At Play : Teaching Teenagers Theater

Young people and improvisational theatre should be a natural combination - so why do we so rarely find this combo in today's classrooms?

According to Elizabeth Swados - playwright, director, composer, poet, author of children's books and of an acclaimed family memoir - improvisational theatre is the perfect creative outlet for primary and secondary students...if only they can be given the tools and the guidance to make the most of this natural yet rigorous art form.

Drawing on her own experience teaching inner-city children in the groundbreaking musical "Runaways" and in teaching the techniques of improv theatre in schools around the country, as well as on her own background in experimental theatre, Swados provides a step-by-step guide to bringing out the natural creativity and enthusiasm key to young people creating - and enjoying - improvisational theatre. Covering the basics - from freeing the imagination to learning about how to work with an ensemble, from how to master different forms of movement and sound to how to create different kinds of characters - this is the book for teachers and students eager to learn how to express fully the creative talent that all children are born with.