In high school, "cool" is the rule, so teenagers will do anything to avoid possibly embarrassing situations. But not Samantha Elton, 15. She seeks them out. And if she can make a fool of herself as in the process, well, that's even better. For the past two years, Elton, has been a practitioner of improvisation, doing things that others would be embarrassed to consider. Elton is a member of High School Jesters, a group that teaches improvisation techniques to students. The group was founded two years ago by Nicholas Kopatich, himself a keen improviser. "I was sitting in my dorm room and some friends were having chats about comedy and improvisation," Kopatich recalls. They asked for lessons after Kopatich told them he had improvisation experience. The small group turned out to be pretty good at it, so they did a show for the dorm. And things snowballed. While even her mother marvels at Elton's ability to get up in front of audience without a script to fall back on, the teen enjoys such opportunities. Performing improvisation comes with a certain freedom that theater doesn't provide. "What I like about it the most is that I don't have to be a certain character or a certain way, and because of that I can't get anything wrong," Elton says, "I get to write the story while I'm doing it." Monica Elton, Samantha's mom, thinks the workshops are a valuable outlet that a lot of students may not get in their schools. High school kids don't usually like to act silly or look uncool, she says, but improvisation teaches them that it's OK to have flaws. "I like to think we give kids positively that allows them to gain confidence," says Brent Mukai, a High School Jesters instructor. The great thing about improvisation is that it is an art form that is open to anyone. But there's more to it than getting up in front of audience and telling jokes or acting silly. "You don't need to be the most amazing actress to be an improviser," Samantha Elton says, "It's really a place where I can show people my creativity. I can paint pictures for people and entertain others." It's really free. What do we know about improvisation?
Performers act as a certain character. Performers need a script to act on. Performers intend to make audience embarrassed. Performers develop the story as they are playing.