“Some people paint, some people write music, I do improv,” says Truckee Community Theater Improv Troupe member Brooke Borchert.
Borchert moved to Truckee in at the beginning of the winter of 2015 before meeting Loren McCormack through her job at the front desk of Clear Capital.
“I found a space where I didn’t need to have a filter or be contained in a box. I felt like I was able to be open and let my true colors shine. That was big for me. Now I can embrace my wit and put my sarcasm toward good use.”– Brooke Borchert
“We developed a fast friendship and realized we enjoy making each other laugh,” she says. “Loren said, ‘You should really come to our improv class.’ I decided to break out of my comfort zone and go for it. I went for it and I loved it.”
June 16 | 7:30 p.m. | Art Truckee | Downtown Truckee | $12
Being a new kid in town, Borchert sometimes struggled to get out and meet like-minded people. She had acted in high school theater and improv gave her an in at a place she finally felt at home.
“I found a space where I didn’t need to have a filter or be contained in a box,” she says. “I felt like I was able to be open and let my true colors shine. That was big for me. Now I can embrace my wit and put my sarcasm toward good use.”
“What’s the point of life if you can’t laugh?” she asks. “It’s almost therapeutic in a sense.”
Every Monday from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., an improv class hosted by troupe founder Carrie Haines meets at the Community Arts Center on Church Street in Truckee.
“We have games with some guidelines that we do, but from there we just go with it,” Borchert explains. “For example, we play a game called ABC where somebody shouts out a letter from the alphabet. Then we decide on a topic. Maybe it’s the letter ‘T’ and the topic is hats. So we would have start with ‘T’ and each line has to start with the next letter of the alphabet. It’s a great non-judgmental space to express your inner weirdo.”
When they take the stage at Art Truckee for their third performance of the year, they’ll have an outline of how things might go. However, coerced audience participation and random coincidence will determine the unpredictably hilarious results.
“We don’t have a script, but we have a gist,” Borchert explains. “We know what games we are strong at doing as a group. From there, we get a topic and go with it. We just get up there and honestly we come up with whatever comes from our heads. Sometimes it hits and sometimes it sinks, but you just keep the show moving.”
“Sometimes when you plan what you’re going to say it’s not as funny as accidentally saying something,” she notes. “I’m exhausted by the end because I give it my all and I feed off everybody else’s energy.”
Borchert grew up in Baltimore, Md., before playing Division I lacrosse at Virginia Tech University. She is now the coach of the Truckee Tribe under-12 girls lacrosse team. Like so many Tahoe transplants, community connections have helped Borchert to feel at home on the other side of the country.
“I feel like everybody is here by choice,” she says. “People are more concerned here with your character than back East when it’s all about your pedigree, your last name and where you went to school. Here they only care if you’re a good person. You find that people are so much happier and welcoming for it. I’ve made some lifelong strong bonds and friendships with people who are now family to me. I’ve really discovered a lot about myself out here by myself. It’s a great place to clear you’re head, figure things with life, but I also know that I have friends out here who genuinely care. They want to know what’s going on with me and be involved in my life. We’re just one big happy, dysfunctional family and that’s how our improv group feels, too.”
Borchert wants to make sure people know the improv troupe in not a closed group.
“We are always welcoming the next fellow improver and weirdo because the more the merrier,” she laughs.
The drop-in charge for classes in $5 and the proceeds go to Truckee Community Theater.
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