Improv(e)

Improv(e), follows the work of the Unusual Suspects Theatre Company, teaching improv to a group of 14 to 17 year old kids in an after school program at John C. Fremont High School; a school with a 50% drop-out rate located in one of the highest gang crime and poverty stricken neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Many of these kids are suffering from various degrees of post traumatic stress syndrome from seeing violence, hearing violence and being the subject of assaults by gang members as they walk to and from school. We see them opening up to a different reality culminating in a powerful play written by these youth being performed by professional actors and presented to their community. 
Improv(e) is about confronting who you really are no matter what your immediate environment and society at large might reflect back to you which is often: you don't count. It is about standing up in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds and letting your voice be heard. By confronting and exploring limiting ideas and beliefs about themselves these youth go beyond them to the benefit of their community and society at large. This program won the Presidents award in 2008.