Witty comments, sass and raw humor were presented by lively actors to the audience of the Ventura High School’s Winter “Snowcase” Showcase. Hilarious scenes fueled two hours of fun on this calm Friday night, but the Ventura High Theater Arts Department also didn’t forget their more serious and melancholy acts.
The VHS Drama Department kicked off the night with “Dead Parrot,” a Monty Python act. British accents and all, this skit warmed up the audience with its story of a man who walks into a store looking for a replacement for his dead parrot and gets a series of funny rejections.
Also in the first act was a monologue of a mom speaking with her kids over the phone. She lectures them and acts like a typical mother does when she is on the phone with her children, yelling and asking, “Wait, what did you say?!” repeatedly. This scene had all the moms and kids in the audience laughing, since it was something they’ve all experienced.
The serious scene in act one was “They Sent a Psychic,” presenting the interaction of a man who had a missing wife and a psychic who is in charge of figuring out where the missing wife is. The skit gets more and more tense as they progress and figure out where she is.
After act one, the lights flickered on and off as a group of students ran up on the stage yelling “What?!” Ventura High’s What? Improv Troupe took the stage and entertained the audience with the raw, on-the-spot, humor that we all love. They played games like “park bench” where one member tries to move a another member off of a bench by making them feel awkward, scared, or just plain uncomfortable.
VHS senior Austin Duncan said that he enjoyed the park bench game the best.
“I liked the park bench. It’s just funny seeing everyone’s reactions and the weird stuff they do,” Duncan said.
What? also had other games. In one game, one member would begin a monologue and then others would stop them and pick up where they left off. This had the audience hysterical as troupe members pretended to be Beverly Hills dog owners at a park.
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After the first act and improv session, an intermission followed, where the audience could buy snacks, write a motivational letter to anyone who was participating in the show, or buy an auction ticket for a “Theater Night Basket.”
Act two featured “Radio Show,” a spoof of NPR, a radio station that mainly urban “hipsters” listen to. This skit talked about scooter gangs and the imposing threat they are causing in today’s society, and also had various advertisements in the same style that mocked NPR’s smooth jazz background music. This skit was performed and completely written by seniors Leilani Boren, Matthew Goodkin-Gold, and Tess Tait.
Goodkin-Gold enjoyed this particular scene because he prefers writing and it was fun to act out his own skit.
“I really like writing more than I like acting, that’s the side of improv that I like more, ” he said.
In the second act, they also performed the classic “Who’s On First?” baseball skit, as well as a serious act where a young woman contemplated suicide and explained her feelings to her brother and others.
This whole event was a fun two hours for the audience and a place where they could see a variety of acts come together for a pleasurable night.
This was not only a well worthy experience for the audience though, experienced and inexperienced actors alike were able to practice their skills and build confidence on stage.
Stefoni Rossiter, the director of the VHS Theater Arts Department enjoys events like the Winter Showcase particularly because it’s a show where the typical student gets a chance to perform in front of a live audience.
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At this show, you knew you were going to laugh with each scene, unless it was a serious one where it truly invoked some sad emotions, and it was entertaining to watch people interact during the improv session. The variety of acts and riotous improv made the Winter “Snowcase” a fun event for a Friday and Saturday night.
