It's not much like most improv classes - it's really much more about acting and about getting your acting to come from a place of emotion rather than from cleverness.

In some ways it's almost like a mindfulness class, but more interactive.

Even though I've taken it several times before, I'm really excited to take it again.

Here's why:Vulnerability.

Keith Johnstone said, "Self-revelation should be at the heart of improvising" and vulnerability is, for me, the first step towards self-revelation.Conversely, one of the biggest mistakes*

I see in beginning improvisers is playing "Teflon" (nothing sticks, nothing affects them).This is especially true when you're playing a strong, high-status character.

Imagine this scene:

Father and son, father says "Son, if you don't clean your room, then you can't borrow the car tonight" 

and son responds 

"I hate you!You never let me do anything!"

The father can, of course, respond to the second sentence 

"Why that's not true - you get to do all sorts of things." but that only continues the argument along fairly predictable lines whereas, if the father responds to the first sentence of the son's line with something like 

"You...you hate me?I...I just can't....you hate me? (sobbing) then we see his veneer crack - there's a huge status shift and suddenly we're not just in a stereotypical relationship, we're in a real emotional moment.The real scene has begun.

And all because the father allowed himself to be vulnerable - to be changed, by his scene partner.

A simple idea, but it's not all that easy in practice - especially in improv where we have no script to force us down that path.

Offstage we go about our days protecting ourselves, trying not to expose our inner self too much, keeping our armor in place.

Learning to take the armor off, un-learning the reflexes, breaking the habits is hard.We have decades of habit, mental scar-tissue and emotional reflexes that we use to keep the world at arm's length.In daily life, we don't want things to change us, to knock us off-kilter - we fight against it.

On stage it's a different matter - powerful drama (and great comedy) comes from moments of transformation.In classes and practice sessions, we do address these issues, but often indirectly and rarely for extended periods.

The Meisner and Spolin exercises that David uses in Improv From the Heart give us a chance to practice vulnerability directly and extensively - to open ourselves to our partners and to be seen for extended periods of time (not that we work only on vulnerability, but it's a major focus).

The exercises are just that, exercises - thus many of the other concerns we have on stage are stripped away and we can focus intently on being open and on reacting genuinely and emotionally (from the heart!).

The previous session was a bit shorter than this one, so we didn't get into much scene work, but this time I'm looking forward to taking the openness and vulnerability from the exercises onto the stage and doing some serious, emotional scenes.

Digging deep into my emotions and opening myself to being genuinely affected by my partner's choices - that's where improv really comes alive for me - that's where I feel I've touched on something vital and important.I'm looking forward to opening up and taking some risks....and maybe making some new friends, too.

- Jeff Miner, Retired Computer Engineer, Oakland, CA

Improv from the Heart