A Belated Entrance And An Exit

Yesterday The Night Shift had our last show with Mike before he moved back to Cleveland. I showed up late because I was coming from a show at iO and didn't get there until about two minutes into our set. I watched for a minute or two to get a sense of what was going on and then entered.

Normally being late to a show let alone going into a set late would horrify me. With The Night Shift we are genuinely only interested in having fun with each other. That's something I think a lot of improv groups say but this is one of the rare groups that it's actually true. There is absolutely zero expectations and infinite acceptance. We show up and do our shows and have fun. We love being together with whoever can make it whenever they can make it. There is never any resentment or guilt or judgement because there's no pressure. It's a challenge to walk into a show once it's started and it can be weird. It's a unique feeling to show up late and be willing to watch and have your teammates encourage you to walk on and figure it out. No one is put out, everyone is simply excited to be together.

We've been doing a mono-scene for a couple months now, one continuous scene for the duration of our set, and tonight we were at an archaeological dig. We had a send off show for Mike two weeks ago where we all wore Ohio sports shirts so this was just icing on the cake. We've been a tight group since we formed three years ago and it will be tough to have Mike gone. But luckily he won't be far away and we've already talked about him mega-busing back for shows.

Good night but not good bye.