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Fine Arts In Schenectady
December 02
2009
Afternoon at
the Improv
The third-graders
at Zoller Elementary School brought the improvisational acting
lessons they learned from the high school students to center
stage on November 20 in the Sayles School of Fine Arts Black Box
Theatre.
It was Friday
morning and only one thing was for certain. The young
performers had a show to do. They were not only ready to
put on an afternoon of improv, but they were buzzing with excitement
about it.
The students were
as prepared as anyone can be to improvise. They held
nothing back on this day of performances, which came on the
heels of nine training sessions. The stage presence,
comfort, creativity and focus that moved before the audience all
afternoon
was the result of a successful program led by the high school
acting teachers and students. It sounds intense, but it
wasn't. It was light and fun.
Acting teacher Tim Dugan spoke with the students
after they performed. He asked them what they
like about their characters and performing.
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Leading Up
To The Short Plays
The high school
students in Bill Ziskin’s and Tim Dugan’s Actors Studio classes
walked over to the elementary school once a week to formally
work with the younger students on improvisation and developing
acting skills. The sessions focused on an array of areas
including imagination, positive attitude, concentrating,
accepting offers, spontaneity, listening and story-telling.
According to
Dugan, each session built upon what the students learned and
practiced in the prior session. As each week passed, the
students began eyeing the day when they would put their skills
to use and perform with the older students.
On the last day of
the program, performance
day, students were divided into 15 groups of
four to six members.
They had a short amount of time to discuss the topic in which they would
improvise and then were randomly called to center stage to
perform for the audience of students and teachers.
Each group
announced the name of their team and the title of their
performance before the members took their places in the
spotlight. All
of the groups received thunderous applause. Some of the
group names drew laughter.
The groups and
titles of the plays were as follows:
|
Group |
Title |
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The
Sky Rockets |
The 7
People Who Go to Mars |
|
Eye of
the Tiger |
The
Two-Headed Monster who Steals High School Kids |
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Amazing Cats |
High
School kids |
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The
Amazing Shark Boy & Lava Girl Team |
Sleeping Bear &
The Hungry Bird |
|
Awesome Speeders |
Telling the Truth |
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The
Awesome X-Team |
The
Day the Hummingbird Left |
|
Rainbow Panthers |
Jacque
The Little Seed |
|
The
Dare Devils |
A
Magical Squirrel |
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Incredible Wild Cherries |
The
Jerker |
|
Room
for "Improv" -ment |
The
Girl Who Loves to Eat Candy |
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Cool
Group |
The
Funny Kids |
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Improv
Masters |
The
Fart-trioloquist |
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Little
Big Show |
Robots
vs. aliens |
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Mr.
Dow's 3rd Grade Lasso Raptors |
Baby
Baluga Meets Gassy Girl |
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Pickles & Lola |
The
Dogs That Lost Their Bones |
Throughout the
performances, laughter, spirit and creative energy filled
the theater.
High School
Students Were Trained
Dugan said the
pilot program was created by Kat Koppet, co-artistic director of
Mop and Bucket Company who was an artist in residence at the
Sayles School of Fine Arts last May. “Students have been
trained on what to teach, how to teach it and why it was
taught,” said Dugan. “Each session was thoroughly planned.”
Dugan said all of
the sessions were incredibly positive and successful with all
students enthusiastically engaged.
Photos
Check out the
photos of just a few of the students and groups before and
during the November 20 performances.
Click on thumbnail to view larger photo.
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