Get your Bosco at Jewel-Osco

A lot of you might not know this about me unless you knew me back in 2001. During my post college single girl days, I decided to take improv comedy classes. I've always loved theater and thought it would be a fun way to express myself. It started when I went to a couple of Comedy Sportz shows. They offered improv classes and I thought it sounded fun. So...I started out in early spring with a beginner's class. I went into it being all giggly about the concept of having to make up something on the spot. Then I got really comfortable with it. At the end of the 8 week class, we got to put on a show for family and friends. It was a LOT of fun! I loved the class so much that I decided to take it again that summer and fall.

The second week of my summer class, I had lost my voice but still decided to go because I hated to miss out! There was an activity to make up advertising slogans about a product of the "audience's" choosing (this audience was mainly the teacher). So they chose Bosco and in my "Marge Simpson" voice, I went with "Get your Bosco at Jewel-Osco!" The "audience" loved it and that made me feel strangely confident for some reason. I had a lot of fun during the summer session and at the class show, I got to witness a marriage proposal. It was to one of the girls in the class and her soon-to-be-fiancé got on stage and did it in front of the whole audience. I only knew the girl through class, but I thought she was really nice and I knew how much she wanted to marry her boyfriend. Anyway, I got so emotional about watching that proposal take place. Maybe because it was my first in-person proposal and it had such a "chick flick" feel to it. I still get verklempt when I think about it.

The fall class got to explore some games that they did in the professional shows. My favorite was "da doo run run." It was based on that same oldies song and people would have to make up rhymes based on someone's name. There were a few catches to the game though. I just knew I was good at it, as I would practice with one of my friends over the summer (after we saw it together during a show). However, my group didn't get to do it for the final show. I would have loved to though. The fall class experience was interesting for me in a few ways. I got to pay for it by ushering at weekend shows (back when I wasn't observing Shabbos and would go to the city every Friday and Saturday regardless) and would also hang out with people from the class after the class had ended for the evening. They got to know me in a different light and that prompted me to make some decisions about my life when I went to Israel that winter. After the fall classes were done and we performed our show, I slipped away from the Comedy Sportz scene a little bit. However, I thought I would audition for the troupe that February.

Side note: I put a note in the Western Wall regarding changing some of my single girl habits if I could either have a really good love relationship or become part of the Comedy Sportz troupe. Needless to say, I am not performing right now and I married an amazing man!

After the audition, I went to the show every so often (such as for shows my friend was in or if I was in the city anyway) and eventually didn't make it there anymore until my bachelorette party in 2004. Oddly enough, my spring and summer teachers were in that show and I got to go up on stage and perform with them. It was nice to see them again and it was kind of a "Where are they Now" thing for them (about me). I did see my spring teacher in another show the first summer I was dating my husband and we still talk about one of the funny things he did in that show. I talk to my summer teacher via facebook sometimes. I haven't seen or heard from my fall teacher since, but I didn't really have the same connection with her as I did with my spring and summer teachers. She was nice though.

Overall, I have fond memories of my year of Comedy Sportz classes and all the interesting people I met that way. They stay with me almost 9 years later!