Improv

What is Improv? Making something up on the spot; spontaneous, free-flowing, unplanned.

Why is it helpful: Improv is a useful skill to build confidence, and help with socializing, imagination, self-knowledge, and adaptability. These skills are instrumental for performing, job interviews and social environments. Additional benefits:

Confidence and joy in the “curiosity, not ambition” of improv games, and knowing that part of theatre is making mistakes and being bold!
Ability to collaborate and create scenes together, where we listen to and value each other’s input in the scene.
Confidence in our own creativity, imagination, and ability to work with others collaboratively.

What will we do? We will play silly games, make up scenes with an emphasis on remembering the relationships, and world building established in a scene, eg, where is the door you walked through, where are the walls? We'll learn "Yes, and?" (and what it means), and the who, what, and where of a scene.

Highlights: I love improv because it's fun, low-pressure, and it works for all experience levels and ages. You can enjoy improv if you've never heard of it before, or you're a seasoned improv professional!

Curriculum, Objectives and Outcomes

Curriculum, Objectives and Outcomes:

What is acting and how do we use our imaginations? Play games to warm us up and get us used to each other, and being ready to play and use our imaginations.
The anatomy of a stage, eg. ‘upstage’ ‘downstage” ‘stage left’ ‘a set’ ‘the orchestra pit’, ‘costume’.
The joy of performance as ‘play’.
How to learn lines, even if we aren’t confident readers.
Some basic theatre and screen vocab, eg ‘script’, ‘actor’ ‘director’‘ blocking’, ‘close up’, ‘stage directions’, a ‘stage manager’ etc.
Character types, and how to show emotions, such as ‘sad ', ‘happy’ ‘scared’, ‘mad’.
Learn how to do scenes together.
Ability to collaborate and create scenes together, where they listen to and value each other’s input.
Confidence in their own creativity, imagination, and ability to work with others collaboratively.
Understanding of the elements of a script and character development outside of the scene, eg. where were they before the scene? What would their favorite food be?
Intro to Animal Studies, a method of using the ways animals move to inform our character’s physicality.
Confidence in embodying a character in front of an audience,
Finding joy in the “curiosity, not ambition” of acting, and knowing part of theatre is making mistakes and being bold in our choices, even if we end up being redirected by a director.
Ability to gently evaluate and critique peers and oneself, to foster critical thinking, an artistic eye, and ever developing artists and performers.

Classes

✨Fall Classes:✨

THURSDAYS, @ Thousand Oaks Teen Center.
- - TIME: 4:45-5:40 pm | AGES: 8-13| LENGTH: 6 weeks | DATE: November 6 - December 18, 2025. | PRICE: $192
FRIDAY @ Ventura, Date and time TBA.

✨Winter Classes: ✨

THURSDAYS, @ Thousand Oaks Teen Center.

TIME: 4:45-5:40 pm | AGES: 8-13| LENGTH: 8 weeks | DATE: January 15 - March 5, 2026. | PRICE: $192

FRIDAY @ Ventura, Date and time TBA.

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