Building Presence Through Improv
Kim Tan channelled the ADHD hallmarks of curiosity and restlessness to start The Improv Company, the first improvisational theatre company in Singapore, with his wife 13 years ago. Kim uses improvisational theatre (or “improv”) as a means to help people to be more self- and other-aware and attuned to their circumstances.
Quotes
“ADHD’s gift to me has been a sense of curiosity about the world and a compassion for others–you don’t know what someone else is going through.”
When I First Knew
Growing up, and even through university, I found it hard to really settle down and focus—unless the subject, such as English Literature, truly captured my interest. For everything else, it felt like I needed either a huge amount of effort or someone keeping me on track. That challenge came into sharp focus when I went to Oxford University for my first attempt at getting a degree. Without the familiar support structures I had at home, I struggled to stay afloat and eventually had to drop out. That period afterwards was tough—I spent about a year navigating depression and shame before slowly finding my footing again.
Later, I enrolled at the National University of Singapore for a second try at university. Being back home, a little older, and surrounded by family made a big difference. I was better able to manage things, and the structure of the academic calendar—where exams followed soon after classes—helped me keep momentum. The prospect of corporate life or working a humdrum office job felt like a straitjacket. So, I started The Improv Company, the first improvisational theatre company in Singapore, with my now-wife. It turns out it’s hard to get bored when you’re running a gritty little arts startup: There’s always something to do, and it’s never quite the same thing twice.
A few years into running the Company, at the age 36, I began wondering if there might be something more going on beneath the surface. That curiosity eventually led me to speak with a general practitioner, and to start exploring the possibility that ADHD might have been part of the picture all along.
Strategies That Helped
I use multiple tools, including project management spreadsheets in Google Sheets and a very customisable app called Amazing Marvin, but really the key is being aware of my distractibility, working to mitigate it by writing things down and being compassionate when it doesn’t quite work perfectly.
Greatest Accomplishment
I’ve built a company and practice with my wife over the past 13 years. It hasn’t always been the smoothest journey. And I’ve also recently reached a certain level of self-awareness and understanding that would’ve been unfathomable five years ago. ADHD’s gift to me has been a sense of curiosity about the world and a compassion for others–you don’t know what someone else is going through.
Where I Am Now
Today, I’m still running The Improv Company with my wife, Hazel, a partnership that continues to be both meaningful and evolving. Our focus remains on using improvisation not just as a performance art, but as a pathway for growth: helping people become more self-aware, more attuned to others, and more present to what life has to offer.
Along the way, we’ve been deepening our own learning. In recent years, we’ve explored coaching, somatic work and organisational development—tools that have reshaped how we understand presence, connection and change, both in our lives and in the work we do with others.
As life partners, we’re also becoming more present with our family and friends, more intentional in how we contribute to Singapore, and more committed to building a good life—one grounded in care, curiosity and joy, in ways that weren’t always accessible to our younger, more chaotic selves.
It feels like we’re in a chapter of intentional growth—rooted in what we’ve built so far, and open to wherever it might lead.
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