Teen Improv – Thurs – 7 to 8 pm – Spring 2024
Teen Improv
Improvisation, commonly linked to the comedic Saturday Night Live realm, is also a valuable tool every actor can use on stage and screen and anyone can benefit from for: public speaking, college interviews, job interviews, the workplace, and social settings. This class is for actors and non-actors alike. Come try it, discover the joy and power of improv, and even become a part of our budding improv troupe!
This class will give young performers the tools to perform without script. To bring to life characters, relationships, and scenarios that will draw audiences in. The goals are to enhance the actor’s skillset, but to also build confidence in areas outside the performing arts. So many will struggle with speaking in front of large groups, shy away from self-advocating or lack confidence in social settings. Developing the improv muscles can be an outstanding way to overcome these fears.They give the individual new-found strength as a performer, but more importantly as a person.
Truly great improvisers are listeners. They react in honesty and realism. They take whatever the situation or scene hands them and bring the audience in through their own eyes. Being childlike in a World of Make Believe where anything can be possible. A trained improvisor performs with confidence because they believe everything they see, feel, and speak in the moment. The laughter comes more from the audience’s connection to that performer’s viewpoint and experience in the created world on stage.
The Improv Community is also one of a kind. The strength of a pack. All team members fully invested in building a show for the audience and each other out of a mere suggestion. When two people can create a story based on the energy and idea in the moment, it takes the audience on a ride as if we were all kids again.
7-week session: May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; June 6*, 13.
Taught by Mike O'Hara
*June 6 class will be taught by Keith Contreras-McDonald
Classes will be held at the wonderful Westport Country Playhouse:
25 Powers Court (off the Post Road), Westport
When registering, please click on "add a note to your order" (toward the left side of the "Your Cart" page) and indicate your child's name and grade.
After registering, please fill out this electronic INFO/WAIVER FORM
Photo by Greg Cohen Photography
Mike O'Hara
Mike O’Hara’s storyline is very much like an improvised show.Born in Yonkers, New York, Mike has taken life’s stage as an actor, standup comic, improvisor, host, commentator, lead singer of a Punk rock band, and coach.
O’Hara earned an athletic scholarship, rowed Division 1 crew, and graduated from Syracuse University with a B.A. in Political Science. Degree in hand, Mike moved to New York City and then to Los Angeles to pursue acting, standup, and improvisational comedy.Following in the footsteps of his childhood Idol, Bill Murray, O’Hara studied and performed at the Second City becoming a member of the theatre’s inaugural LA Main Stage Company. While on the West Coast, Mike appeared on a variety of television shows includingMTV’s Punk’d, Monk, CSI New York, Run of the House,andParks and Recreation.During his time writing and performing in the sketch comedy duo, “Lloyd Dobbler’s Boom Box," O’Hara co-founded a Celtic-infused Punk Rock band called The Mighty Regis.The band was initially based on a sketch, but quickly became a touring act on The Vans Warped Tour.TMR played in support on US Tours with the likes of Dropkick Murphys, Frank Turner, and others.
Mike was hired to host Major League Baseball’s multimedia show/web series “Fan Cave” in 2011 and moved back to New York.Continuing to act and work in the city O’Hara appeared onMadam Secretary, Law & Order SVU, The Drop,andWolf of Wall Street.
Since moving to Connecticut to start a family, Mike is currently the Varsity Women’s Head Coach at the Saugatuck Rowing Club in Westport. Coaching has given him the unique opportunity to combine his love of sport and performing in the same realm.To entertain while coaching allows the improvisor and former athlete to work in what has been an amazing endeavor.
On top of coaching, O’Hara also works currently for the Fox Nation streaming platform as a host, commentator, and voiceover artist.
