Improv Night Brings Laughs
January 30, 2017
The Mississippi School for Math and Science Dramatic Performance class held their annual Improvisation Night on Wednesday, January 25, in Shackleford. As students entered the auditorium they were prompted to write skit suggestions on small slips of paper and then put them into the drawing box. The Dramatic Performance students would then pick a slip of paper from the box, take 30 seconds to set up any props needed, and then perform the skit chosen.
As expected, this resulted in a few very non-traditional scenes, such as a re-enactment of the popular “catch me outside” clip from “Dr. Phil.” Ariel Williams, who performed as the young girl,says she “never saw the video or anything. Someone explained it to me within the allotted 30 seconds and I just went for it.I didn’t prepare. I crossed my fingers and, when in doubt, be crazy.”
The crazy bit worked as the crowd erupted with laughter at Ariel’s flawless depiction of the out of control teen from the original viral video.
Another crowd-pleaser was the “Presidential Debate” skit, performed by Noah Hunt as Donald J. Trump, Jackson Sparkman as Hillary R. Clinton, and Julien Solomita alongside Cloie Garris as the moderators. The skit depicted a typical, yet comically overdrawn, version of the political reality during an election year. Williams commented that this skit was “especially hilarious since they were relevant to current news and just about all of the audience could relate.”
There were an assortment of other skits chosen, a few of which being “Sarah Palin Fashion Show,” “2016 Tales Auditions,” and a fan favorite “Gordon Ramsay Teaching Kindergarten (but Mayukh (Datta) HAS to be Gordon).” Although the class didn’t have time to perform all of the suggestions in their 45 minute show, they made sure to bring a laugh about each time they got on stage.