The fourth Noche de Improvisacion was Thursday evening, and what a surprise...  More teens came out than ever before!  The teens who have been consistently coming are bringing friends.  Could it be that Improv Night is actually cool?!?!  I'm never quite sure what is going on inside the heads of teenagers.  Trying to relate to teenagers is not always easy, and as much as I feel that I was only a teenager yesterday, that's just sadly not true.  I want the teens to feel like improv night is a chance to express themselves, and not just another boring “acting” class.  The fact that they keep coming back...AND bringing people with them, tells me we're on the right track. :)

Tricia and I are trying to move the kids into more meaningful games, to help them produce thoughtful improv.  This is the “Bridgework” that Michael Rohd talks about in his book Hope Is Vital.  Up to this point we've been doing only a few whole group games every night, where the teens can choose how much or how little they wish to participate.  We've been doing more partner work.  This allows the teens to have a chance to practice the skill being addressed without feeling intimidated by the entire group.  However, now we're starting to introduce games where the teens have to make personal connections to big ideas.  We spoke about friendship.  The teens had two minutes with a partner to share a story about friendship from their past.  The game is called “Storytelling.”  Afterwards, we debriefed as a group about all the various “versions” of friendship that had been shared.  Friendship means something different to many people, depending on their past experiences.  What does friendship mean to YOU?  (Kindly leave your comment below).  These are the baby steps of meaninful improv that we are slowly introducing...

We had a few new teens from the public high school come to improv night, but they mostly sat and watched, not wanting to participate.  One of the teens in particular, seemed very interested and said he wants to come back next week with friends.  Gaining new teens into our group is a process.  It didn't bother me that they didn't participate.  If one has no prior experience with theatre, especially improv, it can feel much more comfortable to sit and watch the first time.  What made me VERY happy was that they stayed the entire time.  Yes, sat for two entire hours, just to watch, clearly interested and entertained by what we were doing.  Now, if they will only come back next week...
-Raquelita (Outreach Educator)