In a scene set in a supermarket, Rory Ziomek ’13 and Brendan O’Connell ’13, members of Under the Bed, Andover’s student improvisational group, tied together various ideas from the audience to create a witty dialogue about watermelon sushi. To start off the night, Miles Neumann ’15 and Corbin Lee ’13 played a game called “Oh No, You Didn’t,” which lead to an impromptu stage conversation about slutty pumpkins, a theme suggested by a member from the audience. Their straightforward and lighthearted jokes were perfect starters to the night as the audience waited anxiously for the next act. The group resumed with another game “Bell Curve,” which was set in a fictional sandwich shop. The scene featured multiple situations that changed constantly, creating a purposefully confusing skit for the audience. At different times, the sandwich shop setting transformed into the scenes of a cleaning game, a therapy session and a game of leapfrog. At the beginning of each skit, the group asked the audience to give suggestions for topics from various categories, such as a type of food, the name of a person at school or a non-geographical place. “It’s great how they incorporated random sentences from the audience and built their skit around it. They really did connect to the audience, which made everything better,” said Armaan Singh ’14. In previous years, Under the Bed has mostly performed in Steinbach Theater. However, because of venue issues, the group decided to host last week’s performance in the Theatre classroom. “The [Theatre classroom] room itself is intimate, and the more intimate you get with the audience, the better connection you make. So it’s nice to throw in a performance in the Theatre classroom once in awhile,” said Vincent Mocco ’15, a member of Under the Bed. “Basically, what you saw was a rehearsal. If you watched us practice, this would be pretty much what you would be seeing us do,” said Jackie Murray ’13, a member of Under the Bed. Because last year’s Under the Bed consisted of mainly of Seniors, last weekend’s performance was many group members’ first opportunity to display their comedic talent. The new Under the Bed members include Ziomek, Lee, Kristin Mendez ’13, Murray, Andrew Vallejos ’14, Sophia Lloyd-Thomas ’14, Vincent Mocco ’15, Robert Irvin ’15, Jack Shumway ’15, Miles Neumann ’15 and Gabe Braunstein ’16. “Working together and supporting each other is the most important part to improve. A one person show can be funny, but the funniest things are when there are other [actors] there to support you,” said Mocco. “It was definitely different compared to the previous Under the Bed shows because a lot of the Seniors [from the Class of 2012] left, but collectively, it was a funny show. As usual… I really enjoyed it,” said Molly Magnell ’14, an audience member.
