4-H Improv
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Courtney Crain
You were driving drunk and because of your stupid mistake, me, you are both dead.
Chuck Denney
The scene is set in a graveyard.
It’s to show where you might really end up if you drink and drive.
Jessie Hudspeth
I’m not dead!
Chuck Denney
The skit takes on special significance for some performers like Jessie Hudspeth.
Jessie Hudspeth
A few members of our troupe have been affected by a friend of ours being killed in a car accident by a drunk driver here a few weeks ago, so it really hits close to home.
Chuck Denney
Hudspeth and his fellow thespians are members of the 4-H “Acting for Life” improv troupe in Robertson County.
The actors use humor but address serious topics - bullying, cyber stalking, teen pregnancy and suicide.
The Acting troupe has a core batch of skits, but the lines and circumstances change each time they walk on stage. Courtney Crain is with the troupe.
Courtney Crain
Everybody has really picked it up well. We structure them really well. We run through them a lot. But the fun of improv is we don’t have to memorize a script. We do it off the top of our head. Every performance is different.
Jessie Hudspeth
I said, "Doc, what’s this thing on my face?" He said, "Son, do you chew tobacco?”
Chuck Denney
This performance was at a middle school, where the audience members are just a few years younger than the actors.
4-H leaders believe younger kids are more receptive to a message from an older teen.
Kathy Finley is with UT Extension in Robertson County.
Kathy Finley
Even though it’s a few years, you know there’s a lot of difference between those middle school students and the high school. Frequently they look up to them. They see them as the future.
Chuck Denney
As the troupe takes their final bow - performing helps them cement their own decisions about smart choices.
And they exit stage left knowing that what they do on this stage could impact someone’s real life.
This is Chuck Denney reporting.
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NOTE: The Improv Troupe was started several years ago with a grant from the Centers for Disease Control.
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