On Friday, August 30th, the big theater was filled to the brim by students excited to watch the first Comedy Sportz match of the school year. As the match proceeded, the team received constant applause and cheers from the audience, as the members continually displayed their improvisation skills.
“[The match] was great. It was a scrimmage so we played against ourselves,” said junior Courday Farnam, a member of the Comedy Sportz team. “The audience loved it as always…It’s always a fun, interactive experience between the audience and players.”
Improvisation games that were played included Four Square, where four people on stage moved in two person scenes. The topic of the scenes that would be enacted depended on suggestions given by the audience. Another game was Object Freeze, where the Comedy Sportz members asked for audience suggestions for random imaginary props which were used in ways they were not originally intended to be used for. The audience broke into laughter and cheered loudly as the team skillfully improvised in these games and more.
“I thought it was very enjoyable,” said senior Kian Manafi about the match, “I liked seeing all the guys I know get back on stage and really make me laugh. I thought they did a great job.”
Despite the fact that the team was unable to perform on stage for several months, they had displayed natural skills in improvisation as they played in the first match.
“The players were a lot more comfortable with themselves and their improv skills than anyone was expecting them to be,” said Farman. “Typically the first match is a pretty anxious time, because all of our improvisors have not been improvising for months.”
However, the audience did not seem to notice if there was any hesitation or nervousness among the Comedy Sportz team members. When sharing her thoughts on the match, junior Kennedy Ceman said, “It was super funny. It was very well done. [The members] were really funny. They were really good at what they did…I would definitely go back to [watch] another Comedy Sportz match.”
As several members of the team revealed, the Comedy Sportz team have a lot of plans in store for their future matches and for the team, as well.
The captain of the Comedy Sportz team, senior Steven DeKeyser, shared that his main goal for the Comedy Sportz team this year is “definitely making everyone feel comfortable with each other on stage, because, last year, [the members] were hesitant to do something crazy on stage, so [feeling comfortable with each other] and having the freedom to make choices and grow as an improviser, I think that’s really important, especially for the audience enjoyment. If you’re having fun on stage, then the audience is having fun too.”
Comedy Sportz will hold an information meeting for students interested in auditioning for the team on Wednesday, September 11th in the little theater. Auditions will be held on Tuesday, September 17th.
Categories:
Comedy Sportz: First Match
September 17, 2019
Donate to Sword & Shield
$180
$1000
Contributed
Our Goal
Your donation will support the student journalists of University High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.
More to Discover
