Young adults got to make friends and build confidence by playing improvisational theater games at an Easy Teen Improv class on Saturday, August 2.

Held at C.H. Booth Library, the class was designed for ages 11-15 and run by LeahJoy Pearson, who also performs under the stage name MayaRose SpokenWord.

Improvisational theater, also simply known as improv, is acting without a script. Pearson called it spontaneous play, where people do not think of lines or actions in advance. The most important thing about improv, she said, is to just do it.

“You just have to jump into the deep end and learn to swim as you go,” Pearson explained. “Even though people do train and practice for it, it really is just training how to be more present in the moment and trusting yourself, trusting that whatever comes out is the right thing.”

In turn, Pearson wanted her class to be a place where young adults could build confidence, express themselves, and embrace spontaneity. Students played classic improv games such as Zip Zap Zop, where people stand in a circle, make eye contact another person, and pass energy while shouting zip, zap, or zop. The class played it as an elimination game, so if someone failed to continue the zip, zap, zop chain, they were eliminated.

Another game that honed everyone’s concentration and quick thinking skills was “Yes, And ...,” where someone starts a story and another person continues it one sentence at a time, adding more detail. Whenever someone started a new sentence, they would say, “yes, and ...” to escalate the situation or add a totally new element to the story.

The goal of “Yes, And ...” is to teach people how to support their scene partners by supporting their vision of the story. It helps keep the momentum of a scene going while letting everyone show off their creativity.

“Yes, And ...,” along with other improv games, also helps circumvent stage fright. While it can be easy for someone to feel introspective or self-conscious of themselves, especially on the stage, Pearson said improv can act as a great outlet for people to support one another.

“With improv, we’re focused on how we’ll make each other look great and bounce off of each other’s ideas,” Pearson explained. “Our attention is out there, so we’re not worried about ourself. And if they’re doing that for themselves, then we both feel supported.”

It was a fan favorite game for the students, who came up with silly stories where the Burger King and Dairy Queen got married in an Olive Garden, or where people got lost in the woods and met fantastical characters like Red Riding Hood and the Loch Ness Monster.

Another fan favorite game was “What Am I Doing,” where people are given something to do by asking, “what am I doing?” The game was played in round-robin, so after the first student was given a prompt, someone else would join them on stage for their given activity. They would bake cakes, sweep the floor, chase after their neighbor, and more before the second person asked, “what am I doing?” The first person would give the second person a prompt, and leave the stage for someone else to eventually take their place.

Seeing people laugh over the silly skits they created was a big moment for Pearson, who started doing theater when she was 7.

Pearson later started taking theater classes at 12, and did many improv games as a part of the warm-up process. These games are commonplace in those classes since they help students open themselves up to one another and get comfortable in the improv setting.

She did a lot under Center Stage Theater in Shelton, where she grew up.

However, since Pearson only ever did those games as warm-up activities for theater class, she did not know it was formal improv until much later. It was only after college when Pearson moved to California that she started taking formal improv classes with Upright Citizens Brigade and ACME Comedy.

When Pearson eventually moved back to Connecticut, she performed more with Center Stage Theater, but started to really miss improv. Pearson, who also performs spoken word and does spoken word workshops, found the easiest way to teach people how to write poems is by introducing improv games.

“So games like “Yes, And ...” was a great way for me to help people understand narrative without having to overthink it. A lot of people will sit down to right down a poem and they don’t know how to start ... but I teach them to approach it like improv, where you approach it sentence by sentence,” Pearson said.

Pearson figured to teach improv classes herself as a way to spread her passion and help people feel more comfortable in her own skin. Having previously participated in Booth Library’s Poetry Walk last year and this year, Pearson talked to Booth Library Adult Services Librarian Shari Merrill about how she does improv classes. Merrill later reached out to her about doing an improv class, and the rest simply fell into place.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.