Improv came to me in May 2022 in the form of a drunken Bala. I had moved to Bangalore a month prior and was desperately looking for friends. The previous week, I’d spent a mind-numbingly boring Sunday with two girls I met on Bumble BFF. The following week, they invited me to a brewery, and, with the optimism of a midnight snacker opening the refrigerator for the fifth time in hopes of finding something different, I went again.

To be completely honest, I was just happy to be invited. To no one’s surprise, the delight of being invited faded quickly. As they kept chatting about how terrible this city was and how terrible their bosses were on that rainy afternoon, I spotted the sweetest thing by the koi pond in the middle of the brewery: two drunk friends, sitting by the pond, hugging each other while getting drenched!

I promptly took out my phone and snapped a picture. Now, I don’t normally go around taking pictures of strangers, but this was too sweet not to capture. They walked back to their table, which was right next to ours, and I showed them the picture. They loved it!

As the afternoon progressed, so did my chair—toward Bala’s table! She told me she used to run India’s only all-female improv troupe and was planning to start improv again. We exchanged numbers. I never heard back from the BFF girls, which felt about right, but Bala texted me three months later to come for an improv class, and that’s where it all began!

Two years later, I’ve done several shows in Bangalore and even one in Singapore! I’ve directed scenes, taken multiple workshops, and even taught one for beginners. I’ve found wonderful friends and scene partners among my fellow improvisers. We all share the same love for the craft, each bringing an honest part of ourselves into it. And there’s still so much I’m learning: to give and take honest feedback and, most importantly, to make strong choices as a performer while doing a scene!

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But what does it mean to make a strong choice?

It’s when you step into a improvised scene without hesitation. You trust your scene partners and the director enough to discard your ideas without disregarding them. You trust that the audience won’t hold it against you if you have one bad idea. The worst part isn’t even a bad scene; it’s being stuck between “should I or shouldn’t I?”

Bala and Arjun (my other improv instructor) often say, “You’re creating this world; don’t be unsure of what’s in it!”

Don’t say, “I think this is the key.”

Instead, say, “Damn, this key to the magic portal will take me to the future!”

Sure, a strange key is great, but a magic portal to the future?! That’s where it’s at—and you’ve conjured the portal by making a strong choice on stage!

Making strong choices in an improv scene does the following:

1. The story gets where it needs to be

You see your scene partner has come in with a sad expression into the scene? Immediately ask them if they too had a tough day at work!

With this simple sentence you’ve established:

• You had a tough day at work.
• You acknowledge that your scene partner looks sad.
• You’ve shown interest in getting to know them.
• You’ve given them an option to take, i.e., having a tough day at work to explain why they’re sad.

Now watch them open up to you in the very next sentence.
Thank you strong choice, you saved the scene!

2. Your scene holds weight

Making strong choices means your character is not afraid to open up on stage. If you tell us why something is important to you, more often than not you’ll find the audience rooting for you.

Want to rob a bank in a scene? Tell us why you need the money. Not only will you find yourself delivering lines with a stronger intent, but the audience now also wants you to succeed in your illegal ventures!

3. You take A LOT of pressure off your scene partner

If you’re the one always asking questions, you put pressure on your scene partner to lead the scene or make it interesting. Let’s say you’re establishing a first date scene. If you ask, “So what do you do for work?”—your scene partner now has to come up with an interesting profession on the spot to impress you.

Instead, say, “Wow, I didn’t know scientists could look this good!”
Now, it’s a date with a good-looking scientist, and it’s already going well. Good one, strong choice maker!

Making strong choices takes practice and intent. While you’re taking the pressure off everyone, you obviously put that pressure on yourself. But this is good pressure, and it has made me a stronger improviser! As I make more strong choices in a scene, the voice in my brain that makes me hesitant is getting softer.

But the reason I talk about strong choices and chose to write this piece is that I am slowly starting to see them bleed into my real life—and what a delight it has been! Every advantage that strong choices endow upon a scene, they also endow upon your life. They’ve given me agency and control, making me truer to myself and to those around me. Not playing the “I’m okay with whatever you pick” when I’m clearly craving pasta or saying no to things I don’t have time for or simply don’t want to do. Even if small, I’m finding myself making stronger choices.

And lest I forget, it was the strong choice of taking a picture of a stranger and showing it to them that brought improv into my life in the first place!