The Genesis of HaHaMen Part 5: On Stage in IL

Well, you have come this far. Let’s finish this out. I am still not sure how or when to end this series, but we are at the story of the last four years. It should go pretty quickly.

This week we will pick up in March 2013, freshly moved in, or, really, cramped in, to my sister’s apartment, my life was starting over. I didn’t have a real plan. I had some “let’s try this” ideas going on, but the one goal was to perform and act to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I said it before and I will say it again…I used to use comedy to hide me, but now my mission is to use comedy to reveal Him.

I immediately scoured the internet looking for any and every opportunity to act or perform. I learned a lot about auditioning. I also learned that a selfie in your Mom’s apartment, with a sheet hung behind you as a backdrop does not pass, at all, for a head shot. I did get a few opportunities in that first year. I performed in 3 short films. I have only seen two of them, the third was for a graduate student project. If I am ever famous, these are the things they will show to tease me about my beginnings.

In one of the films, I did learn a lesson. It showed me the challenges that may come up as an actor who is striving to keep up moral standards according to convictions based in God’s Word. I was filming a short film where I was playing a weird character. In a part of the script, I was to be reacting to another actor’s monologue.

In a part of the monologue, the actor’s character states something about the 9/11 attacks. The director of the film requested that I make a face and a mocking gesture of the plane hitting the towers. It was not something I was going to do, even with his behest and his assurances that it would not make the final cut. I refused. Stood my ground. This director later confronted me and sternly advised me that if I want to make it in film, when a director directs you, you listen.

Later, when seeing the final cut of the film, I was noticeably absent in as much of the film as possible. There were a lot of my scenes and screen time that wound up on the proverbial cutting room floor (though, this was all digital…so I guess into the Recycling Bin?). To be honest, I did not mind. Plus, I realized how petty people could be. It was forgiven and taken as a lesson that it really is okay to stand your ground.

One of my most enjoyable opportunities was being cast as a Competitive Food Eater for a reality TV show that filmed in Chicago on Belmont Avenue. I am not supposed to reveal too much, but those who know me know most of the details. It was a lot of fun, and it was my first national television experience.

Also, I was able to audition for and get accepted into a program at the Gorilla Tango Theater in Chicago. It was a weekly class followed by a show. It was incredibly fun and helped me grow as an improviser. Performing weekly really gives you the chance to try, fail, learn, and try again. That is so much of the beauty of improv-learning to fail and not let your life end because of it. Which, given my testimony thus far, is quite fitting.

I found that one of the biggest tests in performing improv in the city was that I had a purpose to perform in a way that honored God. I was driven to be clean, beyond reproach, and not use blue humor or innuendo as a part of my performance. It was a challenge that helped me develop faster and stronger as an improviser. As I say this, I am not disparaging or impugning those performers with whom I was blessed to perform, I am merely stating that I had a different purpose. My purpose was to be clean in my comedy and, whether I directly shared the Gospel or simply represented it, be a witness to those with whom I performed and those who came to see us.

In many ways, this challenge made me better and better at a faster rate than the secular improviser. In most cases, I had to find myself running the same scene, as it happened, in multiple ways, and try to stay well ahead of my scene partners, so I could stave off the potential pothole or trip-up in my desire to be clean. My desire and mission was to be someone who was 110% “Yes, And,” especially to my eternal scene partner Jesus. Sometimes, it’s easier to get the fast laugh by going for the blue, the innuendo, or the vulgar. The challenge made me a better improviser and person.

God was definitely at work with me on stage. I got into some scenes where my passion for clean was challenged, but God showed me a way out. As Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us, God will not allow us to be tempted without giving us the way out.

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

That was the testimony of my comedy at Gorilla Tango. There was the temptation to “Yes, And” my way into funny, yet potentially regretful in my walk, territory. However, God blessed me with the way to support my partners, entertain the audience, and still uphold my standard.

I ended up taking two three-month terms as a part of the Gorilla Tango Theater’s Improv Zoo. It was during this six-month run of performing weekly that I began to really see my confidence building in the craft of improv. I began to see how God’s hand had been on me my whole life, preparing me to be a good listener, a varied character, to be physical in my improv, to be attentive to my partners, and to keep an eye on the path in order to steer from potential danger.

In my second session of 3 months, I was in a new class with a new coach. I kept getting the feeling I was not his favorite. Could it be the cross I wore? The Bible I carried on the train and to class? Could it be because I did not curse, go blue, nor use innuendo? I can never say for certain. I do know that I saw a marked difference in how my scenes were critiqued. In the final show of the run, I broke the fourth wall (the imaginary boundary between stage and live audience). I love to do that. I walked up to the top of the seats and stretched the world of our scene. On my way back, I saw a shiny motorcycle helmet. I made it a dog. It later became something else, like a loaf of bread. It was handled with care. It was a hit with the crowd and my scene partners.

Yet, instead of compliments on using props and breaking the fourth wall, I was sternly spoken to about the dangers of using props and how expensive people’s property is. Nothing positive was said. Following that, as we said our good byes, this coach made it clear that he would love to work with “SOME of you” in the future. Point taken.

In my previous life…B.C…Before Christ…that kind of treatment would shake me and bother me. My depression and demons would have made this an issue worthy of contemplating things. However, now, I am able to shake this off. I remember it. It’s a lesson learned that not everyone is going to be friendly to my mission and my desire to be clean.

It was early on in my tenure at the Improv Zoo that, in my constant scanning of the Gigs listing on Craigslist, that I found an ad looking for a producer for a Christian film. I had no real business responding. I am not, nor have I ever been, a producer. I never have been, nor do I really expect to be, in the financial position to be a producer. However, I wanted to reach out. I am a Christian. I am an actor/performer. I wanted to be a part, somehow. So, I responded.

The timing of the email, I found out, was not great for the person who had posted the ad. This person was on their way to their Dad’s funeral. So, when I did not hear back for over a month, I figured that I had not made a good enough impression, or this person was just not interested in a no-name, inexperienced performer. Little did I know that the email I sent would start something, to quote our President, “Yuuuuuuuuuge.”

It would be this email that started a friendship that laid the foundation for this ministry, and many awesome things to come. We will officially see the beginning of hahahAMEN, now HaHaMen, in next week’s edition. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey! I look forward to sharing more about this with you!

If anything I have said in these blogs speaks to you, or if you need prayer, or if you need someone to talk to about depression, suicide, faith, or anything in general, please let me know.

Email LOL4GOD@HaHaMen.org and let’s talk!God bless!

-Dave Ebert

#salvation #Jesus #redeemed #God #depression #improv