At the referee’s command, 12 Comedy Sportz players — six from each side of the stage, each dressed in funky costumes composed of tutus, shawls and bowler hats — rushed onto stage, waving at a cheering crowd from under beams of red and blue lights. In the audience, parents and teachers who have brought their children laughed as they waved back, anticipating an evening as ridiculous as their costumes.
Saratoga Comedy Sportz, consisting of two teams, is an improvisational troupe that focuses on live performance. The group’s season debuted with their first show on Oct. 4, with shows held once a month on Friday nights at 7.
Following the departure of last year’s referee, Erin Neckers, drama teacher Benjamin Brotzman was able to hire Scott Schroder from the San Jose Comedy Sportz chapter as the new referee.
In between shows, the teams hold practices once a week during lunch. During the week of a performance, they practice daily to run through workshops and exercises.
The only veteran members this year are senior captains Ryan Backhus and Apollo Burgess, who hope to use practices to improve their teams’ skills. This year’s teams consist of senior Diya Kapoor, juniors Charlotte Hu and Ben Davies, sophomores Andrey Mokhnatkin and Siddhant Pant and freshman Tessie Berger, Yanika Pai, Bhavya Lohani, Annabelle Co and Anika Kalia. The teams compete only against each other and are shuffled for each show.
At their next show on Oct. 25, the referee will pull from a variety of game styles. A full night of games typically consists of four scene games, one to two head-to-head games and two point games. Scene games are crafted and played as a team, while individuals are selected in head-to-head games. Though the winner is usually determined by the referee’s gauge of the audience’s reaction, points are usually awarded in head-to-head games so that the score determines the victor.
One game, Space Jump, was played at the last ComedySportz game on Oct. 4. While a competitor is performing a scene, a member of the opposing team yells “Space Jump!” which then prompts another competitor to join the scene. The game continues with more and more jumps until all contestants are part of the scene on stage, and the referee determines the winner.
Another game, Forward Reverse, is a bit tougher and involves players performing a scene normally, then, when the referee yells
Reverse!” they perform the scene backwards.
Following the graduation of last year’s seniors and the onboarding of five new freshmen, the team has some momentum to regain, but is on track to being a fully functioning unit.
“I really enjoy the community. Everyone [on the team] — they’re all super fun, they’re super nice, they’re super inclusive,” Backhus said.
In the future, Backhus hopes the team will be able to implement some of the captains’ newer, more creative game ideas.
One such game involves a murder mystery. Though it’s not fully developed yet, the team is excited to try a variety of new game styles. Games the team plays are determined by the referee, who is open to taking suggestions from captains, but ultimately, decides the schedule.
In his second year doing Comedy Sportz, Backhus feels that improv is a practical skill that not only helps with being an actor, but also for going into the professional world, where such skills will be tested through interviews and networking. He also enjoys the community that emerges from attempting new games and building team morale together.
“It’s just a great space where you can be free to do whatever you want, because it’s improv — you can do whatever and have fun with people who you get really close with, and that community is something that I really value about the team,” Backhus said.
