ROCKINGHAM — Participants had to rely on their quick wits Thursday evening during Richmond Community Theatre’s first Improv Night of 2021.
“You’re gonna have fun,” Theatre Director Merrie Dawkins told the audience, before turning the event over to interns Mia Franco and Bella Provenzano.
The format was much like the television show “Whose Line is it Anyway?” and included some of the same improvisational games.
First up was Scenes from a Hat, where participants had to act out a scenario written on a piece of paper. Those scenes included “celebrity on the moon” and “things not to say on a date.”
The second game involved the actors changing emotions, ranging from confused to extremely happy to tired.
The scenario, buying coffee at a coffee shop, ironically featured Specked Paw Rock co-Manager John Marsh as the barista dealing with his own emotions, as well as those of his customers.
The following game involved props — specifically a rainbow clown wig and bonnet — where two teams went back and forth coming up with creative alternatives for their given items.
Marsh returned to the stage, along with fellow co-manager Jah, to act as first-graders giving an acceptance speech — being honored for keeping their masks on for 30 seconds — in the Awards Night game.
Next up was the Question game, where two actors had to carry on a conversation using only questions, and Runway, which challenged two participants as fashion designers to discuss the three models with the theme from the audience: “Life on Mars.”
During the Question game, the lights flicked off an on, prompting several to lay blame on the theater’s ghost.
The seventh game was Party Quirks, which, along with Props, was often featured on the aforementioned improv show. In that game, the host has to guess the quirks of his guests, which included Dawkins.
The Three Things game required the audience to guess which place, animal and object the participants were acting out. That was followed by the A-Z game, which, similar to the Question game, has two people carrying on a conversation where each sentence has to start with a letter of the alphabet in sequential order.
The final game of the night was Addicts Anonymous, where Marsh — returning this time as a counselor — had to guess the addictions of all 10 of his clients, which ranged from chocolate to grass, and shoes to shopping.
The next two Improv Nights are slated for July 22 and Aug. 19, starting at 6:30 p.m.
