When Jordyn Nygren (12) and Jordan Thomas (12) first walked through the theater’s open doors into the pool of improv auditionees two years ago, they did not expect to discover a precious passion. Now, after three years of continued involvement with the improv teams, Nygren and Thomas’s improv careers have helped shape them in their daily life.
“[Improv] helps with school things and humor outside of theater,” Nygren said. “Ever since joining, I find myself being more quick-witted and having a response if I’m put in a situation that l’m not prepared for.”
They said that participating in improv allowed them to discover key pieces of themselves and helped them to find their places in Westview.
“It got me more involved in the school,” Thomas said. “I had been in theater a little bit with Set Crew, but I never viewed myself as performing, so it’s really increased my confidence and helped me meet such amazing people who I don’t know if I would have [met] without being in it. They’ve always been so supportive, and it feels like you really have people to go to.”
Taking the stage as co-captains, they are making strides toward the reinvention of the improv program. In the past, teams were largely derived from the Westview Theatre Company (WVTC); this year the team welcomed many new faces with varying degrees of experience: three of the 10 Performance Team members had no prior interaction with improv.
“[The] new people are different from people we have had, meaning they are different with their ideas and with what kind of improv-er they are,” Nygren said. “That really adds to the team dynamic.”
Currently, the members are working to get a feel for the team’s rhythm.
“[The established members] have been really nice and welcoming, and they’ve let me join [their friend] groups,” said Sama Elkhamy (9), Performance’s first freshman in more than four years. “We all kind of learn together.”
The captains said that this assimilation ensures that scenes are brought to life synergistically in performances.
“[The moment] I’m paired up with other people, I’ll automatically know how the scene is going to go because I know how these people act and do scenes,” Nygren said. “I know what I would need to do more of or what I can do less of to get the scene going because [I know their strengths] and I know that I can either add more to that or lay back and just be a funny one-liner character.”
Even with the team’s chemistry, the captains said that techniques crucial to improv require effort to master. Since audience participation is the core of improv, during practices the teams drill random scenarios to prepare for the inevitably unpredictable suggestions. The captains or members of the Practice Team, a group that funnels into Performance, simulate an audience, which allows the Performance Team to be comfortable with thinking under the spotlight.
“We don’t have props, so we really have to fill out a scene so that people are seeing it when it’s really not there,” Thomas said. “[The purpose of practices] is to train your brain to have quick responses [because] once we get up there, it’s a new scene that’s never been done before.”
Further distinguishing this as a year of innovation, Nygren and Thomas are introducing practices with Del Norte High School’s improv team, and are reviving the annual Wolverine and Nighthawk competition for this year’s first spring show. As opposed to improv’s usual performances, where either coach Geno Carr or WVTC director Robert Townsend mediates audience-appointed scoring and crowns one of two sections of the Performance Team the winner, the competition will see the schools’ entire teams face off.
“It really [improves our skills] because we get to see how [Del Norte] acts as a team,” Nygren said. “We can go watch other schools’ practices to see how they run things and how [their work] differs from what we do.”
While this team is distinctly different from prior years’, the captains said that its originality is exciting, and will make this year of improv outstanding.
“I can already tell that this year’s team is going to thrive because of the level of talent and willingness to try that Jordan and I have seen,” Nygren said. “They’re all so full of energy, and I feel like if we could get that out to the school, it could be really cool.”
