The following information was presented at the Forum for Creative Technologies in the Arts & Education At Virginia Tech on September 19, 2008.
This improvisation program uses theater as a form of outreach and educational exploration across multiple disciplines. It merges the arts and education to strengthen critical thinking skills, acting skills, and script-writing skills. Videos of improvisation training in action will help teachers and classes create their own improvisation performance piece.
This project merges the arts and education in a seamless manner as the participants learn team-building, critical thinking skills, basic acting skills, and scriptwriting skills. The Virginia Public Schools Standards of Learning (SOLs) for the arts propose as specific goals the development of critical thinking, relationships, and connections. Arts education seeks to help students to link their understanding of music, art, and theatre to a larger social, historical, and political context. All of these workshops will culminate in a public performance.
The sessions consisted of improvisation games, flush-out sessions, times spent talking about a certain issue for the entire session. From the vigilant notes taken, the Master Script was compiled in the form of monologues, sketches, songs, and live thoughts. Much of the content needed to be edited for performance sake, but the notes from each session contain rich revelations from these young people about what they believe and how they live.
“Improv Affect” has the capability to support curriculum in the public schools across multiple disciplines, education, theatre, and social science. Participation in a range of artistic experiences enables students to develop an understanding of different cultural philosophies that may alter responses. The goals for the outcome of this program are as follows:
- Use education, artistic expression and creativity to help these young people grow and learn in an arena of acceptance, sharing, and learning
- Present a program that will instill a challenge, an interest, and a potential for learning and expression
- Present a program that encourages honesty and openness without fear of retribution
- Give them the opportunity to interact, grow, and learn by using natural expression and talent
- Instill self-confidence, self-assurance, and a positive feeling of belonging to the participants