The Urban Improv Educational Video

The Urban Improv Educational Video and Teacher's Resource Guide are now available for use in public schools and community centers.

The newly released Educational Video is engaging, flexible, easy to use and affordable. It enables educators across the country to implement Urban Improv's innovative approach and proven methodology.

The Video is based on "RE:ACTION!," a two-part Urban Improv television program awarded the 2001 New England Emmy for Best Children's Programing.

For information on purchasing the Video and Teacher's Resource Guide, please download our order form, email us at info@urbanimprov.org. or call (617) 232-1175. 		 
  The Video features thirteen vignettes performed by the Urban Improv actors. The actors set up real life conflicts reflecting highly charged issues. As the tension builds, the director freezes the action and invites students from the audience to enter the scene and act out their resolutions to the scene. Each skit is followed by a frank and in-depth group discussion in which students constructively voice their own issues and concerns. The videos were taped in December, 2001, at the Boston Arts Academy with an audience of middle and high school children from the greater Boston area.  
  The target audience is middle and high school children ages 12-18. The following topics are presented on the tapes:

Prejudice, Racism & Stereotyping
Violence, Conflict Resolution
Bystander Issues
Bullying
Teen Pregnancy
Sexual Harassment
Homophobia		  
  An accompanying Teacher's Resource Guide leads teachers through each vignette, suggests related activities and topics for discussion, and offers additional resources. The guide was developed by Simone Bloom Nathan, President and founder of Media Education Consultants, Inc.  
  The Video scripts were developed by the Urban Improv staff in consultation with a panel of nationally recognized educators and health professionals, including:

Dr. Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Professor, Harvard School of Education.

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk Medical Director, Trauma Center, Boston University School of Medicine.

Deborah Meier, Ph.D. Principal, Mission Hill School, Boston.

Lee Hewitt Teacher, Madison Park High School, Boston.


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For Immediate Release: May 6, 2002

Urban Improv's RE:ACTION! TV Show Wins Emmy Award

Multimedia Program on Youth Violence Prevention Takes New England Emmy as Best Children's Program

Boston, MA – The New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded the Emmy for best children's program to RE:ACTION! in an award ceremony at Boston's Copley Plaza last night.

RE:ACTION! is an innovative TV special and multi-media program designed to teach teenagers new ways to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. The program features Red Sox star Nomar Garciaparra and a cast of actors from Urban Improv, and was simulcast on three Boston television stations – WGBH, WCVB, and New England Cable News – in January, 2001.

RE:ACTION! replicates Urban Improv's ongoing violence prevention program, which has been offered in conjunction with the Boston Public Schools for the past ten years. The TV show was produced by Cambridge film and TV company Foul Weather Productions, led by longtime Boston TV producers Lisa Schmid and Peter Temple, with underwriting from FleetBoston Financial and support of the three local TV stations, among others.

"This is a tremendous honor, and certainly provides a fitting capstone to our first ten years," said Lisa Schmid, President of the Urban Improv board and co-producer of RE:ACTION!. "We started out ten years ago as just a small group of people trying to find some solutions to the teen violence problem in our city, and we are grateful to all our friends and supporters who have helped us grow."

The two-part TV show is built around a series of dramatic vignettes performed by Urban Improv actors in front of a teen audience. Each vignette puts a character in a tense situation involving a morally charged issue such as bullying, ostracism, sexual harassment, homophobia or teenage pregnancy. Just as the dilemma builds to a climax, the director freezes the action and brings young people from the audience into the scene to act out how they would resolve the situation. The program also features classroom materials and an interactive web site.