What is Theatresports™?
“Theatresports™ is an improvisation based theatre format and the artistic creation of Keith Johnstone. It entertains and educates the performers and audience. On the surface it is a team based ‘theatre competition’ with the same illusory struggle that professional wrestling exhibits. In front of the audience the competitors seem intent on winning, but inside them is a mutual desire to create dynamic, interesting theatre through spontaneity skills, storytelling and supportive play. Theatresports™ is capable of inducing laughter, tears, sport event style screaming and provoking thought; all while engaging and entertaining an audience.”
- A Guide to Keith Johnstone’s Theatreports™, 2017
Theatresports™ is a show created using the skills of theatrical improvisation, based on the work of Keith Johnstone. Two teams take the stage, with an MC, scorekeeper, muso and judges. With no scripts, they take turns performing scenes and playing games, telling stories and embodying characters entirely spontaneously, building creativity, resilience, confidence, and collaborative skills. At the end of the show one team is declared the winner, but offstage the teams know the truth - we are all on the same team, and we all win when we’ve made each other look good.
In New Zealand, Theatresports™ has a history going back to the 1980s, which you can read more about in this great article by Dan Allan. As well as spreading professional improvisation around Aotearoa, Theatresports™ introduced improvisation to teens through high school programmes in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and the regions.
In recent years, improvisation in Aotearoa has expanded in practitioners and locations, as well as its styles and forms. Theatresports™ endures in many areas, particularly as high school programmes - but despite our booming improv industry here in Wellington, our youth Theatresports™ programme fell away in the early 2000s.
We think it’s time for a comeback.
Theatresports™ offers its players a nested series of enabling constraints that create the conditions for spontaneous creativity. Within the ‘limits’ of the show and the games and scenes within, players are free to explore character, comedy, drama, narrative style and more, creating stories that have never seen before and will never be seen again. It’s an opportunity for rangatahi to be part of a creative team, to practice failure in a safe, supported and low-stakes space, and to build core memories with their team and like-minded students across Wellington.
Learning to improvise via Theatresports™ can:
- Alleviate the universal fear of being stared at
- Build creative resilience
- Develop confidence, performance, and storytelling skills
- Improve interpersonal skills and encourage a life-long study of human interaction
- Familiarize students with the bones of theatre
The Pōneke Theatresports™ youth programme is an affordable, accessible and enjoyable way to introduce rangatahi to the wider world of performance and creativity.
At its core, improvisation needs no scripts, sets, props or costumes. You can practice in any empty classroom or rehearsal room (or even outside if the weather is good!). You can adapt games and scene styles to meet the abilities of your students, and extend and explore their interests as you experiment with the skillset improvisation provides.
Want to learn more? Email contact@jenniferosullivan.com