2024 Issue 1 Jan/Feb Focus - Mid-South Magazine

community
It’s Funny You
Mention That
Bluff City Liars' founder Zephyr McAninch talks
improv, theatre and community
by William Smythe
I first met Zephyr McAninch in a writing group created by a mutual friend of ours. During
the middle of the pandemic, most of us creative-minded folk sought a way to stay creative
outside of work. I had published some poetry in a few online spaces and performed at
open mics, sure. But I had been nervous about joining the group since I was new to the
writing world of Memphis. Never had someone in my field affirmed that I belonged here, in
this creative space, until Zephyr.
If I remember correctly, I had said something out loud about my nervousness. Zephyr
McAninch quickly responded, "Oh, are we supposed to be big deals? No one told me. I
would have worn something fancier."
Their joke immediately eased all the tension I might have felt among my peers. I felt
welcomed and embraced and I think that’s something that makes any creative circle work
well—when it makes you feel welcomed right away. I feel the same way at Zephyr's improv
shows with their troupe, The Bluff City Liars.
Each show I attended was majestically performed and riotously funny. In one of their
Christmas shows, the entire troupe acted out a tree decorating scene using all audience
suggestions. I remember suggesting the troupe build a tree, something I used to do with
my grandfather. In my head, I meant building a store-bought fake spruce. Zephyr took my
ideas in another direction: woodworking. They began to mime a workbench and all the
necessary tools. Zephyr then pretended to fashion some strange shape cobbled together
by awkward blocks where the tree was too tall for one spot and too short for the other.
It was magical seeing my suggestion masterfully molded into something unexpected by
another person’s creative mind.
But, I digress. Let’s let Zephyr McAninch explain the real magic of improv themselves.
28 Creativity | Jan+Feb 2024 | focuslgbt.com