“Dare to live the life you dreamed of for yourself. Go forward and make your dream come true.”
This quote hanging on Simon Drew’s classroom wall describes KHS’ new Destination Imagination (DI) Improvisation team. This group strives to express themselves through acting. If students did not know better they might think Drew hung it for the DI team who reveal their personalities through acting.
They formed earlier this year under the guidance of their sponsor, Drew. Now, members are preparing for competitions. This year five students are presidents of the team: Jaime Gann, Jack McGee and Mahrine Fatema, seniors, with Mick Orr and Blayne Fox, juniors.
For Gann, the decision to join the DI team was easy because she had already participated in the Improvisation Club which has been part of KHS. This club is also lead by Drew.
Being a leader of the DI team requires focus, responsibility and knowledge of the concept of improvisation. The presidents said they are excited to be the group’s leadership.
“A lot of us have that leadership ability because we all are unique people,” Gann said. “We all stand out so much and want to influence the group in some way.”
McGee said no one has a specific role on the team. They are all improvisors and have to follow specific rules to be able to improvise properly. To master these skills the team meets every Monday after school to practice.
These rules include that participants can never say ‘no’ while acting. If this happens, other team members cannot build off of this comment to keep the skit going. Second, communication is key. The seven members of the team have to carefully listen to each other so they do not talk over one another. Finally, they all must keep speaking and know when to stop.
According to Gann, she enjoys going to practices in Drew’s classroom because of the unexpected skits Drew throws at the team to perform. However, her favorite aspect is the group’s dynamic.
“[It’s] almost like those people are meant to be there. The people who are not afraid to express their true colors are the people who have trouble fitting into other places,” Gann said. “I think that it’s what makes our group work so well together. We embrace not having a category, embrace not being scripted and embrace not having a social label.”
Before competitions the DI team is given the skit’s scenario they have to perform. This way the team has time to rehearse their characters and plot. Before they present to the judges, each team is given an object they must incorporate into the skit, and a method of communication such as involving a television talk show.
Judges look for creativity and teamwork. Once all of the judges have made their mark, the scores are added together. The higher the score the better.
Drew said one competition the DI team will go to are regionals. The two teams that earn the most points from the judges will advance to state. If they are able to achieve a top two spot again, they will go to nationals.
Gann, McGee and Orr all agree improvisation is hard and requires a lot of work and concentration.
“[The team has] to be a lot more organized than the club,” Orr said. “The DI team is actually kind of stressful. Improvisation is really hard [because] there is a lot of stuff that goes into it.”
Although it is hard work, the team hopes that by the end of the year the school will be interested in the team and take part in acts and shows the team will perform. To reach this goal, the team must put in a lot of effort and focus.
Drew said the team knows how to have fun at practices, but are also able to become intense with their work.
“It’s a good combination of being sometimes completely flaky in a good way, but also being very critical of themselves,” Drew said.
Gann said that overall, the team appreciates each other’s true personalities.
“Everybody you meet there is full of life. Instead of standing in the background, we are all putting ourselves out there and expressing ourselves all the time,” Gann said. “These people are all very self-expressive and not afraid to show their true colors.”
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