26. Gerri Lawlor — 1 month ago
Well, how about this: my latest improv teacher, Gerri Lawlor, has a Wikipedia article about her.
I first saw her perform last August, when I was on a date with a (different) improv teacher. She gave the most amazing improv performance I had ever seen (even to this day). I thought, “This is the kind of improv I want to do.” A lot of the humor was pretty dark (I remember an “Inuit soufflĂ©” served at a French restaurant), but it was genuine stuff, the kind of thing you can only get when you tune into your subconscious and let it speak. During the show, one of her characters said that Werner Herzog had made a documentary about her childhood. Turns out she’s a big Werner Herzog fan, and talked about him some with me and my date afterward.
Last night, she invited me out to see a friend of hers perform accordion music. She told me this guy, Mark Growden, is a genius, and she was not kidding. This was the first time I ever realized that the accordion is an actual music instrument.
This was at the Hotel Utah, an Old West-style saloon. It fit. After the show, she bought me a shot of Jack Daniels, and I tossed it down. We talked about improv, Johnny Cash, sacrilegious videos and musicals we’d like to make, and lots more. I gave her a ride home, and she lent me two Werner Herzog movies.
The class, by the way, has been the best ever. Not only is she an amazing performer, she knows a zillion little tips, and made me and everyone else feel completely at ease. I’ve never picked up so much improv in such a short time. I was nervous about coming to her class, thinking that there’s no way I’d have her spontaneity and truthfulness to character. But she drew exactly that right out of me and all the other students.
