On the spot
Theater Sports is more than just having fun on stage; Improv theater is assisting young students in boosting their confidence and giving them an opportunity for personal development.
“Your time starts, now!” The brain races to find something to do, something to say. A thousand different possibilities cycle through your head, as an audience and a panel of judges wait to see what you are about to produce.
If being judged on something that is unprepared, intentionally challenging, and expected to be funny sounds ludicrous, you are absolutely right.
Improvised theater has been something that has occupied the secondary school theater scene for upwards of 20 years.
The Waikato secondary school ‘Theater Sports’ competition is a place where young theater enthusiasts can try their hand at improv theater as well develop their quick thinking stage skills.
The competition is broken into two classes; junior, consisting of year 9 and 10 students, and senior, involving the remaining year 11, 12, and 13 students.
The different schools compete against each other in short 3-4 minute games that aim to both entertain audiences and challenge teams. The games and challenges vary from physical, comedic, and musical.
Round one is the ‘choice round’. During this, teams are given the chance to chose which game to play, allowing a strong start to the night as teams are able to play on their own strengths.
Round two is the ‘blind round’. Teams pick a game out of a hat that can be particularly challenging, as it can restrict speaking, movement, or speed.
The final game is named the ‘challenging round’ which is reserved for the senior teams. This round consists of games the judges create, these can be related to props, movement, or even music.
Aside from the obvious benefits improv can have for your theater techniques, there are a vast range of personal development skills to be gained by those who partake in improvised theater.
The first of which being self-confidence, to get up onstage and perform to a room full of people without the faintest idea on what you’re about to do takes guts.
Outside of the theater environment this improved self-confidence has the potential to help these high school students with everyday life, from public speaking, talking to new people, and stepping into tertiary education.
Another skill that may hold more value than self-confidence, is removing the fear of failing. Anyone who has ever participated in Theater Sports has experienced their fair share of bad games, missed jokes, and botched punchlines, but all you can do is get back up on stage next time and hope to do better.
Eliminating this fear of failure sets students up for life. Being able to move forward in times of discouragement is something that allows people to remain focused on the future as opposed to dwell on the past. This skill would help students in all walks of life from their academics to their future career paths.
If high school students are developing these valuable skills at such an early age it paints a bright picture for the future. With these students stepping into the world with such self-confidence, and a reassurance in themselves, it can set them up to do amazing things.
Improvised theater is more than just a hobby, it’s an opportunity for development. The underlying benefits of improv are clearly evident. If these valuable traits can be taught whilst having fun and having a laugh, then maybe we should all live life a little more spontaneously.
