Guide for new schools
What you need to know about the Youth Theatresports Competition.
This is a step-by-step guide for schools who may be new to the competition on how to get ready for the competition and ensure that your students have a positive experience. It is also useful for existing schools or school who may have not been involved for a few years and need a bit of a refresher on what is involved.
Step 1: What is Theatresports?
Theatresports is a competitive theatre format in which teams of performers compete with each other for points awarded by a panel of judges. It was invented by Keith Johnstone in Canada in the 1980s and was inspired by professional wrestling.
For a history of Theatresports you can read more on his website.
Note: we play Theatresports a bit differently in Australia so some of the descriptions will be a bit different.
Step 2: Learn how a match runs
Our theatresports matches have a set structure which is followed for each match. We have written a short overview of what teams can expect and how it all works from the judging, game selection and all important mintie-toss.
Step 3: Practice improv skills
There are some key skills which underpin all improvisation - listening to your scene partners, accepting offers, building on ideas and jumping then justifying (amongst a few others).
Its important that your team practice and understand these skills as they form the basis of our judging criteria.
Step 4: Learn some games
The next step is to learn some some improv games. These games are the basis of the competition with teams selecting games to perform in each round.
We generally recommend teams have practiced about 6 - 10 games before coming along to the competition (as another team may play your game ahead of time).
Step 5: Keep an eye out for other opportunities
This year, we are going to be providing schools with additional opportunities to prepare for the competition.
We also strongly recommend that new schools organize training with one of our instructors to make sure your teams are ready for the competition (however, this is no longer a requirement).
Step 6: Register a team
To be honest, you could do this before the other steps. But make sure you get your team registered before the registration date.
Teams can only be a maximum of 6 performers (this is in total, we cannot accept teams with more people where only 6 people get onto stage).
Reach out if you have any questions!
If you have any questions at all please reach out to our youth theatresports team. We are happy to assist with questions about how the comp runs, how to register and the nitty-gritty about improvisation and preparing for the competition.