The Funny Side of Anxiety

In this angst-filled world, you can give in to your soul-sucking anxiety and crawl back in bed, or laugh at it.

Second City’s Improv for Anxiety program wants to help you chose the later. Designed to help people with mild to moderate social anxiety and fear of public speaking, the program is both improv class and therapy session. Improv was originally created as a way for people to express themselves—thanks Viola Spolin!—and now Second City is getting back to their roots (and is even partnering with the University of Chicago to study the positive effects of the program). “Improv comes from a place of non-judgement and overwhelming support,” says Becca Barish, head of the Wellness Program at Second City and a license clinical social worker. “It creates a space where people can challenge themselves and take chances. The ensemble that is created just from connecting with other like-minded people is one of the most valuable parts of the class.”

One of those “like-minded people” is Jeanette Cerami. Cerami, who suffers from anxiety, wrote and performs her new solo show Barely Standing. Presented like an anxiety-themed Ted Talk, Cerami explores how a person with anxiety interprets and handles the outside world. Says Cerami: “My focus and energy is spent agonizing over small details of my life, all while there's a bigger, broader existence happening around me. My hope is that people can laugh and empathize with my neuroses, while learning a little bit about what people with anxiety do just to feel 'normal.' For all the things in this world that give me anxiety, performing and making people laugh aren't one of them!”

Barely Standing runs Sunday nights, 9:30pm, April 29-May 13 at The Annoyance theater.

Learn more about The Second City Improv for Anxiety program.