Hampton Bays Improv Workshop For Teens
An afternoon workshop on improv, for teens.
If I only had a few hours, what was the bare minimum participants needed to know in order to jump right into improv?
The basics of improv:
- Yes, AND! (The Rule Of Agreement)
- Celebrate Mistakes
- Keep Rolling, Learn To Adapt
- Stay Present
- Have Fun And Relax (<—— very important!)
(This list of rules makes another appearance in the handout materials for Garbage Is Magic. They worked so well, they’re now part of my bag of tricks.)
With just a few guidelines, we got right down to it. Right here we were walking as though gravity suddenly got much stronger.
We also used a selection of strange photos as an exercise in “What happened just before this picture was taken?” Everyone came up with a backstory, which they acted out, ending with them all recreating the photo.
It would seem that my plan worked out. I not only got offered a job to teach drama by a counselor from a local Boy’s Club camp that came to the library to do improv (too long a commute from Massachusetts, sadly), but I also got a positive rating, seen below, from a satisfied customer.
