CFC Blog #189: CFC Connection Story
One of the many perks (I think) of being in a close-knit group like this is it's large enough where I feel I'm consistently inspired by someone new each week... but small enough that it's very well possible to meet up with a community member to strengthen the bond on an even more personal level at any point in time .. perhaps outside "the work environment." I hope you all enjoy this short story Maria wrote about her special experience shared with Elana.
If anyone else has a CFC Connection Story they'd like to share with the wider community, please feel free to send it my way :)
- Amanda
CFC Connection Story - Maria Souza and Elana Fishbein
Last year, Elana invited me to be a guest monologist for "The Armando Diaz Experience" (link), an improv show at the Magnet Theater in NYC. In this show, the monologist takes a suggestion from the audience and/or shares true stories from their life. These stories are then brought to life by a cast of improv performers. One show has three acts and it happens every Saturday evening.
I've been honored to do it three times already. The first one was in August 2019, the next in October 2019, and the third was in February of 2020! The performers are insanely talented, funny, and they have been amazing at strengthening a valuable lesson for me: of not taking myself too seriously, as I see my life crazily become nonsense and parody.
Each night, I arrived with a theme in mind - it is not needed at all, I just like to have a common thread throughout the show and the stories I share. For the first ADX, I narrated some of my favorite stories, about the power of saying "- Yes!" to as many Biology-related adventures as I could. For the second one, I told them tales of when I had no idea of how to solve something or when I simply had to say "- I don't know!". And for the third one, I tipped my hat to them, to the improv artists, and recounted stories of when I had to say "- Well, I guess we'll have to improvise!" while in the field.
Participating in ADX has been an amazing experience, and I can't thank Elana enough for thinking of me to get onto that stage and have the healing opportunity to laugh at myself! She is fantastic! I'm also in awe of her range, as she can be hilariously subtle, and also take you on the most outlandish ride in seconds! I can honestly say that during the hour right before the shows, I am shaking, I am nervous, my mouth is super dry, and I keep asking myself why I say yes, to this?! (Again?!) But when it's done, I immediately start making notes of every sketch they've performed, because I want to remember how they made me feel. I love that I can experience those nights, they make me happy. I wish I could put into words how great it is that those performances happened. I don't feel I've done justice to the performances, here, but I tried.
I can only hope that they had as much fun as they brought to each of us in the audience. Amazing people, those improv troupers! They may not know this, but the connection I feel with them is precious to me: laughter heals and includes, levity resets the moment and opens our hearts and minds, intelligence and nonsense makes us creative and gives us a fresh view of the world. I have so much to learn from them! I am glad I said yes, I was excited for not knowing what to expect each night, and...that I had to improvise.
They are my newest community and I love it!