ComedySportz show and free workshop at PHS Jan. 29
The Plymouth High School Jolly Pranksters – the PHS ComedySportz High School League Comic Improvisation Team – will play a series of comic improvisation games in the PHS Amphitheatre beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29. Following their performance, professional ComedySportz coaches from Milwaukee will conduct a free workshop about comic improvisation.
ComedySportz was started by Dick Chudnow in Milwaukee 25 years ago, and is also played in several U.S. cities as well as in the United Kingdom.
A ComedySportz show involves two teams of players, or “act-letes,” who spontaneously create comedic scenes and skits. Each team competes to earn points that are awarded based on the audience response, and the team that is dubbed by the referee as being the funniest wins the match.
Audience participation is highly encouraged and an integral part of each show.
ComedySportz professionals also offer training in comic improvisation techniques to both adults and students.
The PHS Jolly Pranksters is the only high school comic improvisation team from Sheboygan County that competes in the ComedySportz High School League in Milwaukee. By offering this workshop in Plymouth, the hope is that area students will see how much fun being part of the ComedySportz High School League is and consider starting their own teams. The PHS Jolly Pranksters would really like to play comic improv games with local competitors.
With the creation of more local teams, more workshops and competitions could be held in Sheboygan County.
To be part of the Milwaukee ComedySportz High School League, student teams need an advisor and at least three players. Then each player pays $110 to attend five months of weekly comic improvisation workshops held in Milwaukee at the ComedySportz Arena.
After completing the workshops, team members begin competing in Milwaukee with other schools February through April, ending with a tournament that is held in May. Last year, the PHS Jolly Pranksters won the highly competitive tournament and currently have possession of the traveling trophy.
The public is invited to attend both the Jolly Pranksters’ performance and the workshop at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29, held in the PHS Amphitheatre, and admission is free. Although, donations to pay for the gas the ComedySportz professionals use to drive all the way up to Plymouth will be accepted at the door.
The 2009-10 PHS Jolly Pranksters Team members are seniors, Samantha DeVries, Leah Glassford, Luke Murray, Devon Riederer, Cody Wisman; junior, Marissa Murphy; and sophomores, Christopher Gideon, and Jesse Meyer (team captain).
For more information, contact Janet DeJean Newton, PHS English and drama teacher, at (920) 893- 6911.
