In 2002 when I left Mary Mount in New York to transfer to UMASS my life really started to define itself. I was cast in Arcadia as Thomasina with an extremely talented cast. I started hanging with a group of friends that have become synonymous with the word 'home,' and at the beginning of my second semester I was cast in Mission: IMPROVable, the UMASS campus's premiere improv group.
Here's something I must interject - most college improv is pretty shitty. There are some really good ones out there, for example Suffolk who are coached by instructors at Improv Asylum. Good college improv takes talent, hard work, and tons of commitment. At the time M:I had all three elements. We went to Mecca* for a week to take daily workshops with improv's great and kept drilling what we learned throughout the year. We we really good.
The best thing about the team at that time was the seniors. A group of about 7 that would be moving on the next year and they really wanted to foster us new kids to make sure the legacy lived on. They did a pretty damn good job of it considering that the people who came out of it were Scott Braidman, Steph Jones, Liz Caradonna, and Misch Whittaker among other greats that aren't as well known at Improv Boston but are equally as talented.**
One day walking into the campus center I noticed a group of the senior boys and my friend Nate sitting at one of the tables. I put my brave boots on and went to go sit with them. Let's be honest, a 20 year old girl around a bunch of 22 year old boys made me nervous and excited and I probably wanted to smooch every single one of them. One of them was talking about relationship problems (my money is on one guys named Misty) and the conversation flowed and Jon turned to me and said, "What about you, Shan? Any gentleman callers coming your way?" I mumbled something about being more like a little sister to boys and threw our the world gender neutral - pretty self-deprecating stuff.
They all chimed in right away to make me feel better. They called me pretty and one of them said something that I still remember word for word:
"Shan, you are so funny and charming that some day, probably soon, some guy is going to watch you up on that stage and totally fall for you."
I smiled to myself, we all went off to classes and I finished the year off with some of my best friends for life in tow.
Right now some of those boys are probably in New York, having been in a van for 10 hours. They are coming out to Boston to do a show at IB 8:00 Main Stage time on Saturday. They are staying at my house, we're going to drink some beers, order some Wings, and talk about the good old times.
Come check out Dirty Water this Saturday night at Improv Boston and see some of the guys who defined my life, and let me know that funny girls can be pretty too.
*Chicago
**Among those were Natalie Baseman who was a few years below me, and one of the most talented comedy writers I know Laura Clark.
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