Improvly Speaking
Dayna Gowan is a speaker, improviser, and Facilitator of Fun, and the Founder of Improvly Speaking. Each episode, she brings you golden, beautiful, delicious nuggets of wisdom about public speaking, improv, performance, creativity and anything in between. Learning public speaking and improvisation skills has changed her life and made her a more confident speaker, colleague, and friend. Listeners will be inspired to face their public speaking fears, try new things, flex their creativity muscles, and say “Yes, and…” to challenges and roadblocks in both their personal and professional lives.
Improvly Speaking
Improv Saved My Life And Helped Me Get Sober with Erick Escalante
Erick Escalante is an improviser and creative performer from San Diego, CA. Erick took acting classes all throughout high school and college, but he tried his first official improv class in June 2021, when he decided to take a Level 1 class at Finest City Improv.
Before that, Erick was struggling with depression and addicted to getting high and/or drunk to numb himself from the emotions. He says he was "comfortable in the laziness of not wanting to live." When he started taking improv classes, he realized that being high during class wasn't helping him keep up with the scenes or stay present. He didn't feel like he was doing well in the classes and wanted to be a better improviser. By Level 4 class, he decided to quit drugs and alcohol cold turkey, and he has been sober ever since!
The improv community helped Erick to keep going with his sobriety and allowed him to be more sociable and creative and feel alive again. Making people laugh has become Erick's new dopamine hit and addiction. Erick has now been sober for more than a year and a half, and he credits improv for changing his life and saving his life.
Erick has fully immersed himself in the improv world, which has opened up other opportunities for him to perform at San Diego Comic Con and be a Scare Actor at the Balboa Park Haunted Trails. During this episode, Erick shares all about these experiences and performances, which he never would have done or even tried if he was getting high all the time.
Congratulations to Erick for doing the hard inner work and continuing to stay sober — every day sober is a day to celebrate! And improv was the catalyst for helping him make that positive change. I am proud of you, Erick, and we are all proud of you! <3
You can find out more about Erick here:
- Instagram - @greyfoxalias
- Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/GreyFoxAlias
- Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@greyfox0986
- Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/greyfoxalias
- Voicebox San Diego Instagram - @voicebox_san_diego
- Finest City Improv Calendar/Shows - https://www.finestcityimprov.com/theater/
- The Dinner Detective San Diego - https://www.thedinnerdetective.com/san-diego/
- Balboa Park Haunted Trails - https://hauntedtrail.net/
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