Summer Improv Camps in Portland
Introducing Summer Improv Camps in Portland!
Welcome to the only summer camp in Portland, Oregon featuring
✅ Only professional actors, improvisers, and educators on staff
✅ Staff with decades of teaching, training and facilitation experience to lead your children
✅ SMALL camp size to maximize your child’s engagement, learning potential, and fun
Say no to huge camp crowds where your kid gets lost with 20-40 others. Stop leaving your kids in the care of teenage “teachers” or those without many years of teaching, training and professional experience. Instead, treat your child to one of our two improv camps in Portland this summer! Each camp is limited to just 10 participants to foster a cosy, tight-knit community and to ensure that your child gets plenty of attention and teaching time.
We welcome ALL races, religions, orientations, and abilities in our studio. Whether your kiddo is an extroverted performer who’s eyeing a career in acting or a more introverted thinker who’s a newcomer to the craft of improv, they’ll feel right at home. All of our facilities are ADA accessible as well.
What, Where, & When
Camp Improv, for middle schoolers: July 6th, 10am-1pm
Summer Improv Workshop, for high schoolers: July 6th, 2-5pm
All improv camps will be held at our studio in the Raleigh Hills neighborhood of SW Portland, right next to the New Seasons Market on SW Scholls Ferry Road. We’re very close to Beaverton, Garden Home, Hillsdale, Multnomah Village & Tigard; reasonably close to Aloha, Tualatin, and Lake Oswego.
What Will We Teach?
Both half-day summer camps introduce participants to age-appropriate improv games & scene work. We’ll focus on activities that spark creativity, teamwork, and quick thinking. Through guided play, participants will learn how to build stories together, listen and respond to one another, think on their feet, and express themselves creatively and with confidence. Each session is packed with high-energy games, collaborative challenges, and plenty of laughter. The focus isn’t on “being funny,” but on learning valuable life skills like communication, adaptability, and trust while having an absolute blast.
They’ll show up as strangers, but they’ll leave as good friends.
Meet Our Instructors
David Koff, Change Through Play’s Founder, will anchor our Summer Improv Workshop for high-schoolers. David is a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild and has been acting & improvising professionally since 1993. He continues to appear in commercials and films. He originally trained and studied improvisation with The Groundlings in Los Angeles, before studying under the best improv teachers in Los Angeles and Portland including Stan Wells, Phyllis Katz, Bill Steinkellner, and Tom Johnson. He’s also learned techniques pioneered by some of the finest masters of “applied” improvisation. He’s become well known for combining approaches from the worlds of theater, psychology, and behavioral science in his classes. David opened the Change Through Play Improv & Training Center in mid-2019, just in time for the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. 😂
Natasha von Salza graduated from CSU Chico State in 2013 with a degree in Political Science and Outdoor Education. She studied abroad in 2012 in Sweden, where she lived until 2021. After a corporate career as a manager for Starbucks for over 5 years, she returned to her artistic roots on and off the stage. Until 2025, she taught several popular outdoor education programs at TrackersPDX for children aged 5-12. She now works as a Waldorf teacher and teaches the Foundations Improv series at Change Through Play. She uses improv, structured curriculums, and experiential learning to facilitate children's learning and play. Natasha studied improv under Mary Pat McCoy at Change Through Play, before going on to study under its Founder, David Koff where she continues to study, develop, and refine her long-form improvisation practice and knowledge.
