Festival impressions
26 April 2026
Funny how thoughts come to you in reflective morning swim but are just out of reach a day later…. Its the pot that has been put on the boil and now is cooling down…. I want to capture and hold onto my thoughts and impressions so I need to write before the water has gone completely cold.
Because that is what a festival is: An environment where for a few days the thoughts of normal are suspended…. Add less sleep, workshops with different ideas/ games and exercises, meeting new people, seeing old friends, or people in a different light, BOOM! What happens if you put heat under the qualities you bring as an improvisor but also as a person ? If we stay in the cooking metaphor, we are creating stew or soup, but without the heat it won’t mature…. And when you are in it you feel that creativity, that thinking, that delicious subconscious of things clicking into place where you don’t force it to happen…. but once you are gone it becomes a memory of the smells and the taste of that coming together and parts you will take with you home, but a part is longing for that next cook up. The sum of it all creates the vibe.
It also brings reflection, and over thinking…. Parking my feelings and thoughts is not something I am good at. Allowing myself to relax and marvel in the luxury of just being me, Kitty and parking some of my daily roles is weird, scary and very vulnerable. Who am I when I am not a mother, an enabler for my son (so his physical limitations are not a barrier to life), a working colleague, a wife, a teacher of young minds, a motivator to follow curiosity, an analyzer of what children tell with their behavior and then grow their interest and love for learning?
If you take all that safety of roles away, what is there that makes me me? Why do I do improv? To escape reality and live in a pretend world for a moment? Sometimes. To be connected with the other one and jump in the deep end together, full of joy of the possibilities… totally. To try out new things without the pressure to get it right…. learning to embrace failure as a learning opportunity, sure. Improv is just one choice at the time… and act and react to others… if this is true what else is true? But if in real life you are reacting to what is happening to you and you are not used to taking agency and taking the lead, it is a shift of going from passive to active. And being active is being open, being completely seen and vulnerable. I love moving the spotlight onto people and in improv sometimes you have to take that spotlight. In some troupes you have people who claim the spotlight all the time and make rules for what good improv is. Guidelines for roles that keep improv safe and predictable, so you can focus on techniques and be as good as scripted and make “Real Theatre”. People are afraid of the unknown, but isn’t that a delight of improv? There are certain expectations in stories, in moments in roles, or situations but we can create basically anything by making choices and acting upon them. Having the spotlight upon you in a supportive environment is great, you are seen, your character is been given gifts and just enjoying that moment of being, letting it land and trusting that everything you need is already there in that moment in time. Its a warm bubble bath, so learning to lean into it, and enjoy that moment takes time.
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Everyone comes to these festivals with different expectations… Yes I love being in workshops and absorbing morsels of wisdom. Seeing others play and starting to recognize what makes a scene tick or what else is needed in this story, who is the protagonist and how can I add fuel to a fire… Some people are here to learn and take as much learning home….
My favorite moments are just outside the workshops…. That connection you build in workshops of doing stuff together and being in exercises is a platform to get over that initial who we are to each other… we are people who are curious, we love to play and grow, we picked workshops for a reason, so most likely we have things in common (easing of my anxiety). The high fives/the thank you after an exercise, the twinkle of mischief in the other person eye, that is my permission to be vulnerable as a person afterwards. The joining in with groups in the foyer preshow, the permission to speak about things you like in shows you have seen and being able to share, the workshop experiences it is my joy.
The first hugs and the warm welcome of people I only see at festivals, are taking the scared out of perception of others away….. After all it is a new festival, a new vibe and no workshops done to build on the connection created in them…unmissable and very very much needed, so thank you.
The seeing my teachers as learners…. we are all on the journey together and we all learn differently. It is not a pedestal to stand on; it is used as a jumping platform to join in the pool of knowledge and experience.
The laughter as a common language develops spontaneously as things get repeated and morphed in shows and exercises. People laugh with each other and not at each other, because we are all different but all equal in the same space, time and on the same vibe.
The sharing of ubers, of food, of ideas, of songs, of photos, of games and exercises….. it happens not in the shows, but in the conversations with others… over lunch, in the foyer, in the pre and post workshops korero….in staying in contact, in the chats on Whats App… and I am part of this. I am a proud part of this. I feel wanted, I feel valued, I am part in this stew, in the same soup and yes I have been put to boil, and allowed it to change me (every festival does). I have taken small steps in the spotlight and I went back to safe by aiming the spotlight onto others when the heat got too hot. I am human, and I am more than just my dictated roles (even if they bring qualities out in me, that shine through in who I am as a person).
I love talking to people, I love seeing the human behind the improvisor, teacher and am trusting that they see a snippet of the real Kitty in that time and that moment (in reality or in the pretend land of make believe).
Till the next festival cooking session.
