Want to surprise yourself in 2025? Take improv classes
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The stage before we absolutely tore it up with some beginner's improv. Photo: Mimi Montgomery/Axios
Toward the end of last year, you could find me one night a week in a Shaw classroom rolling around on the ground meowing like a cat or pretending to snap thirst trap pics while in character as the Hulk.
- Sadly, I wasn't tripping with Diplo — I was taking improv classes with Washington Improv Theater (WIT).
Why it matters: We're in prime 2025 resolution time, and if you're in the same position I was last fall — going full Tom Hanks and forging deep emotional relationships with the inanimate objects in my home as I worked remotely — it's probably time to get a hobby
How it works: Over eight weeks, my classmates and I met on Mondays after work to take Level 1 improv classes with a WIT instructor.
- Each class, we'd do improv warm-ups and then dive into exercises teaching us basics like establishing character relationships or object work, activities that could find us pretending to be anything from Haley Joel Osment to someone running into their boss in a sauna.
- This all culminated in an end-of-class showcase — 12 minutes of us performing improv. On an actual stage. In front of actual humans.
Context: I love comedy, so I knew that a lot of big-name comedians got their start doing improv at spots like Chicago's Second City and New York's Upright Citizens Brigade.
- The vibes in D.C. tend to be different. My classmates and I were a mix of journalists, policy peeps and consultant-y types there to have fun, not to hard launch ourselves as Bowen Yang 2.0. (Unless SNL's Lorne Michaels is reading this, in which case, I am ready, willing and able, Sir.)
The intrigue: Yes, getting laughs is a big part of improv, but many of its tenets also provide an existential lens for life.
- Improv emphasizes being totally present and saying "yes, and" to whatever comes your way — aka shutting up the self-conscious gremlin voice in your head so the moment can unfold and surprise you.
But, perhaps most importantly, it prioritizes vulnerability and committing to the bit — aka, not being afraid to look silly or fail in pursuit of creating something that could be surprising and unique.
- As grown-ups, we often repress the imaginative playfulness and openness we had as kids, writing off these urges as embarrassing or dumb. But that means we cut ourselves off from opportunities to grow and create — dream jobs and passion projects and wild adventures.
- Improv tells us that no idea is too weird or wacky and that we all have something worth saying. Bet on yourself.
As my classmates and I took to the stage for our showcase, I looked into the spotlights and felt the rush of teetering on the edge of something playful, bold and new. I also felt the rush of potentially projectile vomming into the front row.
- Luckily, we didn't bomb: The next 12 minutes saw us acting out scenes as disgruntled vegetables in the produce aisle and multiple iterations of Jeff Bezos. I even moonlighted as a pineapple in a therapy session, trying to break through my prickly exterior.
The bottom line: A few months ago, all of this would have seemed exceptionally cringey to me. But instead, I committed to the bit, and it was so freaking fun — and exactly the kind of go-for-it, weirdo energy I want to bring into 2025.
If you go: WIT has one-off and free workshops, as well as eight-week introductory improv classes. Prices vary.