Angela Karpieniak: You Can Choose to Have People’s Backs Heavy Flo

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DC improviser and essential medical worker Angela Karpieniak sits down with podcast hosts Puss and Kooch to talk about the ability to be vulnerable, having no-clothes days, and the time and place for fart jokes.















Angela Karpieniak on Heavy Flo with Puss and Kooch







Angela Karpieniak was one of the iconic members of Wonder Whale, a now-retired Washington Improv Theater Harold team. (Fun fact: Wonder Whale was the team all of your podcast hosts were part of at some point in their improv careers.) 







Angela is also a staple of the amazing indie improv team, Stovëtron. During the day, she’s an occupational therapist.







The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. To hear everything Angela has to say, listen to her podcast episode.







Having people’s backs, on and offstage







Since being quarantined, I miss improv. I miss performing. It was definitely a source of stress relief. I think there’s a vulnerability that comes with playing on a team of people you know and care about. That’s just not really happening now. It’s a part of life that is just different.







Dunno if you noticed, but improv shows—and group gatherings—like this aren’t happening right now.







I haven’t thought about improv that way. I’ve always thought about it as a creative outlet, but it’s also a vulnerability outlet that we’re kind of missing now, too.







It’s interesting because a lot of times when I tell people I do improv or when people come see improv shows, they’re like, “I don’t know how you do that. You’re onstage. You have no idea what’s about to happen. And then you just deal with it.” 







Angela had no idea what was about to happen here.







I think that’s a skill most people should have in life because, seeing what’s going on now, we don’t know how to deal with it. I think if you at least have somewhat of a, “That’s okay, I’ll just improvise how I’m going to survive right now,” attitude or coping mechanism, it makes the uncertainty a little bit better. 







I’m definitely an oversharer. I talk a lot. But it does take something, I think, to put yourself out there, trust your teammates, and know that people have your back. It’s also a comfortable skill to have in life to know that you can trust people. People have your back. People aren’t going to leave you alone. In improv, that’s just what you get, which is nice. 







Especially now, my job as an occupational therapist has become a huge team effort. If someone slips up, somebody picks up the slack. Whether they’re happy to pick up the slack or not remains to be seen. But especially now that the therapists are helping the nurses, it’s been more of a joint collaboration.