Guns, Education and Improv by Michael Golding

Due to budget cuts at high schools who normally host El Camino College’s after school outreach courses, I was not offered any assignments for the spring semester. This was not unexpected. Last fall, when Trump’s cuts to education began to take effect, my colleagues and I knew that it was just a matter of time before this impacted our program. I didn’t think it would happen so quickly.

The students I work with are at-risk. I teach Theatre Appreciation and Intro to Acting on a rotating semester basis. Students show up expecting a lecture course. Instead, they are exposed to my learning by doing approach. The objectives of the curriculum are achieved via theatre games and the class is conducted like an improv workshop.

My courses, which run from 3:30pm – 5:30pm (sometimes longer), keep the students out of trouble and from being targeted by gangs. It also instills the idea that college is a possibility for them.  Being exposed to a different approach in learning has a ripple effect on the students that enhances their academic and social skills. Attendance improves as well.

Now we don’t have the budget to keep this program going – on top of the recurring issue of no funds for supplies and resources in classrooms where enrollment hits 40 or more. This is not new for teachers. What is new is Trump’s proposal to arm teachers.

Here are my thoughts on that; I have been working with at-risk teen populations in Los Angeles since 2002. First through Los Angeles City College, then El Camino College (both the Torrance and Compton divisions). I have taught at high schools in Compton, Lynwood, Carson, Inglewood, Torrance and Hollywood. I have met and observed countless teachers doing their job extraordinarily well under the most daunting conditions.

I have also encountered a large number of teachers who do not have the temperament, patience, empathy, compassion or maturity to be working in education. Some are flat out sadists who enjoy the control they have over their students. I have witnessed this first hand. Believe me, a gun is the last thing you would want in their hands. If they could get away with shooting a student by claiming self defense, they would.

If I was teaching this semester, I would explore scenarios of a political environment that has armed teachers and how that would affect the classroom dynamic and relationships with students. A missed opportunity for me, to be sure.

A large percentage of my male students glorify guns. These students often want to improvise scenes about bank robberies, kidnappings, and hostage situations. Guns are brandished side-ways with a machismo that is simultaneously amusing and terrifying.

Occasionally, I’ll acquiesce to a scene about a bank robbery, with the guidelines of no shooting or pistol whipping.  Additionally, the guns have no bullets (or aren’t real). First time I tried that in a workshop with the guidelines one of the students playing a customer yelled out “hey, that gun isn’t real!” and I had to end the scene before it collapsed into a mass fight in the bank.  Now I instruct the students playing customers and tellers “You don’t know that the gun isn’t real or has no bullets.”  The emphasis is on the threat of the gun and power it wields – not seeing someone being shot.

I have a warm-up game where I play a series of sound effects and students have to engage in an activity that would correspond with it. The sound effects are typically bowling, ice skating, rain forest, traffic, beach, pool hall, which the students perform with varying degrees of commitment. When military battle sounds emanate from the speakers, the energy and commitment from the students spikes and there is disappointment from the class when after 30 seconds or so, the next sound effect pops up.

So, let’s review my perspective on inner city high schools in Los Angeles.

There is now no money for an after school program that keeps high school students out of trouble, enhances their academic and social skills and prepares them for college. A proposal has been made to arm teachers (some who carry resentment towards their students) around teenagers who glorify guns (and would figure out how to get the weapon from the teacher). Classes are still overcrowded.

What could possibly go wrong?

Michael Golding is a writer, director and improv teacher.  He can be contacted for workshops, festivals and private consultations at migaluch@yahoo.com. Michael participated in the evolution of the Improv Olympics & Canadian Improv Games. Artistic director of the Comic Strip Improv Group in N.Y. & created the Insight Theatre Company for Planned Parenthood, Ottawa.  He is a faculty member at El Camino College in Los Angeles, working with at-risk teens and traditional students. He wrote and co-produced the documentary "David Shepherd: A Lifetime of Improvisational Theatre" (available for free on YouTube).  His book, Listen Harder, a collection of essays, curriculum and memorabilia on improvisation and educational theatre, is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and CreateSpace. Michael holds a BFA degree in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts & an MA degree in Educational Theatre from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development.   

The Insight Theatre Company by Michael Golding

2012  marked the 30^th anniversary of the Insight Theatre Company, a touring teenage troupe that expresses the concerns, emotions and situations of themselves and their peers through improvised scenarios.  The troupe is sponsored by Planned Parenthood, Ottawa, and I was fortunate to direct and produce the first company for them.

At the time, I was working for Stage Fright, a local theatre company that was producing the Canadian Improv Games, a competitive improv format for teens, inspired by David Shepherd’s Improv Olympics.  Planned Parenthood, Ottawa, contacted Willie Wyllie, the head of Stage Fright, to attend a performance of the Youth Expression Theatre, a teenage troupe sponsored by Planned Parenthood, Boston.  The audience consisted of health officials, teenagers and teachers with the Carleton Board of Education. Willie invited me along.

Planned Parenthood, Ottawa, wanted to develop a similar program for teenagers.  At the time, I had no idea Willie had already chosen me to produce and direct the Ottawa company.  Therein lies the reality of my thirty-plus year friendship with Willie.  He allowed me the luxury of believing that I had freedom of choice, when in fact a decision had already been made on my behalf.  But, I digress.

I had never seen anything quite like the Youth Expression Theatre before.  The Boston teenagers, with an age range of 15 to 18, were edgy, acerbic, confident and had an element of danger about them.  The scenes were designed to increase awareness, provide information and encourage discussion of controversial subjects relevant to teenagers.  The scenes all had unresolved endings, so that the cast could engage the audience in a dialogue after the performance.

I was in awe of the intensity and candor of the actors during this portion.  Their accessibility made it easy for the teens in the audience to engage in hard-to-discuss topics.  There were two parts to this discussion, first with the cast in character, then as themselves.  They did not seek to offer judgment or present a particular point of view with these scenes.  One particular scenario involving a girl who brings her date home only to discover that her parents were not there, got the most questions.  She didn’t want to get involved sexually, but he did, becoming increasingly aggressive until he finally raped her.  The girl who played the assault victim said she had doubts about joining the troupe, because she’s Catholic and her family was disturbed by Planned Parenthood’s involvement.  After giving it some thought, she realized that the program’s educational input would prevent abortions.  There was a rousing round of applause at this statement.

What I learned afterwards, was that this type of show was a Theatre-In-Education (or T.I.E.), production – which is an umbrella term for a technique that utilizes all the elements of theatre as a teaching tool.  I eventually got my Master’s degree in this discipline at New York University.

My first concern was whether Ottawa teenagers could pull off a show like this.  At the time, I viewed Canadian teens as simply “nice” and wondered if they were capable of the honesty, courage and self-awareness needed for this type of production, whereas, my thinking about Boston teens was that they had the advantage of living in a city where controversial subjects were discussed openly.  Although teenagers in Ottawa experienced the same pains of adolescence as the Boston group, they displayed it on a more subtle level.

Willie and I contacted about forty teenagers in Ottawa, to be interviewed at the Planned Parenthood main office. All of them played in the Canadian Improv Games, so, from the start, a big plus was that I was going to work with teenagers who already had a strong foundation in improv.  At the interview, we broke the kids up into four groups.  Willie, myself and two Planned Parenthood officials led discussions on topics such as sex, school, drugs, and parents.  Afterwards, we compared notes, made suggestions as to who to call back, and eventually we had our troupe – sixteen members, which eventually shrank down to ten.

Cast with Jack Eyamie of Stage Fright (bearded gentleman) & director (mustache)

At the first workshop, I kept thinking to myself “God, these kids are so white!”  I assumed most came from middle to upper middle class families.  Turns out, many came from families close to the poverty level and had to work after school jobs to help out.  A few came from single parent families, or were living on their own with a relative or friend.

For the first few weeks, the girls would sit on one side of the room and the boys on the other.  As the discussion sessions became more personal and open, the boys were able to become more sensitive and aware of the needs of the girls, and vice-versa.  The mingling began.  After each rehearsal we would go out for coffee and talk about what transpired in the workshop.  I was trying to discover what these teens felt, what they needed, and what I discovered surprised me, and slowly destroyed my preconceived notions about Ottawa teenagers.

In intensive rehearsal sessions, theatre skills were integrated with education in the areas of teen concern.  I shifted their improv focus from comedy and exaggerated characters to realism, emotional sincerity, and approaching the scenes with an activity- based perspective, rather than a verbal one.  Applause was prohibited at rehearsals, to cut down on the temptation to entertain.  I had seen teams at the Canadian Improv Games present scenes dealing with issues such as dating and peer pressure before, but the depth potential was barely scratched.

In the beginning, my emphasis was on familiarizing the group with each other.  However, physical contact was very rare in scenes.  Whether it was out of nervousness, being self conscious, afraid of what the group might think, or what the other player in the scene might feel – there was resistance.  With Spolin’s game Contact, where a player has to touch the other in a different way every time they speak, it seemed like I was asking the teens to copulate in front of the group.  Another obstacle was that nobody wanted to play a character that might generate a negative reaction from the audience.  They wanted to come off as hip and amiable as possible.  Interestingly enough, when it came to playing parents, the kids’ roleplaying became extremely realistic – shouting, shoving and touching!

The warm-ups were designed to delve into personal beliefs and values.  Most effective were Tirades and Endorsements, a quick “soapbox rant” about what you’re passionate about in life and what makes you angry.  Best Thing/Worse Thing, a brief commentary on the best and worse thing that happened to you that day. What I Need/What I Don’t Need – was a great warm-up to generate empathy in the group.  Character Hot Seat, where a player is interviewed as someone they knew well, provided valuable information on the world the teenager lives in.  All of these exercises provided the springboard to explore various themes, issues and scenarios in scenes.  But, it was Spolin’s Activity that Describes Yourself game that became a watershed moment with the group.

In Activity that Describes Yourself, a player has to pantomime an activity that provides us with a glimpse into their life.  One by one, members did activities such as typing, playing sports, cooking, and reading.  Then one player, Sandi came up, sat down on the floor, created a knife and slowly sliced small cuts into both her arms.  There was giggling from the group at first, then the slow realization sank in that she was serious and the room became intensely quiet.  When she finished, the group immediately began to question her without waiting for me to facilitate a discussion.

Sandi was surprised by the reaction from the group.  She explained that when she “screws up” or doesn’t do well in school, she cuts herself as punishment.  Apparently, her sisters exhibit the same destructive behavior.  There was a moment when Sandi felt like she was being judged by the group, and started to regret participating in the game.  Then, the group proceeded to share examples of their own self-destructive behavior:  Warren smacks his head against the wall until he draws blood or passes out, whenever he loses a hockey match.  Celia sits in the snow wearing only a t-shirt and shorts until she can barely move whenever she doesn’t do well on a test.  Ralf gets on a bus destined for an unknown area with only enough money for one way when he gets turned down for a date.  Ann places her hand over a flame to see how long she can hold it before burning herself whenever her parents fight.

As the discussion continued, with one member after another revealing aspects of their personalities they had never talked openly about before, I realized that I had severely underestimated this group.  They were self-aware, coping daily with the painful transition from adolescence to adulthood – and they were all in this together.  This was the beginning of the family-like atmosphere of the group, complete with honesty and trust.

Various community and social service groups participated in workshops with the troupe: Our House Drug Rehabilitation Centre, Rape Crisis Centre, Child Development Centre, Gays of Ottawa, Family Planning Clinic, and Planned Parenthood, Ottawa.  For many of the parents of the kids, it was important to know that while Planned Parenthood sponsored Insight, the troupe was not a public relations tool for the organization.  I was shocked by the misconception the public had about Planned Parenthood and frequently had to remind people that the organization was not against pregnancies, but rather unwanted pregnancies.  Also, family planning was just part of the services Planned Parenthood provided.  Again, this was thirty years ago, although, there are days when it seems like not much has changed with the public’s conception, if you forgive the pun.

After each presentation, we would brainstorm scenes, and then start improvising.  The method used to develop scenes I learned from David Shepherd and Paul Sills, who constructed scenes for Compass, the first professional improv company in the United States, in this manner:  As the players started improvising, I would write down important “beats” in the scene, which is any significant change in action or an important piece of dialogue.  Once a beat outline was finalized, the goal was in cutting the length down to the point where it was as sharp as possible.  This proved most effective when certain cast members couldn’t attend a performance.  All their replacement had to do was look at the beat outline and they were set.

Insight beat outline.

As the show came together, the issues we were dramatizing included drug and alcohol abuse, difficulties in communicating with parents and peers, homosexuality, acquaintance rape, depression, stereotypes and teen pregnancy.  As heavy as this may sound, there was a great deal of humor in the shows, which always came from the reality of the situation and characters.

Aside from the workshops, it was up to every cast member to do outside research.  Some developed relationships with the organizations who participated in our workshops.  Others interviewed runaways, drug addicts and teen parents.  Most of the situations we dramatized were not necessarily ones which the actors had experienced personally in real life, but there was one notable exception.

Marni, a 18 year-old cast member, had been sexually assaulted at a costume party by the father of her best friend.  The Planned Parenthood associate on the show and I helped Marni with getting in touch with counselors at the Rape Crisis Centre and filed a “fourth person report” with the RCMP.  Marni did not want to file charges, but if the father assaulted another underage girl, Marni’s report could be used as evidence against him. 

Few weeks later, Marni stayed behind after a rehearsal and we started talking about the assault.  She was still very much in the mindset that somehow she was responsible for the attack, based on the outfit she was wearing at the party, and how devastated her friend would be when the news got out about her father.  I asked Marni if she would be willing to explore the before, during and after events of the incident through a series of monologues.  Not for the show, but to help Marni cope with the experience.

Over the course of the next few weeks we worked on the monologues together privately, and the experience helped Marni cope with the assault, and more importantly, accept that it was not her fault.  The process of working on the monologues empowered Marni to the point where she insisted that it be included in the show.  It became one of the most powerful moments in the show, and there were easily scores of young women who came up to Marni after the show over the course of the tour admitting that they had a similar experience.  At the end of every performance, we handed out a sheet with contact information for all the organizations that participated in the production, and Marni made sure each and every girl knew where to go to get help.  Months later, the man who attacked Marni assaulted another young girl, who did file charges.  Marni’s fourth person report was used as additional evidence, and he was convicted.

It was not unusual that audience members came up to share experiences with the cast that they had previously kept private, was not unusual.  Every cast member became an ambassador for the organizations involved in the show.  As the tour progressed, the content of the show became richer, more complex and instantly identifiable regardless of the audience we were performing for.  Audience input during the discussion section would change the direction and content of certain scenes for future performances.  When we had time, occasionally we would replay scenes on the spot, incorporating the audiences’ suggestions, then go back to the discussion, focusing on the new approach. 

A scene I wish I could have included in the show came out of an improv after Jim, the head of Gays of Ottawa, conducted a workshop for us.  He had recently left his wife for a man, and was dreading telling his two children that he was divorcing their mother and admitting he was gay.  I suggested that he could practice telling his kids, by roleplaying the situation with two of my players.  Intrigued, he agreed.  In the scene, he carefully laid out why he was leaving their mother, that it had nothing to do with them and he was gay.  Grant, who played his son asked “But, you still love us, right?”  Jim replied “Of course.” Patti, who played his daughter asked “Do you love this man and does he make you happy?  Jim answered “Yes.”  The scene ended with the kids telling Jim that they loved him too and were happy for him.  It was one of the most moving scenes I have ever seen in a workshop.

Couple of days later, Jim called me in tears.  He had the talk with his kids and amazingly, it went exactly the way it was played out in the workshop.  I asked if he would be willing to give me permission to use the scene in the show.  After some thought he decided it was too personal and I respected his decision.  But, damn – I wanted to use that scene!  In retrospect, I should had prodded him further – reasoning that it could inspire other people to come out.

The troupe toured for 6 months, performing for community centers, high schools, social service agencies and guest spots on local television shows.   The troupe quickly became a close-knit group, socializing and at times, dating.  Rehearsing scenes away from the workshop was encouraged.  Sometimes, when I felt a scene was starting to get stale I would recast it right before a performance, to give it a fresh surge of spontaneity.

I became extremely close to the cast.  Their parents viewed me as a father figure. To the cast, I was a slightly older version of them.  Willie and I were roommates, and frequently we had a cast member as a houseguest.  Most cases, it was just to hang with us for the weekend and help out with administrative work needed for Insight or the Canadian Improv Games.  But, we had one long term guest.  Patti’s father suddenly died of a heart attack while jogging with her mother.   Patti was emotionally shattered and was ready to leave the troupe and high school, and “hit the road” because the grief with her large family was unbearable.  We allowed her to live with us on the condition that she remained in high school, the troupe, and more importantly – take charge of the housecleaning.  This arrangement worked quite well.  Our apartment never looked better.

4 1/2 Henry Street Ottawa, home to wayward improvisers.

 

One day when I had to go down to New York to see the opening of a friend's play, Warren offered up his mother's car.  One catch.  Warren, Ann, Patti and Ralf were part of the package.  I had a catch too, which wasn't revealed until we arrived in New York.  Ralf and Warren stayed at my parent's house.  Anne and Patti stayed at a friend's place.  All seemed surprised by this arrangement.  Nice try, kids.  For the record, no cast member became a parent on my watch.

My role slowly changed from director, to confidante of the group.  If any member of the group had problems with school, parents, boyfriends or girlfriends, inevitably, they came to me.  I appreciated their openness and honesty, but had to be careful with how I would use this knowledge – particularly in rehearsal.  In cases where I would, it was always in private and to provide them with a frame of reference if the content of a scene wasn’t clicking.  I call this technique “Spolin meets Strasberg.”   As for my original impression that these were lily-white teenagers with privileged lives, that was finally put to rest when we did a workshop on runaways.  Sandi admitted she ran away from home at 15 to Newfoundland, where she worked as a prostitute for close to two years and finally returned home after she was gang-raped and left for dead.

The Insight Theatre Company garnered a great deal of press and we were suddenly thrust into the celebrity spotlight when Platform, a current events television show, wanted to do a one hour adaptation of the show.  During preproduction, several unexpected problems arose.  First, ACTRA (Association of Canadian TV and Radio Artists), felt the cast weren’t amateurs, based on the professional level of their performances.  I suppose it was a compliment, but we didn’t have the $10,000 on hand to make every member part of the union.  Howard Jerome, one of the founders of the Canadian Improv Games made a passionate plea on our behalf, and ACTRA changed their decision and granted us waivers to appear on the program.

Next, the producers of the show were uncomfortable with a scene between two brothers where one admits to the other that he was gay.  Since this was an early morning show, the producers felt the scene might be offensive to some viewers.  When I suggested, as a joke, that I could change it to two sisters instead, the producers thought that was acceptable, and that’s the way the scene was presented in the broadcast.  Finally, because of the three camera set-up, the cast couldn’t be as physical as they were in the stage show.  So, the scenes either had the actors standing and talking, or sitting and talking.  The end result came off a little more heavy handed in tone than the stage show, but was still effective.  The broadcast got high ratings, was repeated a few times, and led to the creation of a four episode series called “Crisis Theatre” which was essentially Insight for adults.

Three decades later, I’m still in touch with many of the troupe members.  A few have become life-long friends.  Others, I’ve recently re-connected with through the magic of Facebook.  Most are parents with teenagers of their own.  When their kids complain they don’t understand them or have forgotten what it’s like to be a teenager, they throw on the Platform television show, stand back and silently observe their minds being blown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Golding is a writer, director and improv teacher.  He can be contacted for workshops, festivals and private consultations at migaluch@yahoo.com. Michael participated in the evolution of the Improv Olympics & Canadian Improv Games.  Artistic director of the Comic Strip Improv Group in N.Y. & created the Insight Theatre Company for Planned Parenthood, Ottawa.  He is a faculty member at El Camino College in Los Angeles, working with at-risk teens and traditional students. Michael holds a BFA degree in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts & an MA degree in Educational Theatre from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development.


 

Sound Swim (An aural fixation) By Michael Golding

One of my favorite events from David Shepherd’s Improv Olympics, which I participated in as a teenager, was Sound Swim.  An audience member would choose one two minute sound-effect from a selection of tapes for a team of improvisers to create a scene against.  Some of the sound selections offered were storm, subway, pneumatic drill, factory, party, laboratory, heavy surf, chicken coop, everglades, wind, angry crowd and traffic.  Teams were also offered the choice of discarding the selected tape and providing their own “live” sound effects. 

From Improv Olympic handbook.

I first started using sound effects in the warm-up section of a workshop with at-risk teens. Using a soothing voice, I would guide the students through a relaxation exercise, where they had to lie on the floor, close their eyes and slowly relax their bodies from their toes up to their head.  Once this was completed, I would play a ten minute tape of various sound effects.  Some were brief, ten seconds, others from thirty to sixty seconds.  The objective was to get up and create an activity based on the sound effect.  Some students would find a section of the space to explore the sounds on their own, or partner up with one or more players, and engage in a quick scene.  It was a wonderful way to start the workshop and get everyone into the head space of focusing on activity and imaginary objects when improvising.

As the years progressed and my students became more inhibited, I discovered that I had to redesign this warm-up.  The relaxation section was still effective, to the point where some of my students would drift off to sleep.  But once the sound effects started playing, nobody would get off the floor to engage in an activity.  Those who did would do it in a half-assed manner.

So, I decided to turn the warm-up into a group activity, bringing in several sound effect CDs, all which had a table of contents listing the type of sound effect and length.  Amongst themselves, the students had to pick a series of sound effects, place them in an order that would tell a particular story, and then improvise it.

First time I tried this new approach, twenty two high school students participated on an auditorium stage.  After about ten minutes of planning, they asked if they could close the curtain, so I couldn’t figure out what they were up to until the presentation.  I agreed, the curtain was drawn and several minutes later, it slowly opened.  The stage was filled with clusters of students frozen in a tableau; center, left, up and downstage.    It was a kinetic image.

The first sound effect played – a bus driving down the street.  Two students downstage left started improvising a scene between a bus driver and passenger.  The passenger was off to see a tennis match.  Next sound effect was a tennis match, up stage left, as two students engaged in a furious back and forth volley.  Center stage, eight students as children climbed monkey bars and seesawed to the next sound effect of children playing.  Upstage right, running on pavement was heard as two students jogged.  The final scene, downstage right, was the sound of spray painting as several students graffitied a wall.  When I asked the group what the presentation was about the response was “exploring the theme of recreation.”  Well done.

Group outline for story.

I was impressed by the theatricality of this presentation and how after each quick scene, the students would go back into a tableau.  My eyes had no problem following the action.  The student, who operated the CD player, had an integral role in the presentation and his timing was impeccable.

Second time I tried the exercise was with a smaller group in a classroom.  I set the same guidelines as before; put the sound effects in an order that tells a story.  The scenario this group came up with was a bank robbery, where hostages were taken and eventually rescued by a SWAT team.  What was interesting in this interpretation was that the students didn’t use any dialogue, just non-verbal sounds.  In a way, it was like watching a live action silent film.  When I complimented this group on the style and ingenuity of their presentation, one student admitted that “We didn’t know we could talk in this.”

Occasionally, I’ll bring in a tape of various movie themes.  I’ll play three during the course of a scene to see how it changes the nature of the interaction.  Jaws, Star Wars, Pink Panther, The Godfather, James Bond theme and Terminator have an immediate affect on players and keeps the audience riveted to what may happen next.  It also forces players to be more physical and pushes them towards vibrant emotions and characterization.  With the theme from Jaws, suddenly there is tension in the scene.  The Godfather, Italian characterizations spring forth.  Playfulness occurs with the Pink Panther theme, as players find themselves moving in tune to the saxophone’s familiar syncopation.  Pride is the stand-out emotion when the Star Wars theme blares.

Howard Jerome, co-creator of the Improv Olympics with David Shepherd, and the Canadian Improv Games with Willie Wyllie, once told me that “the problem with teaching improvisation is ultimately, you end up schlepping around a lot of stuff from workshop to workshop.”  A recurring dilemma I have before leaving my house to teach a workshop is deciding whether to be self-contained, or load up my bag with goodies, sling it over my rapidly aging body and head on out.  With sound effects, I have to lug in a boom box, extension cords, CDs, tapes and pray that by the end of the workshop they will still be intact.  But the students appreciate it, the materials encourage them to take full advantage of all their senses, and it makes the workshops more theatrical.

The upper body work-out is beneficial for me, too.  

Michael Golding is a writer, director and improv teacher.  He can be contacted for workshops, festivals and private consultations at migaluch@yahoo.com. Michael participated in the evolution of the Improv Olympics & Canadian Improv Games.  Artistic director of the Comic Strip Improv Group in N.Y. & created the Insight Theatre Company for Planned Parenthood, Ottawa.  He is a faculty member at El Camino College in Los Angeles, working with at-risk teens and traditional students. Michael holds a BFA degree in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts & an MA degree in Educational Theatre from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development.


 

 

Truth In Jerry Springer by Michael Golding

Getting students to embrace structure in games and formats is an ongoing challenge in my workshops.  Whether they’re high school or college age students, once I mention rules, they automatically assume it’s going to be hard, and try to barter with me in order to make the format or game easier.

A few years ago, I hit upon a solution by just mentioning the name of a popular TV tabloid show, students with no previous improv experience, already familiar with the program’s structure, would gladly work within it.  I came upon this when I was sorting through scene suggestions with one of my high school groups, and when Monica, a student in the class, suggested “The Jerry Springer Show,” the class erupted with approval, because it was something they knew they could all participate in.

Initially, I was opposed to doing a Jerry Springer format because my classes are about people respecting each other, which is something the show does not embrace.  But, after striking out with alternative suggestions, I decided to let the class have their way.

Energized, Monica leapt up and took charge.  She immediately cast herself as Springer, and then led the group in a discussion about the nature of the topic, and who was going to play the guests.  “Cheating Husbands” was unanimously accepted as the topic.  Once that was settled, everything else quickly fell into place. 

Hands were raised all over the room as students volunteered to be guests and security guards for the show.  Monica cast Kristel, a notoriously shy student to play the betrayed wife.  Jackeline and Beatrice were cast as the “home wrecker” and husband, respectively.  Jonesha and Amanda were the security guards.  The remainder of the class became the audience, who on the show are rambunctious, vocal, and frequently chant “Jer-ry!, Jer-ry!, Jer-ry!” when things become volatile on the program. 

On the blackboard, I had the class list the beats of the Jerry Springer Show.  We came up with seven specific ones; (1) Jerry enters, shaking hands with audience as they chant his name.  (2) Jerry welcomes viewers, introduces topic, and then interviews wife.  (3) Jerry brings on home wrecker, who is confronted by wife.  Security personnel intervene when fight breaks out.  (4) Jerry interviews home wrecker.  (5) Jerry brings on husband for questioning.  Another fight almost breaks out.  (6) Question and answer period, where audience members ask questions.  (7) Program ends with Jerry’s “final thoughts.”

Because of the nature of the show, I came up with two rules; no chair throwing, unless it’s an imaginary chair, and no fistfights, unless they’re done in slow motion.  The Jerry Springer character can be interpreted as a leadership role, and Monica kept everything on track with controlling the action and hitting the beats of the show.  Within the course of ten minutes, I experienced an abbreviated version of the Jerry Springer Show, filled with energy, enthusiasm, humor and vibrant characters.  It was a wonderful group experience.  What stood out, was how loud and physically volatile shy Kristel became when the home wrecker came on stage.  After class I learned that Kristel had recently caught her boyfriend cheating on her.

The second time I tried the Springer format was with a different group of high school students.  Ernesto, the student who played Springer, was not as strong as Monica, and focused more on himself rather than propelling the show forward.  With side-coaching, I was able to get Ernesto through the show, with directions such as “bring on the next guest,” and “ask more questions.”  Estaffany, who played one of the guests, wanted to curse nonstop, so I had to side-coach her as well to tone it down a bit, as she tried to reason with me that “It’ll be bleeped on TV!”  As a compromise, she agreed to curse in gibberish.  While the format didn’t come off as smoothly as the first time, it was still a successful experience for the class, because everyone got to participate, and they did so within a structure that had specific beats to adhere to.

After numerous versions of Springer with my classes, it became clear the thrill for the students was in doing a parody of the show, rather than a realistic rendition.  They recognized the program for what it was, a trashy TV tabloid show that exploited vulnerable people and dysfunctional families.  Occasionally, I would participate as a guest or audience member asking questions.  Sometimes I would play an exaggerated version of myself, as perceived by the students, which thrilled them no end.  Most of my students watched Springer regularly with their families, and I was surprised to learn that it often led to a discussion of provocative and confrontational topics after viewing an episode.

So for me, I gained additional insight on the recreational and social aspects of my students with their families.  For my students, it would appear that the Jerry Springer Show has value in teaching structure, leadership, group creativity, bonding with their families and encouraging discussion of controversial topics.  Who would have thought that a tabloid show would have such merit?

Michael Golding is a writer, director and improv teacher.  He can be contacted for workshops, festivals and private consultations at migaluch@yahoo.com. Michael participated in the evolution of the Improv Olympics & Canadian Improv Games.  Artistic director of the Comic Strip Improv Group in N.Y. & created the Insight Theatre Company for Planned Parenthood, Ottawa.  He is a faculty member at El Camino College in Los Angeles, working with at-risk teens and traditional students. Michael holds a BFA degree in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts & an MA degree in Educational Theatre from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development.


 

 

Lennox Academy by Michael Golding

I am not openly embraced by faculty and staff at every high school I work at here in Los Angeles.  As a guest part-time instructor, I am viewed as an interloper, who doesn’t fully understand the day-to-day rigors of being incarcerated with a building full of teenagers from 8am to 3pm.  On top of that, I teach theatre, which is not a real discipline, as far as the faculty is concerned.  In their eyes, I am a failed actor trying to make a buck.  Often, I’m assigned a classroom, rather than an auditorium, rehearsal space, gymnasium or some kind of open space for my course.  In those instances, I find myself dealing with the proprietary nature of the teacher whose room I’m a guest in.  While I always make sure the space is left exactly the way I found it, many teachers prefer that I don’t move anything at all, which is counterproductive.  At one point during my sessions, I need space for thirty or more students to be physical in.

Interruptions are another problem.  Despite having a “class in session” note taped to the door, I’ve had staff and faculty members enter my course to talk to a student, rummage through a desk, or ask me questions, regardless of whether or not students were in front of the class doing something.  If they hear there’s laughter in the room that usually suggests to outsiders nothing serious is going on.  I once had a security officer enter my class unannounced, reprimanding the students for being “too loud.”  Another time, a teacher entered as I was engaging the students in a group discussion, which involved a great deal of humor, over selecting a theme to explore in a scenario.  He watched for a few moments then bellowed “I wish I could get paid just to sit around and joke with the students.”

Typical full-time faculty fantasy.

As a rule, once an adult enters my workshop unannounced, they become a participant.  If they’re respectful, meaning they ask me before class if they can watch, I invite them to contribute scene suggestions, direct or play.  For the contentious few, I immediately draft them into whatever format I’m doing at the moment the second they enter the room.  This is very effective at cutting down repeat offenders.

Lennox Academy in Los Angeles, was one of those rare assignments where everything worked perfectly.  I was assigned the school cafeteria for my course, which also had an auditorium stage.  This arrangement was ideal.  The warm-ups and technique exercises were conducted on the cafeteria floor.  When it was time to move into the format section, we hopped onto the stage, which made the experience more theatrical for the students and enhanced their performance skills.

 

One day, I was doing a character hot-seat exercise, in which I’m interviewing the students in character as someone they know well.  From the corner of my eye, I could see Mr. Lopez, a history teacher at the school, watching silently from the side.  At one point, I turn the interviewing over to the students and walked over to talk to Lopez.  He was waiting for an opportune moment to walk across the cafeteria to exit at the other side without interrupting the class.  I thanked him for waiting and said he could cross whenever he wanted.

Lopez waited until the students were finished interviewing the current character, then he started walking across the cafeteria.  Just as he approached the exit, one of the students yells out “Hi Mr. Lopez!  Hey, you want to play with us?”  Before he could answer, another student quickly explained what the game was about, followed by the group chanting “Lopez, Lopez, Lopez!”  He turned to me to see if it’s okay and I say “absolutely.”

Planting himself in a chair center stage, Lopez seamlessly morphed into character as a student, who judging by the students’ reaction, everyone knew well.  The interview, which normally takes a few minutes, went on for fifteen, followed by a scene where Lopez, still in character as the student, being counseled by himself, played by another student, who suspects he cheated on a test.  It was wonderful to see how much fun Lopez was having, and the warmth the students felt towards him.  He stayed until the end of class and participated in the closure exercise, Gift Circle.  In this game, students sit in a circle, each taking a turn making eye contact with everyone in the group, and then pick one to give an imaginary gift to.  It was a beautiful way to end this particular session.

As the students were gathering their belongings to leave, Lopez thanked me for allowing him to participate and apologized for interrupting my class.  I told him that he did no such thing, that it was a welcome addition and I expressed how much I appreciated that he waited until I had a moment before talking to me.  Smiling, he replied “Mr. Golding, here at Lennox we respect our faculty.”  I almost hugged the man and left him with an open invitation to visit the class whenever he liked.

A week later, I was introducing the students to the Armando Diaz Experience, a format where a monologist tells a story, pausing periodically for aspects of it to be brought to life in scenes.  As is often the case when introducing a new format, the first few attempts were stilted.  Either the monologist couldn’t provide enough detail for players to enact, or the players were waiting too long to jump in.  Again, Lopez was watching from the side, until he was noticed by one of the students who beckoned with “Mr. Lopez, tell us a story!”

Since this was the last class before Spring break, Lopez used that as the theme for his story and made it personal.  His monologue involved various students in the class, covering their family life, friends and vacation plans.  Because he knew these students so well, certainly better than me, they were falling over themselves to enact scenes, which were rich with detail and emotion.  Lopez’s Armando lasted close to a half hour.

My favorite session with Lopez was when we were exploring poetry, in a text versus improv format.  In this structure, one person reads a poem, followed by another person improvising a story based on what in the poem affected them.  Sometimes the simplest instruction by a teacher can be the most complicated one for a student.  The class had a problem grasping the second part of the exercise, and thought that they had to improvise a poem to compliment the one that was just read.  It was fortunate that Lopez was in class for this one!

After a student read Pablo Neruda’s “Leaning Into The Afternoon,” Lopez told a story about his first true love, who ended up breaking his heart.  By the end of his story, the cafeteria echoed with the sound of sniffing noses.  The students suddenly understood the exercise and for the next hour, the stories that followed the written poems were poignant, emotionally honest and revealing.  The experience encouraged students to bring in their own original poems, just to see what type of stories they would inspire.  This was an unexpected windfall for me.

The final class is always party time for the students, where pizza is ordered and we talk about what we accomplished during the semester and what their plans are for the future after graduation.  Lopez was noticeably absent, and I made a mental note to send him a thank-you email.  As I approached my car in the garage, I heard Lopez call out my name.  When I turned to face him I was immediately struck by his expression, which was filled with admiration.  “Mr. Golding, I just wanted to thank you for letting me participate.  It allowed me to explore a different type of relationship with these students which I never would have had if it wasn’t for your class.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.”

Lennox Academy.

In turn, I thanked Lopez for providing me with privileged insight into who these students were and how wonderful it was to observe the mutual respect and love they felt towards him.  I wish I had a Mr. Lopez in every high school class I teach.

I frequently write about how valuable the arts are in education, and the importance of play in the every day life of students.  But until I had this experience with Lopez in my class, I never considered the importance of play in a teacher’s daily work routine and how it can provide a richer connection between teacher and student.  Empathy is vital in any relationship.  So why not also between teacher and student?

Michael Golding is a writer, director and improv teacher.  He can be contacted for workshops, festivals and private consultations at migaluch@yahoo.com. Michael participated in the evolution of the Improv Olympics & Canadian Improv Games.  Artistic director of the Comic Strip Improv Group in N.Y. & created the Insight Theatre Company for Planned Parenthood, Ottawa.  He is a faculty member at El Camino College in Los Angeles, working with at-risk teens and traditional students. Michael holds a BFA degree in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts & an MA degree in Educational Theatre from NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development.