It’s time. You’re up next. It’s either a speech, or at bat, or an oral exam and you have to perform. Scary, huh? I’m reprinting a blog from another site. http://www.improv-odyssey.com/?p=2497 to because it reminded me of a passage from my book, The King of Average, where our little boy must be examined by the council to see if he’s suited to replace the former King...
Read MoreOne thing I know for sure, the more you feel sorry for yourself, the less energy you have to for anything else (except drugs, alcohol, TV and other escapes). I learned this lesson in an Improv class years ago and I reprint it here. Self-pity is the last floor before Rock-Bottom and many people get off on that floor before realizing the only way out is up. It’s a...
Read MoreI hate to say it, and am not truly comfortable making a parallel between the Republican front-runner Donald Trump and a character in my novel, The King of Average, but after hearing Trump boast his awesome prowess as the leader of the most powerful country on earth, I can’t stand by without comment. Ironically, I realize this is shameless promotion (something Trump...
Read MoreAccording to various studies* low self-esteem in children tends to be related to either physical punishment and/or withholding of love and affection by parents and only receive positive attention from authority figures (such as parents) when they act in a certain way. This reinforces to the child that they are only a person of value when they act a certain way (e.g....
Read MoreSchenectady New York, 1964 It was a real chore, going to Hebrew school after ‘regular school’, trying to learn just enough Hebrew to get by on the “Big Day” – the day we would become ‘men’. On this particular day, I was hanging out in the parking lot of Temple Beth Israel Hebrew School on Eastern Parkway, with a few fellow bar mitzvahs-in-training. We played stoop...
Read MoreFun means full mind/body involvement. Fun is the life force from which all action flows in performance. Fun frees the individual from the drudgery of drill, repetition, and stale ritual. It contains within it discipline, involvement and commitment to an action without judgment. It is doing for its own sake, thus giving the individual total freedom to act in...
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