Funny Side Up to perform winter show

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Sophomores Ali Niaz and Meredith Hendrix play an improv game of “Confessions.”

Funny Side Up, Hawk Theatre’s improv team, will present its winter show in the auditorium on Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5.

Funny Side Up members have been working since September, meeting every Friday morning to prepare for shows and competitions against other schools.

“The thing about improv is that it’s not scripted, so whatever happens happens, and so you just have to go with it,” sophomore Ali Niaz said. “It’s a lot of fun because a lot of weird but really funny and creative stuff can happen.”

The team is led by senior Dalton Currey, along with seniors Joseph Hoffman, Harper Lee and Andrew Hardaway, junior Krishna Nair, sophomores Meredith Hendrix and Ali Niaz, and freshmen Braxton Dietz, DaeJa Young, Emily Edgar, Madelyn Arriola and Natalie Rutherford.

“It’s fun because it’s different, every show and every rehearsal is different,” sophomore Meredith Hendrix said. “You never have the same thing. There’s such a good variety, which I think is really cool.”

Improv is played through a series of games, such as “Press Conference,” “Home Video,” “Ding,” “Party Quirks,” “Confessions” and many more. These games are designed to test creativity, quick-thinking and teamwork.

“It’s fun to work with all different grade levels,” freshman Madelyn Arriola said. “It’s also good to improve on something that helps the quality of [my] acting.”

The first half of the show will be short-form improv. The second half of the show will be long-form improv, which consists of three monologues, and nine scenes.

“I think it’s great because we get to experience what it’s like to work with different people other than our grade level, especially because we’re freshmen,” freshman Emily Edgar said. “We can learn a lot that we can use in the future.”

The improv team is also preparing to start block lunch performances in the cafeteria annex in the next few weeks.

“It’s cool to work with someone that you’ve watched,” freshman Natalie Rutherford said. “Like when you’re a kid and you’re in middle school, someone who inspired you.”