Improv Night In Mesa

By Bobby Beverly
 

Thursday (9/13) was Mesa Group leader Lora’s first night back since returning from the Camp OUTdoors! which had been held over the Labor Day weekend. As such, Lora lead a discussion where the youth who attended camp could share they experiences and their lessons learned. Most importantly they thought of ways they could bring to life their lessons, as well as ways in which they could keep the positive feelings from camp going in spite of now being in less uplifting/motivating surroundings. What we were able to determine was that the spirit of their camp experience could be a touchstone they could mentally return to in order to gain motivation, re-centering them on what is truly important. Additionally, we concluded that the goal of camp was to channel the confidence gained into action and spreading positivity to others.

Thursday (9/27) was a night exploring the lessons that improvisation can teach us. Our Mesa group was joined members of the National Comedy Theatre. The members lead the youth through warm-up icebreakers that are common in the theater community, followed by interactive performances that engaged the youth and volunteers. Not only were the performers entertaining but they brought with them lessons that could be implemented in our everyday lives; like the importance of thinking on your feet, the skill of collaboration, and the ways in which we are all essentially improv actors.