Teaching Theatresports?
Tue, 29 Apr 2003, 09:29 amcpooge9 posts in thread
Teaching Theatresports?
Tue, 29 Apr 2003, 09:29 amDoes anyone have any theories or tricks to teaching theatresports to high school students?
Maybe a few games or skills that can be included?
Has anyone here tought it? or perhaps even performed it live for audiences, or through Impro-Australia?
Any help/advise would be greatly appreciated.
you can either post it here, to email it to me (cpooge@yahoo.com.au)
Cheers
[%sig%]
Maybe a few games or skills that can be included?
Has anyone here tought it? or perhaps even performed it live for audiences, or through Impro-Australia?
Any help/advise would be greatly appreciated.
you can either post it here, to email it to me (cpooge@yahoo.com.au)
Cheers
[%sig%]
Re: Teaching Theatresports?
Tue, 29 Apr 2003, 07:56 pmLibby wrote:
>
>from experience I've found that it is essential to make sure the students know the basic impro skills (offering and accepting, no blocking, yielding, etc) before you implement any formal structure to their classwork (like games structure).
>
Yep, definitely agree. I can't count the number of times I've had kids ask 'can we play Space Jump?' ...only to find they really don't fully grasp the necessary skills for what's actually a complex game to do well, and it just becomes really bad impro.
Games like that are still fun even when played badly, so it's hard to refuse their request and take them back to more basic exercises..but unless it's done all that's occurring is the reinforcement of bad habits.
Even though there's often no 'right or wrong' in performing impro, and often the point is to let it take you wherever it's headed; I've often found in class exercises that it's useful to interrupt improvs and 'direct' them...maybe rewind a few seconds and explain why something didn't work...(a dropped offer, being vague by not naming something, steamrolling by not allowing the other person into the conversation, etc)...and then picking up where you interrupted to see the effect of the better choice.
Gotta be careful that you are tactful and specific in your criticism, and that it's always on technique and not content...it's hard enough to encourage new improvisers to lose their internal critic, and all teaching needs to be encouraging.
Rather than standard performance games, there is a lot of value in coming up with exercises that develop specific skills. You can often make up these exercises on the spot - they're simpler than games and you probably wouldn't do them in front of an audience, but they're still almost always hilarious to the observers in the class (who DO learn by watching, but also ought to get up and have a go themselves).
The skills to break down and develop are wide and varied, but include: making physical offers, justification, describing an environment, advancing a story, shelving ideas and reincorporating them, going with the obvious, rhyming skills, raising lowering or holding status, avoiding questions, listening and yielding to new offers; as well as general mime skills, storytelling, and character development....etc !!!
The Cutsnake Comedy group don't go onstage for The Big Hoo Haa without having a 'rehearsal' - a skills development jam session - during the week beforehand. Because 'games' are often focussed on entertainment of an audience, it's important to practise skills separately, without worrying about the need to be funny.
Good luck with it all.
Cheers,
Craig
[%sig%]
>
>from experience I've found that it is essential to make sure the students know the basic impro skills (offering and accepting, no blocking, yielding, etc) before you implement any formal structure to their classwork (like games structure).
>
Yep, definitely agree. I can't count the number of times I've had kids ask 'can we play Space Jump?' ...only to find they really don't fully grasp the necessary skills for what's actually a complex game to do well, and it just becomes really bad impro.
Games like that are still fun even when played badly, so it's hard to refuse their request and take them back to more basic exercises..but unless it's done all that's occurring is the reinforcement of bad habits.
Even though there's often no 'right or wrong' in performing impro, and often the point is to let it take you wherever it's headed; I've often found in class exercises that it's useful to interrupt improvs and 'direct' them...maybe rewind a few seconds and explain why something didn't work...(a dropped offer, being vague by not naming something, steamrolling by not allowing the other person into the conversation, etc)...and then picking up where you interrupted to see the effect of the better choice.
Gotta be careful that you are tactful and specific in your criticism, and that it's always on technique and not content...it's hard enough to encourage new improvisers to lose their internal critic, and all teaching needs to be encouraging.
Rather than standard performance games, there is a lot of value in coming up with exercises that develop specific skills. You can often make up these exercises on the spot - they're simpler than games and you probably wouldn't do them in front of an audience, but they're still almost always hilarious to the observers in the class (who DO learn by watching, but also ought to get up and have a go themselves).
The skills to break down and develop are wide and varied, but include: making physical offers, justification, describing an environment, advancing a story, shelving ideas and reincorporating them, going with the obvious, rhyming skills, raising lowering or holding status, avoiding questions, listening and yielding to new offers; as well as general mime skills, storytelling, and character development....etc !!!
The Cutsnake Comedy group don't go onstage for The Big Hoo Haa without having a 'rehearsal' - a skills development jam session - during the week beforehand. Because 'games' are often focussed on entertainment of an audience, it's important to practise skills separately, without worrying about the need to be funny.
Good luck with it all.
Cheers,
Craig
[%sig%]