College 101

The transition into college life can be both exciting and anxiety inducing. Many students are leaving home for the first time and exploring a variety of new challenges, both academic and social. College 101: Beyond the Books is an interactive performance that combines facilitated discussions, scripted scenes, improvisation, and audience participation. College 101: Beyond the Books will equip students to encounter the wide array of challenges that await them.

How does it work?
At the beginning of every performance we bring several audience members onto the stage to voice their concerns about college through a fun and often hilarious warm-up game. This gets everyone laughing, comfortable, and ready to dive right in. Actors present dramatic scenarios, and at a moment of climax in each scene, a trained facilitator freezes the action and guides the student audience in a discussion: What are they are seeing on stage? What are the issues involved? What are some possible solutions? A student audience member is then invited onstage to replace one of the actors and finish the scene using the student’s ideas to resolve the issue. In this moment, students have a chance to role play with actors, practicing and demonstrating skills they can bring back to the students’ real lives.