Being a teen or preteen can be stressful. There is the anxiety of fitting in, of saying the right thing, of getting good grades and other worries. When Craig Price, director of community education and wellness for The Naples Players at the Sugden Community Theatre, saw that improv significantly reduced stress and boosted confidence, he decided to put together a class aimed at those goals.
“I had been hearing in my traditional improv class that it was helping students with public speaking and being nervous in front of classmates and making friends and just talking in the lunchroom,” Craig says. “I had parents say their children have been getting a lot more confidence. There have been studies that show how improv reduces anxiety.”
It worked for Emily Buenafuente, 16.
"It made me more confident in myself,” Emily says. “I was always worried that people would think I was weird, but the class made me realize it was OK to be myself.”
Her mother, Lisa Delgado, says the class was extremely helpful.
“She started making friends and coming out of her shell,” Lisa says. “It really, really helped. In improv you are actually acting silly. You are being yourself and not caring what other people think of you, and it helped my daughter so much that way.”
Craig hired Margot Escott, a licensed clinical social worker, to help teach the class.
“We did a survey pre and post, and we had a significant decrease in anxiety,” Margot says. “For teenagers and adults, anxiety is the No. 1 disorder in the country today. When individuals have anxiety, they are worried about what will happen next. And with improv, we focus on the here and now.”
Margot lists many other benefits.
“The class also supports a social network. First, they have to trust themselves and then trust others. It is not therapy, but it is therapeutic. Over the course of the six weeks, they are taking more and more risks. One of the major rules is there are no mistakes; there are no failures.”
Craig says these classes are even more important in today’s society.
“It has even gotten more difficult with social media,” he says. “They are having more trouble connecting face to face, and that is what improv is. When I was studying improv at Second City in Chicago, my whole life changed. They were teaching that from the very beginning you had to look people in the eye and tell them how you felt, and those basic communications skills have been lost with social media. When I teach this age group, it really gets results.”
Craig does a lot of group games so participants don't feel singled out or self-conscious. He says one of the best things is that every game has a “Yes and” or “I Know and”transition. So when one person says something, the next person says “yes” or “I know” and adds to the sequence.
“Someone might say ‘I love sandwiches,’ and the nextperson says, ‘I know, and my favorite sandwich is ham and cheese,’ and the next person says, ‘I know, and cheese is made in Wisconsin,’” Craig says as an example. “It is so encouraging to hear someone say, ‘I know.’ That is the great thing about the ‘yes’ and ‘I know.’ It is that everyone is on the same playing field. They know that everyone agrees with them and then adds to it.”
Clara and Olivia Cunningham, 15 and 13, enjoyed the class.
“My favorite game was definitely entrances and exits,which is a game where everyone picked a word and when the word is said in the scene the person comes out to play out the scene,” Olivia explains.
Olivia says the class was not only fun when she was participating, but helpful in everyday life.
“It helps to know that people can go with whatever you say,” she says. “Even if you think you made a mistake, people are going to accept it and keep going. There are no mistakes at all. I came into improv trying to act confident. I succeeded because it was a comfortable place and people were happy and helped me to be confident. I felt safe in that space.”
Olivia says her favorite game is hitchhiker, where one person portrays a hitchhiker with a specific emotion and the others have to act the same way.
“It is a pretty fun game,” she says. “My second favorite is entrance and exit. In the room, I felt pretty happy. I felt like I was friends with everybody.”
Clara and Olivia’s mother, Debra Cunningham, liked to see the positive results from the class.
“They met friends,” she says. “They had a much more destressing time after school. They go to Mason Classical Academy, which is very intense, and this is all for fun.They had a showcase at the end, and it was very awesome.It does open up the dialog. Because I have one in middle school and one in high school, it was fun for them to play off one another.”
Gwennie Furr says the small size of the class made it easy for her daughter, Annabelle Cuestas, 18, to make close friends.
“Annabelle is shy, but she was excited to get on stage and perform,” Gwennie says. “I thought that was a great thing about this class; they made friendships that they have kept outside of the class.”
Annabelle says the best thing was just being able to be herself.
“It was mostly accepting who you are,” Annabelle explains. “It is just being yourself.”
IF YOU GO
- What: Teen Improv for Wellness
- Who: Ages 12-17
- When: 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays. Next session: March 30 to May 4
- Where: Sugden Community Theatre, 701 Fifth Ave S., Naples
- Cost: $125 per session; scholarships are available
- Phone: 239-434-7340 ext. 103
- Online: naplesplayers.org/inclusive-classes/improv-for-wellness