As soon as school ended, Siena Naylor (10) rushed into the theater, which was already packed with students plastering blue and white name tags across their chests and huddling over clipboards where they signed their names and grades. Naylor quickly made a name tag for herself, signed in on the clipboard placed center stage, and found a seat in the audience. There, she and her friends giddily tried to predict the activities and challenges they’d be presented with in the improv team auditions, Sept. 30.

“I went to all the improv shows last year and I knew from the very first one I went to that I wanted to join the team,” Naylor said.

This year, Naylor will be one of eight members on the improv practice team.

“I felt really good going into the audition and even better going out of it, because I knew I was so prepared,” Naylor said. “I spent a lot of time during lunch or outside of school playing the games from the workshops with my friends, so I felt really prepared for my audition.”

Throughout the audition, students played improv games such as Freeze Tag and Pan Left Pan Right, where they were challenged to establish a scene with clear characters, setting, and character relationships within three lines of dialogue. In the game Freeze Tag, Naylor embodied the character of an Applebee’s employee who fell in love with her coworker. 

“My focus in all the games was clearly identifying my character and location so that it would be easier for me and my co-actors to bounce ideas back and forth,” Naylor said. 

In preparation for her audition, Naylor attended both of the improv workshops, Sept. 16 and 23. This year’s workshops began when improv coach Adam Rudder challenged students to blurt the first word that came to their mind when they were pointed to. 

“It was a bit shocking at first when everyone was projecting and doing big gestures or falling over on stage, but I tried to match the energy of the people who I was acting with and I got more comfortable as the workshop went on,” Naylor said. 

According to Rudder, the activities and games from the workshop were designed to encourage students to step out of their comfort zones.  

“Improv is a reflection of life and through improv, you see how you communicate, how you relate to others, and how you show up in the world,” Rudder said. “When you’re playing these games, you’re not limiting your beliefs, your fears, your joys, or your passions and you’re just saying what comes to mind, which allows you to train a sort of muscle memory in creativity.”

Improv co-captain Kyle Dillon (12) said that the mission of the improv workshops was to expose more students to improv. 

“We really want to see their personalities shine through and it’s fine to see people develop an interest in improv right in front of your eyes,” said Dillon. 

Additionally, Naylor has spent the past year attending private improv lessons at New Village Arts in Carlsbad, where she has learned skills such as pantomiming, a form of exaggerated miming typically used in comedic improv scenes, and the rule of “Yes, and” which is a rule that requires actors to continuously build off of their co-actors’ dialogue to create a cohesive narrative. 

“Learning improv was difficult at first,” Naylor said. “But I think it got a lot easier as I attended classes and got more into the rhythm of performing and creating ridiculous scenarios.”

Attending the improv workshop has not only helped Naylor gain confidence in her acting skills, but it has allowed her to form connections with a network of individuals who share her passion for acting. 

“Going to the workshop and auditions has really made me a lot closer to the acting community and it helped me make a lot of friends who wanted to be involved with acting gigs,” Naylor said. Looking forward to her first year on the improv team, Naylor said she hopes to continuously improve her skills as an actress and cast member.

“I’m excited to connect with my teammates more and eventually work towards joining the performance team,” Naylor said. “I have a lot to learn from the performance team members, and I can already tell from the energy in the auditions that this is going to be a fun, exciting season.”