tudents filed into the Black Box during lunch, took their seats and waited excitedly for the show to start, while members of the Improv Club gathered in a circle at the center of the floor. As they got ready for their first performance, they wished each other good luck.

According to senior and President of Improv Club Elika Hashemi, the members have been practicing their improv skills all year during Wednesday meetings and Sunday hangouts, but did not prepare much for this show specifically.

“We just play some games, have some fun, have some laughs, make some jokes,” Hashemi said. “For this performance specifically, we really only prepared on Sunday. On our regular Sunday meeting, we were just like, ‘OK let’s play these games, let’s have these people play these games’ and we ran through them once.”

The show started with the improv game called Location. In this game, the audience suggested three locations: Chipotle, the circus and a cave. The actors were split into pairs and had to act as if they were in these places. One pair started and the scenes were passed down, and the next pair had to continue with the scene, but improvise according to their location.

Hashemi explains that a lot of the games they play have been played by the members of the Improv Club for a while, but some are new.

“They’re just classic games that are in our repertoire, but some of them are new, like we learned them this year,” Hashemi said. “Mr. Adams has taught us some and we found some online. We’re constantly changing our games.”

The next game they played was called Speed Racer. In this game, members carried out a scene based on an audience-suggested topic and then they had to recreate the scene with only two minutes, then 45 seconds and finally in 10 seconds. For this performance, the topic was a mall flashmob, and the audience laughed throughout the ridiculous scene.

They also played Crystal Ball, in which the fortune teller, played by senior Pramodh Srihari, had to leave the room. The audience then proceeded to give suggestions of who junior Liam Connor would fall in love with, where he would meet them and what their deepest darkest secret was. The crystal ball, sophomore Alex Sanchez, hid under a blanket, listening to all the suggestions. The audience suggested that Connor would fall in love with Chicken Little, who knew the assassin of President John F. Kennedy, after meeting Chicken Little in a church. Srihari then came in and tried to guess the audience suggestions while the Sanchez acted out these suggestions. When Srihari was able to guess all the suggestions, the audience erupted into cheers.

The last game they played was called Beastie Rap where the members split into two teams and tried to make a sentence, rhyming with audience-suggested names. If the member couldn’t think of a rhyme, they were out.

“I think it was pretty fun,” Hashemi said. “It was good. I think as long as the people who were there had a fun time and laughed a little bit, I think that’s what’s important … Sure the scenes weren’t perfect, but I think we were able to let loose a little. Even if it was imperfect, I think it was a good show because it was funny and the audience had a good time.”