The comedy event of the year has finally arrived. Since its debut two years ago, Improv Night quickly became one of the most anticipated drama performances of the school year. In case you’re unfamiliar with the concept, improv is a form of comedic theatre in which the performance is unscripted, so the performers must come up with the scene on the spot. Years ago, students from our school loved the idea of spontaneous acting and decided to start their own team: WACIT. WACIT was the only improv team at PV for quite some time, until Hatrick was formed in 2013, and The Select Button in 2014. Due to the success of the first Improv Night in the spring of 2016, a non-competitive JV team was formed. These teams work very hard to consistently improve their skills so they can compete at numerous events, namely the Iowa Thespian Festival and the Iowa High School Speech Association Large Group Festival. Olivia Peters, two year member of WACIT, states she loves everything about improv. “Improv practice is one of the best parts of my day because it is a time when I can really focus and improve my skills with something I am passionate about. It is a great way to learn how to trust yourself and put it all out there”.
The idea for Improv Night came in late 2015 when Maaz Ahmed talked to Keshav and Rishi Wagle about the concept to showcase one facet of the talent found at PV. Soon enough, in March of 2016, this idea became a reality. There are many different factors that go into planning improv night. Ahmed states, “Improv Night is way more planned than the title would suggest; the only things that are really improvised is the content of the night itself. The order of events and the like is all pre-planned so we don’t run into any hiccups. I figured that if you control for any variables that could go wrong (order, tech issues, seating, etc), then it’s easier for the comedy to come through.” Planning for controlled variables is vital, especially when one of the most important factors (the audience) is uncontrollable.
The audience is the fuel for improv night. The performers use the audience’s suggestions to decide what to perform and use their reactions to help make it a better show. “In any show, the audience is the most important part. In improv specifically, so much energy is exchanged from the back of the audience to the edge of the stage, and everything we do is fueled by their interest. You need the audience for a show to be successful, otherwise you don’t know what is and what isn’t funny,” states Ahmed. This is why he believes the show done last Thursday, PV Improv’s most well-attended show, was the best yet.
This year’s fall Improv Night had a record number of about 250 audience members, which helped the show immense success. The night is set up competition style, where all four improv teams compete to be the funniest. The show began with each team doing a scene, then moved on to two group activities. Next, the Board of Doom was brought out and the game was on. WACIT, Hatrick and The Select Button all had to play an improv game from the Board of Doom and were awarded points based on their performance. By the end of their scenes, all three teams were tied with 100 points. They were in desperate need of a tie breaker, so moderator Francis Dunbar had them play a game called PV Improv Sing Off, a game created by PV Improv members. Performers from each team had to make up a song on the spot based on the audience’s suggestions and the piano riff given to them by pianist Ethan Good. The competition was fierce. First to get three strikes was Hatrick, followed by WACIT. It all came down to Select Button and the JV team. After fierce competition, the JV team won the game with zero strikes. This was JV’s first time winning, and they were ecstatic. Leah Sanders, a member of the JV team, says winning was truly an honor, “I’m so glad that we could compete this year,” says Sanders, “it was really cool to see the JV team evolve from last year to this year.”
Outside of Improv Night, PV’s improv teams are highly accomplished; last year, the three improv teams won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place against dozens of other improv teams at Thespian Festival. They also scored big at IHSSA, with Select Button recieving a division one rating at state. WACIT and Hatrick made All-State for their performances, and Maaz Ahmed made All-State as a solo improviser.
PV’s comedy scene has really come into the limelight in recent years, and only seems to be getting even more popular. If you missed out on Improv Night in October, don’t worry—there will be another Improv Night in late March of 2018.
Hatrick: Antonyo Bagley, Brenner Stickney, Robbie Williams
Junior Varsity: Matt Bolin, Olivia Boren, Sarah Thomas, Siobhan Morley, Leah Sanders, Taze Wilson
The Select Button: Maaz Ahmed, Sam Lindoff, Ali Rizvi, Keshav Wagle
WACIT: Molly Dippel, Odin McDonald, Kaylynne Nowak, Olivia Peters
Sara Wetzel • Oct 26, 2017 at 12:01 pm
This article does a good job of introducing the PV improve team and of explaining what they do.