Extemporaneous, unscripted, flying blind, ad lib or improvised – that’s what L. A.’s Impro Theater is all about. What sets them apart is they do full length improvs of Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams & Chekov plays, film noire, Jane Austin, Dickens, The Twilight zone and more. Now this is some serious material to improvise with and when members of the troupe visited Santa Barbara High School Theater students as part of UCSB Arts & Lecture’s outreach program, Shakespeare was the basis for some keep-you-on-your-toes exercises and a lot of fun. Beginning with throwing words that are associated with the Bard’s plays around a big circle and working toward creating mini scenes based on some situations that could have come from one of the plays, the kids were all in and showed some pretty sophisticated thinking on their feet, most accompanied by gales of laughter. Easy to see how this would come in handy for scripted acting, especially if you forget your lines and hadn’t scribbled them on your cuffs!
