Super troop-er

Hello, good morning, and welcome, my friends. It's good to see you back here for another week of whatever I happen to write about. First off, I want to wish a Happy Anniversary to my good friends Dave and Twilight (whom I introduced to each other). In January, I wrote about Dave subjecting us to the horrendous game called "Killer Bunnies." Even though I still don't forgive him for that offense, I'm man enough to put it aside and wish him and Twi a happy day. I'm so mature sometimes.

For years, my friend The Mills work for the Girl Scouts. She created, organized, and implemented tons of programs over that span of time. Only one of those, however, had the added bonus of one Peter Klein involved. My lovely wife and I lived next door to Dusty and The Mills during that time, and when she came over with her pitch, I was happy to help in any way she needed.

The Mills created an entire Improv Day for the scouts. The idea (as it was laid out for me) was to have both me and Dusty teach the groups of girls a few games, and then they would go up and perform later in front of whoever else was there. It would be fun, and I would have the benefit of simultaneously helping a friend and serving the community. And maybe I could get some Thin Mints out of it.

We got to the park where the event was being held, and the first thing I noticed was a larger-than-expected group of Girl Scouts. I'm really bad at estimating group sizes, but it was large enough that a local sorority sent members to be volunteers and help us out. Dusty and I picked up our name badges, and my eyes got a little wide upon seeing "Improv Expert" under my name. Here's the thing: Dusty and I were indeed a part of an improvisational comedy group for two years. However, that was in high school and this was a while after that. During the intervening years, we kept up on our quick-comedy skills by...doing nothing, really. We laughed a lot and had to be fast with our jokes before others jumped in, but that was about it. That's the benefit of having funny friends, I suppose: keeping you on your game. In any case, being an "expert" was a little scary since we hadn't really planned anything. To add a little more pressure, a lot of parents were there, along with some of The Mills' co-workers/supervisors.

We quickly came up with a kick-ass plan. We gathered the sorority sisters and taught them some warm-up activities and fun group games. Then they each took their own group as Dusty and I made the rounds, added our expertise, and took on groups of our own. It was great. We showed them an exercise in which the two people involved can only ask questions. "How's it going?" "Why, do I look sick?" "Do you feel sick?" "Am I supposed to feel incredibly bloated?" "Are you pregnant?" "You think I'm fat?" And so on. We went for a good couple of minutes, until I stumped him with "Are you trying to break up with me?" The kids had a hard time with that one, but it was great to see them try. They kept resorting to normal statements with one question word at the end. For example, "It's really nice out today...right?" Loads of fun.

I adopted two groups, and I taught them each a game to later perform. With the first group, I showed them a game called Scantron that we learned in our Comedy Sportz league. Here's the shortest explanation I can give: the ref (me, in this case) stops the scene and allows each person on stage to suggest what happens next. The audience claps, and the "winning" choice is how the scene then proceeds. Kinda like Choose Your Own Adventure, but named after a test-taking form (and therefore inherently less cool). So after I taught them how to do it, the girls were being too tame still. Why was someone home from school? Their answers were along the lines of, "She's sick," "She's pretending to be sick," "Her mommy's sick," and "She doesn't feel well." I tried helping them branch out, and said, "It can be ANYTHING at all! Why is she home? Because monkeys jumped out of the kitchen cabinets and they were having a dance party. See? Anything at all; have fun with this part and the whole scene gets to be more fun." They laughed, and I got the sense that they understood. We did another trial run before I went to my other group. Lo and behold, there were monkeys flying out of cabinets within thirty seconds of the scene starting. I reminded them that that was just an example and to really just say whatever came to mind.

With my other group, I taught them "Dr. Knowitall." This is a game in which the people on stage stand shoulder-to-shoulder and pretend to be one being. The audience asks a question, and the girls take turns saying one word each until it is answered. It's pretty funny to watch how off-course the answer gets once one person says an unexpected word. Why is the sky blue?" "The reason that the sky is blue is because the sun sneezes and wants to eat cake but didn't eat breakfast first." That kind of thing. I gave them some tips and we ran through it a few times with me as part of the doctor. " They were all set.

And now I'm all set to prolong this madness. Yes, you guessed correctly, I'm stretching this out again. Bwa ha ha. See you back here tomorrow for the thrilling conclusion. Same Klein time, same Klein channel. Have a good day, and may all of your Mondanic adventures be filled with shaloha.