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 Courtney Comtois
Why is ActingOut Important to you? It has given me a sense of comfort. The group is a very strong community. We all get along well. ActingOut is like a therapy group for me. When I’m in a bad mood I can always count on it to bring me up. Improv is a good way to get out your emotion safely.
What have you learned in your time with the group? I’ve learned to accept people for who they are. I’ve become a much more confident person overall. Performances can be touching; I can recall one that will stay with me forever. We were performing at KSC and my best friend told a story, we “played it back” to her and she began to cry. Seeing that our performance could affect someone’s life that much meant a lot to me.
 Eddie Harris
Why did you join ActingOut? My sister used to do AO. She told me all about it. I saw all the videos from ActingOut and it just looked like a good thing to do, it looked like the most…overall fun thing ever! It helped people that were in need, people that didn’t know what to do when they were in certain problems, so I came here to Keene High School and I joined ActingOut and it has made my days worthwhile, just waiting for the entire week, just for Friday, because my entire week is based around improv, it’s just… it’s part of me.
 Mandi Silk
Why is ActingOut Important to you? In mid-winter of 1984, when I was a sophomore and student leader at Keene High school, I was asked by a member of the teaching staff if I would like to participate in a “new group” that was about peer pressure and current issues impacting teens. As I was always into new things and always, always willing to express my thoughts and feelings, this seemed like a perfect fit for me. A few weeks later, I was introduced to the group leader, Mario Cossa, who was already talking with a small group of student that assembled afterschool. I was instantly put at ease; after dozens and dozens of student council type meetings where “rules of order” were expressed often and freely, when I was encourage to take my shoes off, sit in a circle, and talk about how I feel and how issues that teens in the mid-80’s were dealing with could best be talked about in a dramatic presentation. This was, as far as I can tell, the first ever meeting for what is now Acting Out; at that point, we were called “Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll.” Being able to hear the thoughts of my peers, express my own feelings in an uncensored manner, and all the while be in the presences of adults who listened and reflected with out judgment, was invigorating and inspiring. I currently serve as the Education/Outreach Coordinator at the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention. With the work that I do, I am driven to communicate with the youth of our community in the same open and receptive manner that was afforded to me. My career path has always been in the human services field; I spent several years as an elementary and high school guidance counselor in the area, it is my most sincere hope that former students would agree that my experience as a teen that needed to be expressive led to my being an adult that is willing to listen, explore thoughts, respect feelings, and give room for self expression. And hopefully my “students for life,” my two beautiful daughters, will feel that they can carry these same warm feeling with them so that the ripples of Acting Outs message of creative expression can grow through many geneations.
 Eric Snare
Why did you join ActingOut? I joined AO because I had just moved here and I knew no one and I moved to a home school away from home kind of place, and one of the people who loved there said I know this guy names Mario Cossa he has this great group you should go check it out. And so I did, sort of to meet people. And just to have a place to be cause I had nothing to do. It’s sort of been my home ever since.
What have you learned with ActingOut? I would say I’ve gained a lot of leadership skills from ActingOut. I’ve been in the leadership role, a lot. And…so many leadership skills, how to lead a group, how to help people focus when they’re not quite at that place, and what skills can be taught using what exercises. I feel really well equipped to go out and teach improv. Really anywhere, as long as I had willing students.
Service through Story
Jodi Clark, ActingOut Coordinator • Phone: 355-3040, ext. 107 • E-mail: actingout@mfs.org
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Copyright © 2007-11 Youth Initiatives Office • Web site created by Nancy Cavanaugh
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