At it again this past Sunday for their monthly show, Improv-A-Sutra filled the audience with laughter over their various Improv games for a consecutive two hours.
The event began around 7 p.m., with guests arriving no later than 7:15 p.m.
Nikleson Letham, Moorpark theatre student himself, played a spectator for the night and explained the dynamic behind Improv-A-Sutra’s October show.
When asked what it was, Letham explained, “It’s more of a concept than anything.”
This show’s concept was all about “Pregaming the Holidays,” something the nights’ flier pointed out.
The show opened with a video of Improv-A-Sutra in action at previous shows and games they had played in the past. It also had very serious footage, in parody-style, of the message that “Improvers” are unappreciated and crying out for attention and viewers.
The night consisted of 20 Improv games, running consecutively and breaking at number 12 for intermission.
Each game had its own storyline and rules to it, but the majority of them followed a universal theme of dependence. Dependence on audience and one another.
Games like “Hitchhiker”, “Change It”, and “Bed Time Story” were in high demand for audience participation for concepts and themes as well as dependence on one another amongst the actors to keep the scene running smoothly.
Coming to support their Moorpark-going friends, some students during intermission had things to say, and interestingly enough two out of three were involved in film and television in one way or another.
Rachel Blaznek, TV major at Cal Lu agreed with Lauren Aboytes, Liberal Arts major at Moorpark about how the dating games were her favorite.
Such games were not part and partial to the girls, they received laughs from the whole theatre house whenever they were going on.
Letham was involved in one such game, “Our First Date” where he came up on stage and shared a first date experience, and the actors later fabricated it, making a scene out of it.
When asked what he thought, Letham claimed, “I thought it was hilarious. I thought it was great.”
Other games revolved around word choice or certain topics, for instance “2 lines of Dialogue” and “30 Sec Stand Up.”
In “2 lines of Dialogue”, a game done two times, each player would have two lines that they would pull from their pockets during the scene, and they had to roll with whatever it said.
In “30 Sec Stand Up” the topic was “Barbie’s”, something six players to be exact committed to and made a scene about.
Often scenes, as stated had a lot of dependence on one another to run smooth and continue going. A skill John Lopreino, Performing Arts Director and Professor at Moorpark College, said in earlier interviews takes being “sophisticated enough to direct themselves and one another.”
Some games even had themes matching movies or concepts already made into films and books, like “Dr. Seuss News”, where each player would tell the news in a rhyme scheme and take a certain character, with certain audience-picked characteristics while doing so.
Speaking of Seuss, “Seussical The Musical” will be coming to High Street Arts Center Oct. 12 and running through November 18th, 2012.
For more detailed dates and times please visit
