It's no secret that I love theatre. I also love teaching others about theatre, and there's no one better to teach theatre to than children. Children are our future, not just in the world itself, but in the performing arts. They're the ones to keep the tradition and the art form alive as others move on. They're also just really cool and super creative.
This past week, I had the pleasure of teaching high schoolers a form of improv. Initially, there were two things wrong with that statement. One, I had never taught high schoolers. Two, the only time I had taught improv was in a master class, one time only kind of situation.
I love improv. I admire it from afar though. It makes me nervous to have to think that quick on my feet, but I love to see what other people come up with.
All of that was getting ready to change.
Turns out, teaching high school is cool as hell. The amount of creativity and fearlessness that these young artists gave this week was admirable. No one was embarrassed. They danced like no one was watching, took on ridiculous prompts with stride, and created a pretty funny show that everyone enjoyed and was proud to present.
I feel like there's something about improv that separates it from the rest of theatrical art. It's not solely based on talent, but it takes guts to actually get up there and be funny. It's not scripted, so you have to come up with all of the material on your own. Sure, the audience helps a bit, but they can't get up and create the scene for you. You can't say 'no' to anything either, which adds to the fun factor.
The thing about teaching the young people is that they aren't always on their feet. They'll need help either getting started or keeping the scene going. That's when you kind of have to swallow your pride and go up there to keep the scene going. It was great with these guys, though, because they had such funny scenes that it was easy to keep the dialogue flowing. Being able to laugh at yourself while helping kids out is pretty freeing, and a ton of fun. Also, you kind of feel like the cool relative at parties because you're down with the young lingo.
It also turns out that I want to teach improv again.
