Teen Laughing Matter improv class held
Tuesdays at Heller Theater
Hap Fry World Staff Writer
03/09/2005
Tulsa World (Final Home Edition), Page ZB6 of Community

They play freeze tag, speak gibberish and do all sorts of other peculiar things during the Teen Laughing Matter improvisational class every Tuesday at Heller Theater. But for all the fun and games, class instructor Marilyn Gates and program director Julie Tattershall say the youths are learning much-needed life skills along the way. "This is going to help them in a lot of different real-life areas -- in job interviews and getting up and knowing how to handle yourself in front of people," Gates said. Tattershall added: "It helps with a teen's self-esteem because it gives them a moment to be special. Yes, it teaches them speaking skills, but it also teaches them teamwork, because improv is teamwork." Just don't tell Julia Mills, Robert Dine, Michael Hackney or Julian Evans, who were busy trying to out-perform one another during a recent Tuesday class inside the intimate theater. "I think it's a fun way to act," said Dine, a sophomore at Union's Intermediate High School. "At my school, we don't do much improv at all." Tattershall founded the weekly improv class 10 years ago. Attendance has fluctuated over the years.

Robert Dine (left) and Michael Hackney perform together at the weekly Teen Laughing Matter improvisational class at Heller Theater. HAP FRY / Tulsa World

Tattershall said last year's group averaged 17 students, but 10 of those participants have graduated from high school. This year's group averages approximately seven students per week.

Gates said each individual in the class is blessed with some form of artistic talent in his or her own way.

"They've got something or they wouldn't be here," she said. "They want to express themselves. They want to have a good time. You're going to be good at something if you're interested in it."

Mills has been interested in improv ever since she saw posters promoting the group at her elementary school. Now an eighth-grader at Carver Middle School, Mills has been participating in the class since she was 9 years old.

"I know I love acting," Mills said, still wearing her volleyball uniform. "That's what I want to do. I want to be an actress or director in movies, theater, anything. Improv is great because I like the fact that you can make up, ad-lib, as you go along."

Evans, who was attending the class for the first time on March 1, learned about the club after his sixth-grade music teacher at Monte Cassino recommended he attend.

"His music teacher sent a note home with him one day that I found," said Julia Evans, Julian's mother. "We decided to come by here today. It's right up his alley."

Hackney, who has been coming to the group since December, said improv has been a good addition to his slate of extracurricular activities that includes playing ice hockey and trombone in his school's band.

In addition to the weekly classes, the group also performs a live show once a month. The next one is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Heller Theater.

"I definitely like the live performances the best," said Hackney, a freshman at Broken Arrow South Intermediate High School. "There's more people at a show, and you're actually compelled to be better on stage. You have more adrenaline, and sometimes you have more ideas."

Tattershall knows improv is not for everyone, but she said youths need to have more choices available to them.

"If every child got a chance to try everything, they would find out that they're brilliant at something," she said. "When a child is hooked on one thing, then they can get everything else going. Because once a child finds their niche or their place, then they start to fly."