“TheatreSports was the most exciting and enjoyable time I have ever had as a performer…Einstein’s
greatest discovery: that imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Andrew Denton
Most
who see TheatreSports™ and comic improvisation, agree it’s great
entertainment. Most who play it, agree it’s great fun. The wholesome
laughter that it generates is the key to the role it can play in
developing a range of cross curriculum skills in your students,
including the willingness to take risks and positively embrace failure
- essential parts of all learning.
What is TheatreSports™?
TheatreSports™ is a theatre format that involves teams of two, three or
four players, improvising scenes based on audience suggestions to the
rules of wacky games similar to those seen on Drew Carey’s “Who’s Line
Is It Anyway”. In a theatre setting these scenes are scored by both
audience and judges.
Originally created by Keith Johnstone in
Canada in the late 70’s to inspire his university drama students,
TheatreSports™ has grown, as a performance and learning tool, to be an
international benchmark for improvisation. Used in over 20 countries
around the world, it encourages confidence, creativity, team work, self
expression, a positive attitude, problem solving and performance
skills, all in an incredibly humorous format.
Improvisation Shows for Primary Schools
TheatreSports ™‘Mayhem and Morals’
Years R – 7 (50 minutes)
This collage of comedy and thought provoking scenes is a fun
introduction to live theatre as well as a useful teaching tool.
Students are laughing one moment, pondering right and wrong the next.
In your school setting, three improvisers intersperse hilarious
TheatreSports™ games with short realistic scenes about issues
identified by your students. After seeing their ideas come to life on
stage students are encouraged to share their perceptions.
'And The Winner Is ....'
Years 3 – 6 (50 minutes)
Inspire your students to actively engage in creative writing with a
contest where the winners get a different form of “A”
APPLAUSE!
You
want your students to write, and we want your students to win through
creativity. There are no limits! All teachers must do is
set the deadline. Your students write the stories and our
comedians’ do the judging to decide which students’ stories get
performed on stage. Using the winning papers as our guides, we
will re-create the stories as only improvers can – with energy, wit,
and imagination.
The rewards for writing have never been so great!
‘A Jungle Adventure’
An improvised children's pantomime
Years R - 3
The
Winston children, holidaying at their grandparents’, find an ancient
text that opens a porthole to a strange and parallel jungle world.
Befriending a native, they use Google and 21st century youthful
initiative to traverse the land, find the wise hermit, and save the
day. Or will they?
Your children will
love choosing characters, auditioning our performers for these roles,
designing character appearance, making key story line decisions then
seeing how it all turns out.
Improvisation workshops
for Primary Schools
‘Improvisation games’
Years 4 – 7 (60 minutes)
A sensational and fun opportunity to develop performance and
improvisation skills in a positive, rewarding and confidence-building
environment. TheatreSports™ and improvisation teaches self-expression,
socialization, public speaking, lateral thinking and cooperation. With
Impro NOW!, students will be taken through a number of fun activities
that teach the underlying principles of improvisation. The workshop
culminates in students using their new skills to perform one of the
classic TheatreSports™ games.
Teachers Workshops
*Attention teachers of English*
‘Stimulating creative writing’
Years 4 – 7 (90 minutes)
Children are at their most creative when they are at play. Here,
inspired by activity and interaction, their bodies and minds work
together creating and problem solving. Using this element of play you
can lead students through the story creation process in a variety of
ways. Let us show you how.
‘Teaching Drama for the first time’
Years 3 – 7 (90 minutes)
A really fun and gentle introduction to teaching drama in primary
schools. No previous experience, creative flair, artistic genius,
stage, props, costumes or scripts necessary. Just good old fashioned
fun.
Improvisation Shows for High Schools
TheatreSports ™‘You’ve Got What It Takes’
Middle School (Single period show)
Three improvisers will work with students from the audience to act out
scenes based on audience suggestions following the rules of hilarious
TheatreSports™ games. This is a unique opportunity for students to
perform with professional improvisers and gain first hand experience in
improvisation and its’ life relevant principles:
- Committing to a shared purpose
- Daring to fail
- Living in the moment
- Yielding for the benefit of the group
- Saving others
- Accepting and empowering others ideas
- Making others look good.
Physical Theatre 1 & 2
Middle School (Double period workshops)
A fantastic opportunity to explore human physicality. These practical
workshops are filled with great ideas for creating alternative physical
realities on stage. In each workshop, students will experience three
totally different approaches to presenting themselves on stage and then
will be challenged with short take away scripts on which to apply their
new skills.
Character Capers
Middle/Senior School
(Double period workshops – Series of 2 or 3 also available)
90 minutes jam packed with activities to help students create new and
exciting characters for their next show, or just for the fun of it.
During these workshops, novelty games will allow students to discover
how history, occupation, emotion, status and physicality can all play
vital roles in creating different characters. Students will then be
challenged to go away in groups and create a short piece based around
the characters they have developed.
Everyone’s a Comedian
Middle/Senior School
(Double period workshops – Series of 2,3 or 4 also available)
There is a comedian in all of us. We just need the right tools and a
little encouragement to experience the joy of making others laugh. Hold
on to your hat and come for a ride through some of the wackiest
physical and verbal performance games you can imagine, each providing
an insight into a different aspect of comedy.
*Attention all secondary teachers*
Creative Team Building
Middle/Senior School
(Double period workshops – series of 2, 3 or 4 also available)
What an inspirational way to commence planning Outdoor Ed Camps,
Theatre Productions, Community Service projects or simply getting
students supporting each other more in class. Improvisation engages
students through laughter, bonds them through novelty shared
experiences and creates team work through the application of the
following life principles:
- Committing to a shared purpose
- Daring to fail
- Yielding for the benefit of the group
- Making others look good
- Accepting and empowering others ideas
*Attention all country schools*
2008 country tours in your area
Junior/Middle/Senior Schools
Impro NOW! is currently planning state wide country tours for 2008. You
can choose any combination of the above programs and we will bring them
to you. The more schools in your region that get involved, the lower
the costs for everyone. Why not have an interschool event or
interschool teacher training workshop. Talk to us and see what can be
organized.
An exercise to try with your students
Student Shows*
After having learned the basic principles, have the students perform
their own show in a supportive and fun atmosphere. Sit back, relax and
laugh as our MC conducts a pre show brief, warm up and the show.
*Generally only suitable after a series of workshops
Interschool Competitions*
This is a great way for students to practice their performance skills.
The stakes are higher, but so is the learning, laughter and
inter-school relations.
*To perform at this level, students will need to be participating in ongoing training.
“Improvisation
skills are probably the most valuable tools an actor of today can
posses. TheatreSports encourages these skills to flourish”
Nicole Kidman
Impro NOW!
had two sell-out seasons in the Adelaide Fringe 2004 & 2006. The
company is committed to inspiring learning and laughter in students of
all back grounds and ages through improvisation. Founders Anne and Jeff
Simmons have trained in Canada with Keith Johnstone (creator of
TheatreSports™) and in Sydney with Lyn Pierce (author of TheatreSports Down Under). Impro NOW! is
the only group licensed with the International TheatreSports Institute
(I.T.I.) to perform and teach TheatreSports™ in South Australia.
For more information about the ITI go to www.theatresports.org
How workshops develop concentration, self esteem, team work & creativity
Artist in Residence Application Example
