It's called Acting

I'm still really enjoying my improv acting class, though it is nearing its end. Yesterday I had kind of an awkward moment. When we were sharing stories about our week at the beginning of class, somehow the conversation shifted to LGBT issues. At one point, the teacher somewhat jokingly asked for a show of hands: "Has anyone ever questioned their sexuality?"

Me to myself: "Umm . . . right here . . ."

Later on, I was playing a teenage guy who was at a party, in a room alone with a girl who liked him. One of the rules of improv is "Yes and," meaning you have to go along with whatever information the other actors introduce to the scene. Wouldn't you know that one of the other people in the scene decided to endow my character with being gay. No big deal . . . I just played it like I felt really awkward being alone with the girl, and much preferred to go seek out my football player friend. But later the teacher questioned why I didn't camp it up a bit, throw in a little "fabulous" or something. I muttered to the person next to me, "Because I didn't want to be a stereotype." She agreed, but the teacher heard me. He said that sometimes in improv you want to make use of stereotypes, I guess to make the scene more interesting.

However, another thing he said during class is that whenever possible you should bring things into a scene from your own life. Being a closeted, masculine-acting guy who would be a little awkward around a girl who wanted to jump his bones? Why, I can do that!

I'm thinking the teacher is a bit old-fashioned. Personally, I'm not a fan of stereotypical portrayals of gay people. I find it much more interesting when you have a character like Max on "Happy Endings," someone who doesn't fit the stereotypical mold. Of course, some gay guys do exhibit more feminine or flamboyant traits in real life, so I'm not saying such characters should be eliminated. I just prefer a balance. For every Jack, there should be a Will. For every Kurt, there should be a Blaine. It seems that this is the current trend, which is nice.