Improv Classes at your school...
The Comedy Arena is please to offer Improv League for Middle Schools, which encompasses workshops and shows for middle or high school students. In some cases, these workshops are organized by individual schools, and the students compete against one another. In other cases, Middle School League is simply a workshop for middle school students from all schools culminating in a show or shows at the end of the workshop period.
What's Included?
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Group workshops
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Private workshops for the Students at their schools to be scheduled by the Theater Director/Instructor - these are optional
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Teacher Leadership workshop
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Unbelievable skill training for the students
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Team/Game Playbook
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Individual punch cards for the Students good for Comedy Arena discount tickets at The Comedy Arena
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Flyer and other promotional materials to explain the program to the students
How do the workshops work and who teaches them?
3 times during the term The Comedy Arena will hold a large group workshops at one of the League schools where all of the students will work together. In addition, The Comedy Arena will send a coach to your school for private workshops up to four times during the term. The coaches are Comedy Arena professional team members who are skilled in their craft and
bring with them a tremendous amount of talent, experience and enthusiasm.
How do performances work?
Comedy Arena Performers will teach students different improv games that they will perform in their own district wide showcase. Each Student will represent a different color team (Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Purple). Teams will be made up of students from all of the schools. Points will be awarded to the Teams based audience interaction.
How many students can participate?
You will need at least 1 student per participating school (i.e. if 5 schools participate, than there needs to be at least 5 students participating), but your team can have as many players as it can handle.
The Comedy Arena will provide leadership training and a game’s playbook to help your student along.
How can a Theatre Director/Instructor/Teacher see a show or train themselves?
The Comedy Arena’s professional team plays every weekend in McKinney, and at several theatre
festivals throughout the year. We offer a summer camp for teachers and students, and adult workshops all year. You can train at the same time as your students and have the time of your life!
The Comedy Arena Middle School League® Philosophy
There is nothing more exciting and personally fulfilling than pushing yourself to the limit and succeeding. There is nothing more rewarding than the sound of hands applauding. There is nothing as joyous as the sound of laughter.
Improv is about risk. It can also mean failure. But more important, it's
about dusting yourself off, picking yourself up and pushing forward. All with an
ear-to-ear smile on your face.
We don't care if any of the Students become professional improvisers/actors. If you do, that's great! Hopefully the things the kids learn in Middle School League will help with other drama activities.
No matter what the Students do after they leave the Comedy Arena School League, we hope they take a few things with them:
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The ability to see the humor in every situation. Never underestimate its power.
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The courage to risk failure.
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The desire to try new things with an open mind.
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The wisdom to recognize that diversity is strength.
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The willingness to sacrifice for the good of others.
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The understanding of the power of teamwork.
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The vision to set goals and see them through.
ATTENTION: Drama/Theater ISD Teachers
We can bring the program directly into your school. If you have an improv team or always wanted to build one but had not the time. Our Comedy Arena Coaches can travel to your school any where in the DFW ISD and train your students. Contact us directly for scheduling and pricing.
School League in action
Amazing life-skill training
They think they're just having fun. However, we've found the experience can be life-changing.
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We train your kids to produce their own improv theatre production.
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An adult professional coach is assigned to your school all year so that your kids feel comfortable and so that you have a colleague who will work with you to help your kids grow.
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Once your show is launched, you can perform it as often or little as you would like. It's a revenue opportunity for your school and your program.
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We train your student managers to step up as leaders.
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Once the tradition is started, the returning kids will lead and teach the newer kids, and the process becomes even easier.
Fun. Transformational
The Comedy Arena Student League empowers students to create their own theatre and nourishes their communication skills through improvisational theatre workshops and performances. It encourages their individuality and provides the forum to succeed or fail in a safe environment that combines showmanship and sportsmanship. The League provides an extracurricular activity that goes beyond stage work into everyday situations. And the students just think they're having fun!
We play improvisation as a team sport, with two teams "competing" for audience laughs. The stage is covered in turf, there's a referee and the players are in uniform. It's not comedy about sports; it's comedy played as a sport. Because everyone knows what a sport is, there is immediate buy-in from the audience. People who have never been to the theatre before walk through the door because they're not intimidated. Because it's improvisational, it's always different, and you will have fans that come to every performance.
Testimonials:
“Our daughter has not only developed performance skills, but has improved her self esteem, poise, leadership skills and responsibility. She has learned to think on her feet and how to function as part of a team. Thank you for your tireless dedication.”
St. Lucy’s Priory High School Parent (Los Angeles Area)
“Let me just say that Jesse loves this. And he's loved the classes in the past. He's a walking poster child for the benefits of improvisation. You probably don't know this, but he's on the autistic spectrum just a bit and used to have a significant lack of social skills. ComedySportz was one of the first keys to changing all that and he's blossomed since his first class. I could go on about how it's helped him develop humor, empathy, dealing with surprise, transitions, how to appropriately interact with others, and built his confidence, but really, I just want to tell you that what you are doing is very, very important. Thanks so much for making this possible!”
U.S. Grant High School Parent (Portland, OR)