For over two hours, laughter filled the theater, ranging from smirks to roars.
On Friday April 29, 2016, Carlmont Improv held two sold-out shows in their black box theater for free. The majority of the audience attended both shows.
Each show was completely improvised with similar games, but a scene was never repeated. The order of the games changed and the members participated in different games each time.
At certain points during the show, the audience would be asked for a word, letter, location, or scene, then the leader of the activity would decide whether their suggestion was appropriate. Due to the randomness of some of the suggestions, the scenes made the audience laugh and even some of the performers, despite attempts to hold back their laughter.
“My favorite scene was when Armon Mahdavi and Jill Albertson had to read slips of paper that members of the audience wrote. During the scene, Armon asked Jill to prom, and for a moment the audience, even Jill, couldn’t tell if he was serious. Armon broke character and told us that his paper had the words ‘will you go to prom with me’ written on it. Jill’s face was priceless,” said junior Matthew Irwin.
Throughout this event, three students took the opportunity to ask people to prom. Junior Kurt Castro, an audience member, was asked to aid an activity and instead asked junior Alyssa Fine to prom when she was performing. After the second show, Mahdavi and junior Michael Morris asked two other students to be their dates.
“I was really surprised by Armon, and I had no clue what was happening at first, but it was cute, sweet, and I loved it,” said sophomore Michelle Tenin.
For the two seniors on the Improv team, Gabi Dimick and Max Lieberman, it was one of their last times performing at Carlmont.
“It feels very bittersweet. I was very happy with how the show went because it definitely showed how much we have grown, but I am really going to miss the team and performing,” said Dimick.
Currently, the Improv team is led by Dimick and junior Blake Du Bois. Next year, sophomore Jill Albertson will be co-president with Du Bois and will continue to hold shows once school commences in August.
Junior Ashley Wen said, “Improv is an amazing organization that I don’t think gets half the credit it deserves. It’s comprised of some of the wittiest and most clever people I know, and it taps into all different types of humor. One thing that draws me to shows is the fact that you have really no expectations for what’s to come, but each time I go I have a great time.”
Carlmont Improv will be holding their last show on May 15, 2016 at the Belmont Library.