Meet your teacher: Amy Driscoll
Want to learn more about the upcoming Improv QLD Beginner’s improv class? Meet the teacher, Amy Driscoll.
Amy Driscoll took her first improvisation class in 2011 and has been performing ever since. She has competed at national and international events and performed in multiple shows including Hooking Up, Animated the Improvised Musical, Lord of the Thrones, Queensland Theatresports Championships and What the Butler F#*ked and most recently Masters of Theatresports. She made her directorial debut in 2018 with Anywhere Theatre Festival's True Food Confessions and is still, despiter her protests, the Treasurer of Improv QLD.
Amy - how did you discover improvisation?
I'd thought of myself as a writer and a storyteller, but I stopped doing anything creative completely in my late teens. As I hit my mid-twenties, I wanted to work on unlocking that part of me again. I don't remember why I decided that improv was the answer, but I went to see a show by every improvisation group in Brisbane to see if they taught what I was looking for.
ImproMafia (now Improv QLD) was running a season of 'Fists of Fury' which blew my mind, so I signed up with them and haven’t looked back since.
What do you love about improvisation?
I love the feeling of connection that comes in the moments you sync up perfectly with your scene partner on a stage. There's a sense of trust and exhilaration that I can't compare to anything else in the world.
Why do you think people should learn improvisation?
Wade wrote a great article on this - 6 Reasons You Should Learn to Improvise.
For me personally - getting comfortable with improvisation has so many positive flow on effects throughout my life.
It's helped me let go of my fear of change, manage my imaginary inner critic, talk to strangers in elevators, uphold my end of casual conversations, present data for work, tell better stories at DND games and unlocked my creativity.
And it's play. We don't get many opportunities as adults to be playful.
What do you want students to get out of the workshop?
To relearn how to find and trust in their creative selves again. And to have a good time doing it.
Improvisation has been a very rewarding creative outlet for me, and I am very excited to share it with other people. I want them to discover and enjoy the benefits that I have experienced.
Favourite Quote:
“I began to think of children not as immature adults, but of adults as atrophied children.” - Keith Johnstone.
Start your improv journey today with Amy.
Our next Beginner Class: Learn to Improvise workshop starts Saturday 6th August at Kelvin Grove, in Brisbane. For more information click the button below: