Improvise, it’s fun

If you ask the Ferris High School improv group, Thesperados, why anyone would spend three hours after a long school day doing improv and standup comedy, the students can hardly contain themselves: It’s fun – it’s like a break – you make friends – you get to do so many different things – it’s a release, everyone is speaking at the same time.

Sierra Love, 16, summed it up: “You learn how to put yourself out there, to not be too scared. When you do improv, you have to be yourself, and that ups your self-confidence.”

The group was resurrected by Mary Cooper, drama director at Ferris High School, eight years ago when it consisted of just six actors. Today, 22 students participate and they are having a holiday show tonight.

“What we do is a lot like the TV show ‘Whose Line is it Anyway,’ ” said Cooper, as she was getting the group ready for a special workshop last week.

Matt Slater, a 2003 Ferris graduate, and Robin Corsberg, who do the improv show “Under Pressure: And Ready For Anything” together, were visiting the class from Bellingham, and presenting an improv workshop.

Corsberg and Slater are both part of Ryan Stiles’ Upfront Theater, and they’ve performed standup and improv in Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

“It’s a little weird to be back here because I went to school here,” said Slater, before the two got to work.

First, the students “passed a clap” around a circle, one person clapping at the next person, clapping at the next. Then followed a round of “zip” where participants “zipped” each other by making eye contact, pointing, and then saying “zip” around the group.

Now, what does this have to do with improv, you ask?

“Focus, this is about focus,” Slater told the group, exaggerating his own stare during clapping and zipping. “You need to bring this kind of focus on stage, because it is improv and you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

The students quickly found a beat and any confusion was quickly resolved in spats of giggling and cheers.

“Life really is improv,” said Austin Sheehan, 16. “This is great life experience and I’ve gained a lot of good friends since I started doing this.”

Thesperados is a diverse group of students in jeans and dresses, sneakers and ballet flats, tall and short, a little shy or very much out there – every teen type you can imagine.

“I think one of the good things that happens here, is that you can kind of let go of what’s going on in your life, it’s like an escape,” said Danielle Soucy, assistant improv coach and a recent Ferris graduate, who also performs with Blue Door Theater. “My favorite part is to see how the kids change, how they get better and they take more risks as they get into it.”

Thesperados puts on a show once a month, but spend any time with the group and you’ll quickly discover it’s not about performing as much as it is about having fun together.

“We do rehearse three times a week for two, three hours,” said Cooper. “Sometimes I have to kick them out of here as late as 6.” Any Ferris student can join, and yes, there are auditions.

“We invite students from Chase and Sacajawea to audition, so we also have incoming freshmen join us,” said Cooper.

And as the late afternoon grows gray outside the windows, between the big pine trees on Ferris’ campus, the Thesperados rhyme, clap and zip their way through the workshop.

“I heard someone say this is like a release, that’s what it should be like,” said Corsberg, while getting her group of students organized. “Remember, in improv there is no pressure, no judgment, it’s total freedom – it doesn’t matter if you screw up.”