletters; email updates before, during, and after classes; managing all of our class registration pages on our website, and more. It's... a lot.
As Brittney just gave birth to her first child and went on maternity leave, we needed someone professional and smart to step into the role. Enter Christine who worked with Brittney for months before taking over her many roles. Christine did SUCH an amazing job, in fact, that she's now taken over for Brittney. And Brittney? Don’t you worry: she’s now Change Through Play’s client development lead. In this role, she's helping me work with our corporate and non-profit clients.
I encourage you to click the link below to learn why I'm so incredibly lucky to have these women on my team.
Kaushik Balasubramanian (at center stage with Catherine), along with David & Susan (at right)
Some Stars are Born...
My old improv teacher Stan used to say that getting up on stage to improvise - and not just working in improv classes - was essential to growing as an artist. I benefitted from Stan's teaching and philosophy, so that approach was always in the back of my mind. Only, our studio doesn’t have a theater attached to it, so… the idea was always an “in the future, I’ll do it” kind of thing. Then, Kaushik, one of my students, suggested that I give my students the chance to get on stage as other schools in town did. Starting in 2022, we did just that. We starting at Curious Comedy, but when that venue was no longer appropriate for our needs (nor aligned with our values), we moved our shows to the intimate 21Ten theater in inner SE Portland. We haven't looked back since!
While our improv class students aren't EVER required to ever get on stage with us, all are invited in order to help them evolve their art form. Our Portland Improv showcases are unusual, something I'm incredibly proud of. That’s because they include three parts:
Part One is more of a demonstration of what our students are learning in our in-person Portland improv classes. Teachers may get up on stage with their students to help facilitate an exercise or introduce to audiences to what our students are learning.
Part Two is more like a traditional improv show with other student classes performing as a team, asking the audience for a suggestion and then... improvising for 15-20min without interruption.
Part Three is a bit of a jamboree. I invite two other groups to join us. Some perform with me and, without any real plan or format, jump up and improvise a set. Our shows usually close with more seasoned improvisers who have been improvising as a team for years, or, sometimes, decades.
Below, find a few images from our last show in December, 2024. Clicking here, will take you to our online library of photos for all of the pics from our December showcase, including students from our Foundations, Community Play, and Advanced Classes, along with special guests Rachel & Sam.
What's Next?
This week we begin our 4-week class series aimed at helping attorneys prepare for trial. We worked with the Oregon State Bar so that our participants will receive CLE (or Continued Learning & Education) credits for joining us. And why, exactly, did we deicde to offer this class at this time?!? You guessed it: because one of our students — who happens to be a trial attorney — got SO much from our Daytime/Playtime classes, that he insisted that I create one for trial attorneys. Thank you, Kaith!
And this past weekend, (pic above) I was honored to help train the PDX Pathways Cohort. This program — offered by the Jewish Federation of Portland & led by the amazing Laura Jeser — puts 20-30 young adults into a cohort for 6 months. During their time together, cohort members are trained in ways to help develop their life skills and careers. Natasha joined me for a 3-hour training to help anchor their last month of training. It was fabulous to watch as everyone had all kinds of realization and breakthroughs.
And then later this year…? Who knows?! I've realized that running the studio is no different, in most ways, than improvising on stage: I'm always pivoting to accepting your offers, adding information to them, and just trusting that, eventually, the destinations will reveal themselves when it is time.
Thanks for being a part of my journey.