Ian Wang
The annual Returners’ Improv Show was held by the Aragon Improv Team on Sept. 18.
“[Improv is] like theater, but we make it up on the spot,” said junior and AIT member Louise Martensson. “We want to balance having a good storyline and nuanced characters with comedy and some action.”
Without lines to guide them through a scene, improvisers must make decisions onstage to proceed with the story. There were two forms of entertainment performed during the show: short-form games and long-form scenes.
“For games, they’re a really good warm-up for long-form,” said senior and AIT President Li Jennings. “It helps you practice saying whatever comes to mind in a pretty low-stakes manner … But for long-form, it’s important to remember what happened in previous scenes, what was said [and] who people are, so you can build on the foundation of what’s already there and continue to progress.”
The show started around 7 p.m., immediately kicking off with a game called “Town Hall,” where the audience was asked to bring up any issues in the area. AIT members in the crowd volunteered to address the problems, while portraying different characters like Luigi from Super Mario and the Hare from the fable “The Tortoise and the Hare.”
The improv team played various other short-form games after their introductions. During “Pillars,” two actors played out a story while two audience volunteers onstage had to decide the next phrase that would be incorporated into the story. Later, in “Character Swap,” a group of actors played distinct characters but swapped their roles whenever an AIT member clapped, with the topic of two elderly people reuniting after years apart. Another short-form game was “New Choice,” where the improvisers changed the direction of the scene about underground spelunking when they heard the clap.
“My favorite game was ‘New Choice,’” said senior Michael Chen. “It was really funny how the whole tone of the story immediately changed with a single clap. It was pretty absurdist.”
After the short-form games, the team performed a series of long-form ones, which are montages of uninterrupted skits about one theme. The topic suggested by the audience and chosen by the members was “lamp,” and as a result, the members created scenes of two members attempting to use helium to touch a ceiling lamp, a group of moths taking rehab for their addiction to light emitted off lamps and many more.
“The best part was [that] everyone was really skillful,” said senior Brandon Lin. “They’d get a random word from the audience, and then they’d be able to create this whole story or little skit off of it, and just be really creative.”
Junior Rui Liu agreed that the show was entertaining.
“I [could] tell that they were quick with their responses, and they managed to connect all of the scenes really well,” Liu said. “It [seemed like it was] scripted, even though it’s not. I enjoyed it [and] it was fun and impressive … I liked how they pulled people from the audience to come up [on] stage or to participate in the game.”
The AIT had six returners participate in the show, as the six other members from last year graduated.
“I thought having a small team would make it a lot more difficult, but it actually allowed us to explore a lot of new opportunities we possibly couldn’t have with a larger team,” said sophomore and AIT member Jayden Jurow. “I thought [the show] went really well, had good comedy and was all around very solid.”
]Jennings believes improvisation provides many opportunities to grow one’s personal skills.
“Improv is such an amazing thing,” Jennings said. “It’s not just about theater. It’s about the community, it’s about being open to new ideas. It helps with your critical thinking and your adaptability to anything that life throws at you. It’s such a beautiful art form, and it goes really underappreciated.”
After tryouts were held for the team, all new and returning members performed in the New Improviser Improv Show on Oct. 9. The next show held by AIT will be on Nov. 3.
