The Eastside High School HITT class worked incredibly hard for three weeks to put together a performance for Hoggetowne Middle School on March 14, 2013. The students created a series of scenes to show the effects of alcohol use, from physical and emotional to legal. Each group of students created a 3-part scene, the first Read More
On March 13, 2013 a class of Loften High School HITT students toured to the Alachua Academy. This is a live-in facility for low- to moderate-risk girls ages 12-18 in the Department of Juvenile Justice. The Loften students had the opportunity to hear stories from the girls prior to their tour there and took those Read More
On March 12th, 2013, one of our Loften HITT classes had the opportunity to tour to Duval Elementary School. The HITT class prepared a series of games, a scene, and discussion questions to teach the fourth and fifth grade students at Duval about communication skills. The HITT class began the tour with a little guriella Read More
On February 8th one of the Loften HITT classes toured to the 9th grade transition class at Loften. HITT Students taught and played games with the new class in order to get to know each other and break the ice. After games, the HITT students performed “Drug-Free Fairy Tales” covering the topics of cigarettes and Read More
HITT classes from Eastside High School and Loften High School came together at Eastside on December 18th for a HITT Jam. The Eastside class shared information about marijuana use with Loften and performed scenes on the topic. Scenes were inspired by different movie and TV genres, from Horror to Musicals! The Loften class shared information Read More
HITT students from Loften visited Ms. Dunn’s 7th grade class at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School. They led the students in theater games and exercises, then performed a few issue-based scenes. After each scene, the students got to ask the HITT group questions and discuss goals, obstacles, and what they saw happen to the characters. Read More
After weeks of preparation, The Loften High School HITT students are now putting their skills into practice as peer educators. They recently led a workshop in which they taught theater warm-ups and improvisational exercises to some of their fellow Loften students from Ms. Back’s class. In addition, the HITT students performed three issue-based scenes commenting Read More
The school year has started and we have “hitt” the ground running with classes at Hoggetowne Middle School and Loften High School. We look forward to an excellent school year working with our new HITT teams! Our students have already been hard at work developing their scene building and improvisational skills. This week, students began Read More
The Hoggetowne HITT class paid a visit to One Room Schoolhouse on Friday May 25th. The HITT students taught acting exercises to the One Room students culminating in an exercise about storytelling. The same class toured to the same students at One Room on Friday May 31 presenting anti-bullying scenes focusing on using kind words. These scenes Read More
On Thursday the 24th students from Loften High School came to the Hippodrome to present scenes on marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and prescription drugs to the Loften 9th Grade Academy. The day began with the Loften HITT students leading the Loften 9th Grade Academy in some games to help everyone get to know each other and feel comfortable with Read More
Loften High HITT teens toured to the 5th and 6th graders of Gainesville’s Caring & Sharing Learning Center. The HITT students presented scenes on media influence touching on video game abuse and the violence associated with them and cyber-bullying through Facebook. In addition to the scenes, the students of Caring & Sharing also participated in some Sociometrics and several Read More
Loften High School HITT students recently attended a matinee performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which is currently playing on the Hippodrome Theatre’s mainstage. Afterwards, the students participated in a talk-back further exploring the professional actor’s process which provided insight into Shakespeare text. To wrap everything up, the HITT kids got to work on brainstorming exercises Read More
On April 23rd, The Hippodrome Theatre hosted the second annual Community Voices public theatre event. This year’s theme was Monologues on Change. Residents of Gainesville and surrounding communities explored the idea of global, local or personal change through monologues. Hippodrome actors and HITT (Hippodrome Improvisational Teen Theatre) students performed selected monologues written by your friends and Read More
The Hippodrome Theatre will host the second annual Community Voices public theatre event on Monday, April 23 at 6:00pm. This year’s theme is Monologues on Change. We’re inviting residents of Gainesville and surrounding communities to explore the idea of global, local or personal change through monologues. Hippodrome actors, staff, and HITT (Hippodrome Improvisational Teen Theatre) students Read More
6th grade ALC HITT students came together with kids from a 2nd grade ALC class to play theatre games focusing on team building. The class chose exercises that encouraged group participation, teamwork, creativity and, of course, some fun. As well as an exercise that emphasized the 5-W’s in story telling (Who, What When, Where, and Why). Read More
HITT teens from Hoggetowne Middle School performed an original production of Elf Academy: The Musical for their peers on the 9th of December. Written and directed by HITT instructors Nicholas Hrutkay and Gabrielle Byam, the students rehearsed the musical for three weeks in preparation to tour to local schools for the holiday season. The piece Read More
On December 1st, a group of HITT teens from Loften High School presented four scenes for the World Aids Day Luncheon at MEridian Behavioral Healthcare. The class was asked to present some scenes for the luncheon in place of a keynote speaker. The class presented four short stories in the form of “Storybook Theatre” where Read More
HITT teens from Loften High School prepared and served minestrone soup at St. Francis House for a portion of the homeless population of Gainesville. Following a recipe to feed over 100 people, the teens arrived at 8:00am to complete the necessary preparations to have the soup ready to eat by 10:00am. Inspired by their experience Read More
Loften High HITT teens led a ‘Preview of HITT’ workshop for Job Corps students interested in theatre. The two groups of teens shared a bit of their lives with each other, offering ideas and experiences throughout several ice-breaker and topic oriented theatre games and exercises. This was a high energy and collaborative workshop in which Read More
HITT instructors and students are teaming up to present daily questions in honor of Red Ribbon Week! By going to our Facebook fan page you have a chance to win prizes by answering drug-related questions. Answer the question correctly and your name is entered into a drawing for This Wonderful Life tickets and gelato from The Read More
HITT now has it’s very own Facebook page! Simply click the Facebook icon to the left and follow the link to “like” us for first-hand knowledge of upcoming events, updates, and more as HITT students tour to local schools!
Four HITT teams (Eastside High School, Hoggetowne Middle School, and two from Loften High School,) came together at the Hippodrome Theatre to present a variety of improvised theatre scenes. The various high school groups performed scenes focusing on such issues as racism, alcohol, and other forms of illegal substance abuse. Students from Hoggetowne Middle School Read More
Distinguished drug expert Dr. Paul Doering visited HITT students at Loften High School to talk about the effects of alcohol and marijuana. Dr. Doering led a unique discussion from a pharmaceutical perspective answering questions about body/weight types in relation to alcohol consumption, effects of using a vaporizer as a means to smoke marijuana, and more.
A total of four HITT teams from Alachua Learning Center and Hoggetowne Middle School hosted students from Douglas Anderson at the Hippodrome. The groups performed scenes for one another covering topics including bullying, alcohol, tobacco, and other substances. Each troupe received feedback from the other teams to improve and expand their scenes for future performances.
In this brainstorming workshop, students from Loften High School and Eastside High School shared their scenes with the group while the others provided feedback using a culmination of all the knowledge accumulated since the start of their program. The groups intermingled while playing of variety of theatre games.
A Loften High School HITT class held a workshop to teach Alachua County Foster Grandparents how they can use improvisational theatre techniques with the young children they mentor. The actors performed scenes about drugs, alcohol and teen pregnancy, and then facilitated a discussion on the issues with their audience. The students offered suggestions on how Read More
HITT students from Loften High School met students from the PACE Center for Girls to present a scene and workshop addressing underage drinking, teen pregnancy, and peer influence on decision-making. After the performance, both Loften and PACE students discussed key choices made in the scene and replayed moments to affect the scene’s outcome.
HITT students at Eastside High School conducted a workshop with students from another Eastside theatre class. The groups mingled during improv warm-ups, and then HITT students performed scenes addressing inequality, substance use, and other topics. The scenes were discussed and reworked using Forum Theatre techniques.
HITT students from Hoggetowne Middle School toured to two classes of third graders at Duval Elementary School. The HITT students performed an original scene titled “Jack and the Bud Stock,” a twist on the popular fairy tale with an open-ended lesson about drugs. Duval Elementary students were also given the opportunity to interact with HITT Read More
This 2-day intensive Forum Theater workshop taught exercises, games, and improvised Forum Theater scene work from the Theater of the Oppressed repertory, developed by the late Brazilian director and popular educator Augusto Boal. The workshop highlighted the tools, methods, and techniques of rehearsal, and offered insight into the greater body of work that is the Read More