Every year, the Wesley Chapel Drama Department performs two shows during the school year in the Performing Arts Center. The first show tends to be in October, called the Comedy Show, and the second show is typically done in April, which is the Spring Production. Typically, schools that have a drama department perform a musical or play during their spring productions. Last year, for example, Wesley Chapel High School performed Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’. All students involved work together with Mr. Gaudet, Mrs. Neff, and the staff at the Performing Arts Center to put on a phenomenal show for everyone to enjoy. This year, however, the Drama Department took a different direction for their Spring production. Instead of performing a previously published play, for the first time ever, Wesley Chapel High School produced an improv show!
Improv is short for improvise or improvisation, which basically means to make up something on the spot to say or do. That’s right, the entire show was done with no script. However, just because there was no script, that doesn’t mean the show was done without preparation. The people in the show spent the past few months getting comfortable with each other on stage, working with different improv prompts and learning the fundamentals of making an improvised scene work. All to get ready to perform these types of scenes in front of a crowd!
The show itself consisted of many minigames for the improvers to play, receiving the prompts for each round live in front of the audience! Then, the actors must act! The games were hosted by Mr. Gaudet and Wren (X), who explained each minigame to the crowd, announced what the prompts for that round were, and then calls up members from each team to play out the scene.
There were several minigames played by all five, each a different color, in teams. The show started with The Opening Ceremonies, where each team was able to make their own introductory video to play as they all walked out and got the audience excited to see the show! The Classic Scene played out like a regular game of improv, random prompts for each team and they had to act it out right there. There were other minigames, however, the finale of The Improv Games is what shocked audiences the most.
In the beginning of the show, the hosts also introduced the Black team. They were in charge of the technical things backstage, however, the Black team had another job. It was revealed that the Black team could steal one member from each team and take them backstage throughout the show! These members backstage were given a vague prompt and an instrumental, and during the show’s runtime (about an hour), they had to create a musical, limited to only one rack of costumes and one box of props! This grand finale was called the Showstopper, and after all the games had been played and the Showstopper was performed, the audience was able to vote on which team they thought should win!
Alongside the many games being played, the entire Friday night show was recorded by the TV Production team, led by Mr. McQueen! Which will be available to watch on the WCHS Drama YouTube channel soon! Be sure to check it out if you weren’t able to go!
The first ever Wesley Chapel High School Improv Games was a success, as many families, friends and teachers enjoyed the show! The Improv Games will hopefully make a return to WCHS, as Mr. Gaudet hopes it will become a cherished tradition in the area.
