Performing Arts Association offering free improv classes
By Kendra Simpson
The Performing Arts Association will be holding free improv classes for adults and teens to unlock their creative potential, boost their confidence and meet new friends.
Improv classes provide an outlet for both teens and adults by allowing them to play with no consequences, but it is more than just goofing around. Improv is known to help skills such as communication, teamwork, public speaking and more.
Paul Storiale, executive director for the Performing Art Association, will be teaching the courses. Storiale has experience with improv from his time in Chicago and Los Angeles where he studied with improv professionals.
”My favorite part of improv is the playing off of people, the creating a story with another person with no script and relying on them and them having your back,” Storiale said. “They’re going to make sure that you’re okay in real life as well. And a lot of it is about compassion for the other person … your job in improv is to make the other person look good, and wouldn’t that be great if real life was like that?”
Storiale said the improv classes will embolden confidence as well as enhance creativity and communication skills. Most of all, it will teach participants that failure is not only acceptable but encouraged.
”(Improv) teaches people that failure is okay, because the more you fail with improv, the more you succeed in improv,” Storiale said. “We’re built to believe that failure is a bad thing and in most cases it might be, but in this case, failure is the only way you’re going to succeed. So you build your confidence off of failure.”
The courses will be free for everyone to encourage more participants to try improv for the first time.
”I’m a big proponent of offering improv classes for no cost because it really alleviates the financial situation from learning how to improv,” Storiale said. “I really enjoy offering improv to people from all different walks of life, bringing them all together into a room and finding out what we have in common, because we have a lot more in common than we don’t.”
The Performing Arts Association will have its first class for teens from 6 to 8 p.m. and for adults from 8 to 10 p.m. Sept. 9 at Missouri Western State University. Those who wish to participate can sign up for the improv classes online at paastjo.org.
