Within the walls of the National Comedy Theatre lurks “The Thing”. “The Thing” has one sole desire – to be the center of attention and to make every scene about itself. If you’re smart, you won’t talk about “the thing”.
“The Thing” will usually present itself as an activity that improvisers are doing, or as an item that an improviser has decided to pantomime on stage (usually as a result of a suggestion from the audience). As tempting as it may be – DO NOT make your scene ABOUT “The Thing”. If you do, you will only make “the Thing” stronger and it can potentially hijack your scene and destroy the world that you are trying to create.
As the thing creeps on stage and into the scene it is important for an improviser to know what to do. An experienced improviser will wrangle “the thing” without losing focus on what their scene is really about. While “The Thing” is properly tamed on stage a professional will know how to pantomime the thing – bringing the audience into their world. Our improviser will use the thing to help the hero of the scene, “The What”.
“The Thing’s” biggest weakness is “The What”. If you’re digging graves in a scene, the scene isn’t about digging graves – it’s about grave diggers. Grave Diggers who are humans with lives, relationships, and emotions. Unless it’s about mole people who dig graves. Then it’s about mole people with lives, relationships and emotions. This focus on relationships, status, conflict, and emotion is “The What”.
The thing exists outside of the theater too. Life isn’t about what you’re doing. It’s about having the presence of mind to appreciate the people around you, the emotions that you feel, and what you truly want from this life. Don’t let “The Thing” take over your story. I encourage you to hop onto the scaly back of “The Thing”, grab it by the gills, and ride it into the sunset with “The What” holding on tightly around your waist.
-Corey Husted, MainStage Cast Member