Through reading, discussion, and experience students consider the relationship between improvisation and the unscripted drama processes used in drama therapy. Students survey the history of improvisation, including the work of Viola Spolin, Paul Sills, and Keith Johnstone. Through theatre games, TheatreSports, and a variety of improvisation techniques, students will develop their spontaneity and ability to think on their feet.
This course will provide knowledge and skills for unscripted theatre, which is the backbone of Drama Therapy. Students who take this course will not be limited to using these skills in Drama Therapy; but they will be useful in a variety of settings, including churches, youth groups, and anywhere else that groups are found. It will also fulfill requirements at the graduate level for students to pursue the Registered Drama Therapist credential with the North American Drama Therapy Association.
This course is important because Drama Therapy is a completely unscripted modality and it is important for students to understand and be comfortable with the improvisational process.
Improvisation (and Drama Therapy as a whole) is unscripted. This means that the student practitioner must make a decision on the spot. The Biblical basis for this course will be the idea of the will – God’s will, man’s will, and understanding how people make decisions based first on who they are and then considering their circumstances.
As part of the Drama Therapy program, this course is missional because evangelism is unscripted. One of the greatest improvisational skills is the ability to accept what your partner has given you. Too many times, missionaries and evangelists do not listen to what their target is saying. If someone says, “I don’t believe in your God, etc.,” the missionary or evangelist continues to press the issue, thus ruining the witness. Improvisation will help the student practitioner to be more sensitive to the circumstances that are given and find another way to share the gospel with that person.
Improvisation is unscripted and therefore the only clues given to the actor about what may take place are “Who, Where, What?” (Person, Place, Problem). In order to successfully improvise, students must work in the context of those three criteria. Therefore, students will learn to work within a framework of context that has been given them.
Improvisation is unscripted, and so it will help students to work in an intercultural context by encouraging them to “go with the flow” when they encounter different cultures and submit themselves to the cultural context they are working in, instead of trying to “force” Christian concepts in a way that makes sense to them in their own culture.
Practically Minded – Improvisation is often a fun way to get people to work together. It is often used in theatre, but it can also be used just as a way to get people working together and having fun. The games can be used in hospitals, community centers, and churches. Students will be able to bring these skills into these settings to bring about evangelistic results.
Theatre arts, by nature and definition, is an experiential medium. Students will be equipped to take the lessons learned from the course and apply them directly in their church or missional assignments.
