You really should come and try improv!

Improv classes at the Haviland Club start back up for the fall next Monday, September 12, 2022:

Is it time to be creative and gain confidence from  learning about improv? HA Club Charlottetown Monday night classes start on Sept. 12, 7-9pm, Farringford House (The Haviland Club), Charlottetown. All levels of experience are welcome to attend. Must be 16 years of age and older. Book in advance with an email/payment to  lauriemurphy@marram.ca. Classes are $35 each or five for $150  - a $25 saving when paid in advance! Student showcases will be in October and December 2022.

You should join us.

Really, yes, you.

Last fall I was freshly down in the dumps about a possible relationship that ended abruptly, and in a particularly “fuck it, what’s the worst thing that could happen” state of mind. Following an ad in The Buzz, I got on my bicycle, rode down to the Haviland Club, and was still 50-50 on whether I’d bolt as I made my way up the stairs.

I am so, so glad I didn’t bolt.

What I found at the top of the stairs was, in Laurie Murphy, a kind and patient teacher of the art of improv, a fantastic and finely-honed combination of pusher, puller, cajoler and supporter.

This isn’t the “you’re going to be made fun of” improv of your nightmares, this is the “you will grow as a person in ways that you never thought possible” kind of improv. 

And the art isn’t just a “theatre thing”: the months I spent last year guided me to insights about all manner of things in my everyday life: how to run better meetings, how to work better with colleagues, how to be a better parent, and, most important and world-changingly, put me in the right frame of mind, a month after the first fateful class, to enter into a romantic relationship that has improv’s “yes, and…” baked into its very core.

You need not have any qualifications. You need never have done improv or anything like improv before. You don’t need to be a “jokey” person—indeed it’s likely better that you aren’t. 

What you will find next Monday, at the top of the same stairs that I ascended, is a dynamic merry band of friendly people engaged in a practice that, at its core, is about the exchange of gifts, a practice that is designed to make you look good and lift you up.

You’ll also find me, welcoming you.

Fuck it, what’s the worst thing that could happen.