Last Friday, December 4th, the YLHS Improv Club hosted their first production live on Zoom. In recent years, the club had usually held an event known as Comedy Sportz where participants would be split up into two teams and compete in improv clubs. Due to the spread of COVID-19 and its restrictions, the club resorted to hosting their shows on Zoom. This allowed the audience to enjoy the laughs of the show from the comfort and safety of their home.

Improv Club tackles the live theatrical art where the characters, setting, and/or plot are made up in the moment. This requires the actors to think quickly in order to produce a logical story, as well as be volatile in order to divert from their original storyline. Improv creates an immensely entertaining and randomly fun experience for both the audience and other actors.

The show was split up into two parts with different players participating in each half. The participants consisted of members of the YLHS Improv Club and was monitored by the YLHS improv teacher Mr. Bagheri. Games consisted of words, characters, or settings that would act as the inspiration for the scenes portrayed by the players. With donations through Venmo, audience members were able to choose the word or phrase acting as inspiration for each scene. 

For example, one game had a group of four players spell out challenging words, such as Millenium Falcon, one letter at a time from each player. Although this may sound easy, it proved to be very challenging for the players to get right on their first turn. 

Another game had the players act out a scene revolving around a specific setting and job role for each character. Spontaneously, the moderator, Mr. Bagheri, would ask the players to switch their setting or role. This forced the players to think on their feet in order to continue the scene in a funny and methodical manner. The hilarious setting such as “Hell” and “Taco Bell” proved to be wildly entertaining for the virtual audience. 

Club member,  Dylan Shube (11), thought the show went very well and the entire club performed remarkably despite having to perform both virtually and separately for the first time. The Improv Club has been one of the most entertaining clubs on campus providing laughs to the YLHS community for years. Dylan is proud to be a part of this club and believes that their perseverance will pay off in the long run when they are able to perform again with a live audience. He was most excited to have this kind of experience in order to “provide even better shows in the future.”

A virtual spectator, Casey Williams (11), “was so happy to be there” to see the Improv Club’s first show. She missed “seeing everyone perform again” despite the COVID regulations restricting the club from performing their regular shows. Casey, a drama department member, felt proud to see so many of her friends and fellow thespians take the stage and perform an incredible show. Enthusiastically, she encourages all YLHS students to attend the next show in order to laugh almost as much as she did during the past show. 

One major challenge the club faces this year is that without charging admission to the show, they must rely on voluntary donations from online viewers. This proves difficult to collect enough funds in order to run the club effectively and produce high-quality entertainment for its audience. Despite these struggles, the club continues to produce incredible content for their audience and plans to hold more shows for their anticipating audience.