08 Aug Obed Navigates Life Transitions
Right now I’m at a transitional stage in my life and career. I’ve been performing theatrically on the stage from a very young age. Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of teaching. The training keeps me in my head. I’m looking to do more on-camera work and limber up my dramatic skills a bit more.
With improv, I’m able to feel ready and primed to just do it. After doing a similar thing for so much of my life and transitioning to doing something different causes you to get stuck in your head even more. You’re always thinking about the would-have’s, could-have’s, and should-have’s. Doing improv puts a halt on all of that and forces me to stop and commit to diving in headfirst without thinking ahead.
As an opera singer, there’s such a specific toe-the-road aspect of the career path that makes it incredibly hard to break into. In my industry, I notice a lot of young singers who get stuck when they’re performing and something goes wrong, and in my own training, I find that my background in improv helps me to gracefully ease through those kinds of difficult and stressful situations. I also internalize a lot of judgement from the operatic community. I feel like they’re looking for me to fit a very specific type of mold and it gets rough sometimes. I’ve been working on a lot of personal health changes to fit into that box better, but now I find that I’m not interested in doing it for them anymore. I’m working on myself for me, not because I need to appease others. In improv, it was clear to me that none of that overhead judgment matters in improv. Whatever shape, size, gender, racial background or orientation makes you an outsider in the improv community here.
In the BNW SU community we all come from from different walks of life, but we can also show up on a singular moment of creativity in an instant. Students and teachers at the BNW SU are supportive and encouraging and are invested in your personal growth. It’s much different than the critique and judgment that I’m used to when I get feedback on my creative work. In improv, there is none of that. It’s so exciting and exhilarating to work with people who accept whatever you bring to the table. Whether I’m relating something from my personal life or sharing something that comes to me on the spot, I feel supported here. That’s the part of the community that I enjoy the most. We’re teammates here, and we strive to help each other rather than cut each other off, negate them or judge them.
If I were to talk to someone about doing improv, I would say that you have to do what you need to do – but if you want to work on any aspects of your life, improv is the best thing to help you with that. It doesn’t matter what aspect of life it is. I think that the skills that you gain just from coming to a welcoming environment that’s not going to judge you helps support you as you feel empowered to make some of the wackiest, wildest decisions on the spot opens up your mind to so many aspects of life. I would say jump in and do it, but you have to decide for yourself if it’s what you want to do. Don’t do it for just anyone else, do it for you.
– Obed Floan, BNW SU Student