PHS PERSPECTIVE: Improv troupe: They Just Wing It

By Jinwoo Chong and Tiffany Wang
   Walk down any hallway at Princeton High School during the daily break period, and one can come across most anything while peering through the classroom door windows: students eating lunch, students on the swim team discussing a new practice schedule, students practicing a new routine for the dance club. But students acting out an imaginary scenario? Without props, costumes, rules, or even a script?
   Welcome to PHS’s improv troupe, Just Wing It, a student club becoming more prominent as the year goes by.
   Last year, then junior Harrison Kaufman ‘12 got a surprise call from then senior Anjali Mehta ‘11.
   ”She told me she had this idea for a new acting club and asked me if I wanted to lead it with her,” said Kaufman, “It’s actually how I got into acting in the first place.”
   After a few months preparing, Just Wing It was born after a short audition process.
   ”We had about 12 kids audition, called back about eight or nine, and ended up with four boys and four girls,” said Kaufman.
   The group’s name, Just Wing It, was decided upon shortly after the group’s founding.
   ”The name sort of captures the whole energy of improv,” said Kaufman.
   And what exactly is improv?
   ”Improvization is a usually more comedic form of performance art,” said Jessie Klimoff ‘12. “Instead of doing justice to a script using props, like ‘normal’ acting, improv is about developing a character and focusing on the interactions between them.”
   ”We tend to build off each other,” said Kaufman, “The best improv actors make their scene partners look good.”
   That level of creativity and energy is one that makes improv unique.
   ”I think the improvisers tend to be very opinionated,” said Arpi Youssoufian ‘12, “It nurtures freedom of expression. Usually, in classes, your freedom of expression can sometimes be hindered, but when improvising, it can be a time to express yourself in a way that the classroom setting often does not provide the opportunity for.”
   So is it truly spontaneous?
   ”Not exactly,” said Kaufman, “To prepare for a show, we usually decide how many scenes, called ‘games,’ we want to do, and work out the basic premise. Then we had to keep playing out each scene to work out any variations we want to do. We played with different aspects of the improvisation. There were many different relationships within each scene, like different facets.”
   ”We have some liberty, but we have to make sure that nothing hurts the scene,” agreed Klimoff.
   Most of the troupe aren’t even actors.
   ”About half of our group has had some kind of training,” said Kaufman, “A lot of us just like improv and think it’s funny. You just have to be willing to put yourself out there.”
   The troupe began performing at various school events and talent shows, and headlined their first show in PHS’s Black Box Theater a couple of Saturdays ago. The show was unique in that it featured three of the school’s a cappella groups, Around Eight, Cat’s Meow and Cloud Nine.
   ”We had already done some intermissions at other talent shows, but this was our first real show as the main act,” said Kaufman.
   ”The a cappella broke up all of the skits in a nice way, and I think the show was overall well-received,” said Elana Bell ‘13, a member of Cloud Nine. “A good number of people showed up, mostly parents of the students in the show.”
   ”The show was a lot of fun,” said Kaufman. “We kind of centered it like an a cappella show where the groups would go out and perform and we’d interrupt and perform for a little bit.”
   ”It was nice to have all of the groups perform,” said Klimoff, an improv troupe veteran, “It definitely added to the variety.”
   The improv troupe itself has added an element of fun and spontaneity into the daily life of PHS students.
   ”I believe that it adds another dimension to the school … the members of the troupe spend much of the year practicing and preparing for a few shows held during the school year,” said Youssoufian.
   Not only do these talented improvisers practice frequently to ensure an amusing performance, they also make sure the content of their shows appeal to the student audience to which they cater.
   ”I for one would absolutely take time out of my day to go and watch them perform,” said Youssoufian.
   Perhaps the appeal of Just Wing It is based in its realistic quality, a natural progression of dialogue and action that emulates life in ways that regular acting cannot.
   ”I like to think of life as improv,” said Kaufman, “The most successful people in life are the ones who accept themselves and each other and say, ‘yes, and,’ and that’s really what we try to do in improv.”
Jinwoo Chong and Tiffany Wang are juniors at Princeton High School.