Only in improv club will a student ever be asked to play the role of a vending machine.
But that’s what is expected when you are a part of this club.
Former student Marc Lussier began the improv club in 2013 as his senior project. At the end of the school year, the fifteen students participating in the club were enjoying it so much the club’s adviser English teacher Mr. Paone told Lussier he would like to continue the club the following year. Lussier then appointed a student director to continue the club’s legacy after he left LHS.
Paone said the program “just absolutely took off” and that more and more people want to join each year.
During the game “awkward encounter,” two actors, freshman Abby Palmer bottom left and senior Daniel Cain bottom right, pretend to be two people encountering each other for the first time. At the same time two other actors, freshman Danika Dixon left and senior Evan Plevinsky right, pretend to be person the people’s thoughts during the encounter.
To date there are more than thirty students in the club, including student director and master of ceremonies Brady Wall, student director Evan Plevinsky, and master of ceremonies Ben Dionne. The club contains an even mix of seasoned actors having participated in drama club or improv club in previous years, along with students who have never been onstage before.
“It’s a great opportunity for students who maybe didn’t get in the show and are too shy to sing and dance,” Wall said.
In accordance with the traditions of improv acting, students in the club perform completely script-less. However, improv not is completely unstructured. The students play a series of games or quick skits, each of which contains its own set of rules the actors must follow.
“The [best] moments of improv—whether they are funny or sad—the most entertaining pieces are what come out of the students’ creativity,” Paone said.
Unlike traditional acting, the actors don’t practice memorizing lines during rehearsals. Instead, they practice going through the games they plan to play during show and putting all of these skills together. The scenes practiced during rehearsals end up completely different from those performed during a show.
“You are given an idea,” Wall said. “That’s it. There’s no script. There’s no preparation. There’s nothing. All you have is your imagination, and the imaginations of those around you.”
In the improv game “human prop,” a member of the audience is brought on stage and the actors use them as a prop.
When it comes down to the show, improv is all about actors being creative on the spot in front of the audience. Sometimes actors are given a random character to play, usually suggested by the audience, and they must find a way to portray that character in the situation the game depicts.
“One time I was told to be a vending machine,” Plevinsky said. “I didn’t know what to do with that, so I just hopped around, just saying ‘$1.25’ in people’s faces. I had no idea that would be funny.”
The club typically meets every Friday with hiatuses during the drama club musical, for students who participate in both.
During most meetings students hone their improv skills, such as projecting their voices, organizing spacing on a stage and, most importantly, how to act without a script and be instantly creative. A week before larger events are held, the club holds two rehearsals to prepare.
“You really can’t teach anyone how to come up with an idea,” Plevinsky said. “It’s very hard. It comes from practice, which is why we hold all these meetings—so we can practice coming up with ideas.”
“Anybody can be good at improv. You just have to trust your gut and speak your mind,” Dionne said. “It’s the only place in the school where doing whatever you want, within reason, is what you’re supposed to do.”
In the improv game “press conference,” one actor leaves the room while they are assigned a character to play that would be asked questions at the press conference. When the actor returns the rest of the cast asks them questions relating to their character until they can guess what character they are portraying.
