“The Arts Connect” Conference Continues: Part XXVII – ImprovAcadia
October 30, 2009Artists Showcase: Friday – Jennifer Shepard & Larrance Fingerhut
The goal of Improvisational theater in an educational setting is creativity, using “Yes, and…” and the power of putting the group over the individual. The by-product of improv is laughter which comes out of what the group creates together.
Improvisation has very clear applications for theater programs but it also is very useful in story writing, social interactions, idea creation and team building.
Jennifer Shepard & Larrance Fingerhut founded ImprovAcadia in 2004 after performing and teaching improv in Chicago for six years. Since that time they’ve performed over 1,000 shows, taught at the College of the Atlantic, the Beth Wright Cancer Center and for the Sea Coast Mission as well as workshops at University of Maine, Orono, Mount Desert Middle School, Conners-Emerson Elementary, and Summer Festival of the Arts.
Jennifer and Larrance WOWED us and of course, participants did their part as well. We all left wanting more and imaging our students participating in a workshop with them. You can learn more at their website by clicking here.
Kim, Rebecca, Carmel
Footnote: One of my favorite photographs taken at the conference (this one by Shalimar Poulin) is the one in this blog post. The reason is because the three teachers represent the four arts disciplines: Kim Murphy (music and theater, Camden Hills Regional High School), Rebecca Dow (visual arts, Skowhegan), and Carmel Collins (dance, Lake Region High School). And they are from four different regions of the state: Midcoast, Kennebec and Western.
me arts ed 
This was one of the highlights for me in which all the participants were so witty and spontaneous in their sync with words! You had to be there to appreciate!