Loy Norrix and Kalamazoo Central: the long-time school rivals of Kalamazoo. They have battled against each other in everything from sports to Forensics, but the two schools have finally come together to see what their combined talent can achieve
On Friday, Apr. 27, the LN and KC improvisation (improv) teams met at KC to perform their first-ever joint show. Members from both teams performed various games together to show off their improvisational skills.
This show has been a long time coming, with team captains Amelia Wood and Chase Gheen preparing their teams for this show months in advance. Even though Wood wasn’t able to make the final show, members of both teams were happy to see their ideas finally come to fruition.
“Me and Amelia are very good friends with the captain of the KC improv team [Gheen] and we were talking and we were like, ‘Hey we should have a show together,’ so we decided to have a show together and we planned it,” said senior Josh Snyder, a leading member of the team. “We’ve had rehearsals with each other for the past month, and I think it’s coming along pretty well. There have been a lot of setbacks, since the two teams meshing together is kind of hard, but I think we’re going to do amazing.”
The show was absolutely hilarious. Everyone on stage had their turn to make the audience laugh, and you could tell that they were immersed in their roles.
It’s admirable how effortlessly most of the improvisers came up with jokes on the fly that were funnier than most pre-written jokes. This was largely due to the sheer amount of chemistry between the teammates, even between the teammates from separate schools.
“We spent a lot of time together so we kind of had a forced connection. It happened pretty naturally, in my opinion,” said Gheen. “They’re really awesome and it’s been awesome to get to know everybody. I really like leading them because they’re all really good at improv, and they’re all really good people in general.”
Spending time around people from different schools who you might not know can be quite daunting, especially in a vulnerable environment like improv, where you have to trust your teammates. Both teams seemed to manage this incredibly well. Watching the show, it felt like everyone on stage had been friends for years.
“It was really scary at first because I was really scared that I was going to go up there and be so unfunny and they were going to hate me and think I was unfunny,” continued LN sophomore Felix Bahrou,. “But just by being around them, I became more comfortable. I think really it’s just the amount of time that I’ve spent around them has warmed me up, and now I can just be silly up there.”
One way the captains fostered the connection between the two teams was by pairing up a person from each school for the improv games, which forced the improvisers to get comfortable around each other.
Snyder said, “The biggest struggle on the teams is getting our chemistry together, but me, Chase and Amelia have been doing our best to do games where we are mixing it up with having a Norrix person and a KC person in the same scene, and I think it’s been working out really wonderfully.”
The chemistry between the team members isn’t limited to the stage. Many members expressed how close they have become with each other and the friendships that have blossomed between them.
“Honestly, I kid you not… they are like my second family. I love them so much I would die for all of them, I swear,” said KC freshman Evanglie Berget.
The improv teams have fostered connections between the members and brought confidence and strong friendships for many of them. It is a great club for those looking for healthy social interaction and something new.
“I would say that it is just overwhelmingly positive. Joining improv has made me a more accepting person because, in improv, the biggest rule is…accepting what your partner is giving you and then adding on to it,” said Snyder. “I’ve applied that to my life, and it has honestly made it a lot more enjoyable. Rolling with the punches and dishing back what you have, I think, is a very good way to live your life.”
Felix • May 16, 2024 at 11:44 pm
How insightful