Method

Urban Improv is a violence prevention program for young people that uses structured theater improvisation and music to teach decision making, impulse control, and values clarification.

Our team has developed a curriculum of improvisational scenes and songs that provide the formal basis for Urban Improv. Each workshop begins with an original song on the topic of the week. As the song finishes, the actors move into a prepared scene that involves an issue in the children's lives. At a critical point in the scene, the director freezes the action and invites a student to replace one of the actors.
This child then makes the pivotal decision effecting the outcome of the scene.

This interactive process allows a child to participate in the action, give voice to their ideas, and influence the outcome of the scene. The scene may be played more than once giving participants the chance to imagine alternative courses of action. The children are then divided into small groups, each creating and performing their own scene on the same topic. The session ends with an active group discussion of the choices made and the consequences that followed.

The process-oriented workshops provide a supportive and cooperative environment in which young people play out their own solutions to a variety of social and cultural issues. Guided by Urban Improv actors and educators, the workshops develop the life skills of self esteem and mutual respect, problem solving, decision making, cooperation, and leadership.

Urban Improv teaches the academic skills of critical thinking, analytical thinking, verbal fluency, and listening. A classroom teacher writes: "In Social Studies class I see [my students] stopping to look at my questions, taking the time to reflect over an answer and then verbally organize their response; I can only surmise these are skills learned at Improv, since I have not changed my method of teaching...." The supportive environment that Urban Improv offers, fosters confidence in children who are not necessarily successful in the more traditional classroom setting.

At weekly rehearsals prior to each workshop, our actors tailor material to the immediate concerns of both students and their teachers. At the urging of school teachers, workshops have been designed on the topics of fairness, conflict resolution, and cooperative learning. The nine week structure of the curriculum allows for continuity and issues which arise one week may be used as material for future classes.


Top