When I was twenty-six, I found myself suddenly with a drastically reduced social circle. Out of loneliness, I looked for a way to get out  and make friends.

I decided that trying standup comedy would be an efficient (if uncomfortable) way to overcome the anxieties of  meeting new people.

At C-U Comedy run by Jesse Tuttle, I took to the stage for the first time. My sets were composed (almost) entirely of puns. Sometimes people laughed.

Though I only did about 20 or so sets in total, standup helped me unlearn my fear of the spotlight, and it paved my way to other theatric endeavors.

While I enjoyed telling jokes, I hated writing jokes. I wanted to get on stage without having to prepare material beforehand. This drove me to the world of improvisational comedy.

At the University of Illinois, I performed on the short-form improv comedy troupe Odd Request. Our comedy made profound critiques of society in the forms of fart jokes and blatant innuendo .

When I moved to Oakland, I spent a year performing with  the troupe Once Upon Your Mind led by Colleen Breen of All Out Comedy. Our long-form show began by reading the first few pages of a children's book, which then flowed into improvised scenes that told the rest of the story. Our primary audience of 4 to 10 year old children seemed to enjoy the show, but sometimes it was their parents who liked it more.

Curious about other forms of comedic theater, I took a 10-week class with Dan Griffiths at Church of Clown. We learned how the clown creates humor by mirroring the world, why clowning is distinct from acting (there's no forth wall), and that sharing emotion is at the core of the clown.

Well, one class turned into three, then I took two mime workshops, and then I joined the Church of Clown's first company production, "Space Suckers from Outer Space."

I am grateful for the community of very lovely and very funny people who I get to frequently enjoy playing with.