L.E. Zarling

Photo courtesy of the artist

L.E. Zarling

Can improvisational comedy change lives? “Yes,” says L.E. Zarling, a trans woman who is bringing the show Wisconsin Laugh Trip to The PIT. “It gave me the courage to discover who I really was,” Zarling says. “If I hadn’t gotten into improv, I would have never transitioned.” The art form kickstarted a series of discoveries that are still in progress, part of “a drive to be truthful with myself and live my true life.” And that, in turn, has led the comic performer to develop a workshop on improv for trans and non-binary people. “I want every trans person to have the ability to go on stage and be themselves, to feel that it’s okay to claim who you are and be who you are,” Zarling says. The two-hour improv workshop will be held Saturday at 1:00 p.m., before Zarling’s 8:00 p.m. performance in The PIT’s weekly Trifecta event. Zarling describes the show as “a trip the audience takes with me through my thought process and creative process, and it’s a different trip every time.” —Byron Woods