I’ve always loved theater and was very involved with it in high school, but when I graduated I decided to leave theater behind. I figured it wasn’t worth my time to continue pursuing it in college and that I should instead seek out extracurriculars that were more related to my career path. Putting time into something like theater felt too indulgent; I figured it was more efficient if my hobbies were things that I could put on my resume. Nonetheless, I found myself longing for a creative outlet or some kind of hobby that I would be really excited to do. I missed performing; it is a rush that is unparalleled by anything else.
I went my first year without doing any kind of performance, but come sophomore I decided to audition for Birdstrike Theatre, an improv team. I went to a couple of their shows last year and I was struck by a feeling of wanting to be up there with them, performing and improvising and creating a spontaneous and hilarious piece of theater. I debated whether I should even audition or if I should instead use that time for my internship search or studying or something that felt more “relevant” to my career path. But I ultimately decided that I have my whole entire life to work on my career, but that I’ll only be in college once and I might as well invest my time into doing something that will feed my soul and scratch an itch for performance that I just can’t seem to get rid of. Over the past couple months, this has proven to be one of the best decisions of my life. After an intensive, all day audition process, I made the team.
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Birdstrike Theatre is a ten person long-form improv troupe that does improv shows every other Friday (usually odd weeks). In our shows, the ten of us perform short scenes or narratives up to 40 minutes long that are completely improvised – they are completely made up on the spot based on a suggestion from the audience. Because the scenes are so spontaneous and made up on the spot, they tend to be pretty hilarious and silly. We usually perform in lecture halls on campus and our shows are attended by usually around 300 people.
Making scenes on the spot requires a fair amount of trust and chemistry with your fellow improvisors – you have to trust that your fellow actors won’t let the scene flop and you have to be able to pick up on subtle cues that will continue the story. This means that the team is extremely close to one another. Through being involved in Birdstrike, I have expanded my social circle and discovered the whole comedy niche at UC Davis – Stand Up Comedy Club, other improv and sketch comedy groups.
Ultimately what I have learned from being on Birdstrike is to follow your passion and devote your time to things that truly make you happy, because it has given a whole new meaning to my time at UC Davis. I feel so lucky to be here and to be doing something that I genuinely really enjoy and that I feel excited to be doing. The cherry on top is that I do include Birdstrike on my resume, because I am gaining skills from it that are absolutely transferrable into the job market. Doing improv takes being able to think on your feet, working with a team, and being able to respond quickly and effectively when the scene goes in a different direction than you expected. Not to mention, building performance and public speaking skills goes a long way in the job market.
I am so grateful to be doing something that I love, and doing improv has taught me just to roll with the punches and just take life as it goes. Performing can be scary at times, but I am so grateful to be doing it because I am expanding myself as a person and as a performer. Life is all improv – you don’t know what’s going to be thrown at you, so all you can do is just say yes, roll with it, and try to see the humor in everything you can.
PS – If you’re interested in coming to a Birdstrike show, more information can be found on Facebook or Instagram!