This is part one in a series of posts describing the development of a high school improv education program.
One would assume that professional improv troupes already have the basics tenets of improv well in hand - their rehearsal process is designed to increase their group mind, chemistry, and so on. Coaches of high school improv troupes have the challenge of having members of the troupe have to learn improv from the beginning (for the most part). They don't have good habits engrained in them yet - in fact, some of the kids who may show interest in improv probably have some bad habits:
In order to help develop the habits and skills you want your students to have, you need to develop an educational program. Think of it as a lesson plan - or, more accurately, a series of lesson plans - designed to guide your students towards the foundations you want them to have. It's just like any other subject in high school - teach them the basics, make sure they know them, and then give them additional "problems" to "solve" to help them expand their knowledge base and skill set.
I'm currently working with my high school troupe's officers to develop a much more cohesive educational plan. In the past, we've varied who runs the weekly rehearsals: me (the troupe sponsor), a very knowledgeable troupe officer, the occasional workshop professional. What we haven't had was a common reference for what skills we wanted to make sure students were developing and at what pace. As a result, I feel like our troupe still remains at varying levels of ability - instead of everybody having a basic skill set at a certain level, on which we can continue to build. Our educational program is designed to combat that.
We're working on it over the summer, and hope to have the beginnings of it formed and ready to go by August. In the next post, I'll share with you how we're laying out the basics of what we want our troupe to know and learn.
- "I am hysterically funny. I should do improv!"
- "I watch Whose Line religiously! I should do improv!"
- "I don't conform to the need for theater rehearsal! I should do improv!"
In order to help develop the habits and skills you want your students to have, you need to develop an educational program. Think of it as a lesson plan - or, more accurately, a series of lesson plans - designed to guide your students towards the foundations you want them to have. It's just like any other subject in high school - teach them the basics, make sure they know them, and then give them additional "problems" to "solve" to help them expand their knowledge base and skill set.
I'm currently working with my high school troupe's officers to develop a much more cohesive educational plan. In the past, we've varied who runs the weekly rehearsals: me (the troupe sponsor), a very knowledgeable troupe officer, the occasional workshop professional. What we haven't had was a common reference for what skills we wanted to make sure students were developing and at what pace. As a result, I feel like our troupe still remains at varying levels of ability - instead of everybody having a basic skill set at a certain level, on which we can continue to build. Our educational program is designed to combat that.
We're working on it over the summer, and hope to have the beginnings of it formed and ready to go by August. In the next post, I'll share with you how we're laying out the basics of what we want our troupe to know and learn.
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