Improv Skills Help!

One of the reasons I love theater and wish to teach it is because so many of its skills are applicable outside of theater itself. Character analysis helps with English assignments. Lights and sound break into physics. Building a set helps hone industrial tech skills (I totally geeked out when Teaching Theater had an article called "Gardner in the Scene Shop"!). A recent Teacher Lingo post talked about Improv...teacher style. Shortly after I found a CNN article via LifeHacker about improvisation helping in any workplace.

The article reviews three of the most basic rules of improvisation: yes...and, going with your gut, and teamwork. These rules can apply when working with fellow teachers or pulling students' thought during a discussion. Sometimes even overplanning falls through. This quick article is a good resource.

Little Actress's Success Story

I apologize for being absent for three weeks. My mom gave me a note that I gave to the secretary who gave me a different note to give to you. I was visiting a friend in Penn State, running an elementary theater camp and elementary morning day camp, and visiting family in Ocean City, NJ. All this will fuel the next few blog posts.

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I want to start off with a success story just because it makes me happy. Danielle (fake name) is a seven year old girl who was in the first week of my morning day camp. Her twin sister stayed for all five mornings that week, but Danielle stayed for only two, because she got stomach aches from her nervousness around other people. She chewed gum when her stomach bothered her, but that wasn't always enough to get her out of the mini-van to the other kids.

On the first day of theater camp the next week, Danielle comes to the amphitheater chewing gum and holding her mother's leg. That day I kept an extra eye on her and hoped that she would be engaged in what I planned that day, which were mostly social get-to-know-you and get-on-stage activities. I told the rest of the counselors to keep their fingers crossed.

She didn't chew gum the rest of the week.

On Friday during our final showcase, her stuttering but full of smiles Magic the Owl was my favorite performance that day. Her mom said that she'd never memorized anything before, but went home after camp every day and tried her hardest. I am so happy and proud that she was able to keep breaking at her shell through theater camp!

I am not trying to gloat, but I wanted to show Danielle to the world and I figured I could at least show her to you!