The upper school improv group hosted an event on Zoom, where students from the group displayed their improvisation skills through a series of games and scenes based on suggestions from the audience, March 19.

The Directors of Improvisation Groups Michele Spears and Lisa Fredrickson introduced students at the beginning of every five or so minute skit for about 20 participants in the group. This show and others that are coming up are only precursors  to the official event towards the end of the year, which will span for much longer.

Fredrickson said as far as planning has gone, students played games and interacted with each other, but there was no true preparation for the show.

“[With Zoom] we had to rethink how we group up and deal with each other,” said Fredrickson, “There is already so much separation that everybody has to deal with that we didn’t want to make more groups to separate people anymore. We all want to be together and do improv together. [Spears]  and I have both come up with ways to take our games that we would normally play in-person and kind of adjust them for Zoom, plus students have really been inventing new ways to play, which has been really great and improvisational.”

Students briefly performed in response to a variety of prompts.

Spears said she is hoping that all of the students apart of the club enjoy themselves and loosen up before each skit.

“The beauty of improvisation is that there is no way to do it wrong because it is all being made up on the spot and as long as you are working with what is right there, you’re golden,” Spears said. “That causes a lovely release of pressure, which I know everybody is under a lot of, whether it is about school or Zoom or life. I am hoping more than anything that everybody has a release and a chance to just play together.”

Carter Staggs ’23 was the opening act of the show with a skit based on words typed in the chat. He said he especially enjoyed being a part of the group.

“I absolutely loved the event and overall I thought it was really fun,” Staggs said. “I loved watching my fellow improvisers take different scenes in completely opposite directions in terms of both story and emotion.”