Unlike any other kind of acting, improvisation brings an extra element of excitement to the stage: neither the audience nor the performers know exactly how a scene will play out.  

On Friday May 13th at 7:30 p.m., the high school’s enthusiastic Needs Improvment group had their spring performance in the in the Robert Dubbs Auditorium. As this time of year is pivotal for seniors, the performance was devoted to celebrating and honoring the senior class. With the unique and hilarious concepts of their activities, Needs Improvment kept the audience involved and on their toes.

Boston Latin’s Yellow Submarine Improv Troupe kicked off the show with a short improv activity about privilege. To get the scene going, the group asked volunteers to give some ideas about who has privilege, which immediately got the audience involved.

When the BLS group exited the stage, Needs Improvment energetically ran out on from behind the curtains wearing all denim. Their performance began with an activity called “God”. While the other students were improvising, the student playing the god would order them to stop what they were doing to redirect the story. For example, one scene involved a child who couldn’t shut their mouth. The god then asked them to explain the backstory of why this was the case, only to learn that it was because her mother kept pulling the child’s teeth out. 

To add another twist of humor, the next activity required a volunteer from the audience to pick a random book from a pile: The Great Gatsby. A performer on stage was then given the book to use as their only source of lines, and they weren’t allowed to say anything except words and phrases that they read. The unlikely combination of the Great Gatsby and an imaginary circus as the location produced a comic scene.

Another unique activity was the performance of an album on a radio show: two radio hosts, two background musicians, and two singers. Called on from the audience, a volunteer suggest

ed that the theme of the album should be “hamburger helpers.” The cast of Needs Improvment proceeded to sing various songs about hamburger meat.

To continue the excitement, the group of students did an audience-interactive activity of creating a story together: one performer is late for work until they are saved by someone else. It was up to the audience to choose the details. Volunteers decided that the performer would be late for work because the British were coming, but that Bugs Bunny would save them, and that they would ride to work on a horse with Paul Revere. Needs Improvment didn’t fail to bring this story creatively to life, adding in additional humor to the story while acting it out.

By far the most chaotic and hilarious activity of the evening revolved around one seemingly-simple thing: water. While a small group of students were performing, they would each take a turn dunking their head in a large bucket of water on stage. While each performer had their head underwater, they had to shoot their hand up in the air to signal to the others that they were running out of breath. One performer had to find a way to excuse themselves from the scene and run over to grab the other person before taking their turn underwater. Then soaking wet, that student had to reenter into the scene, incorporating a reason or story for why they are covered in water. With water dripping all over the stage, both the audience and the performers couldn’t resist from laughing.

Throughout their entire show, Needs Improvment held up their energetic and compassionate performance. Each activity brought a new humorous scene to the stage that consistently engaged the audience.