Funny from nothing
February 23, 2010
By Christopher Huber
Eastlake comedy improv troupe is one of the best in the Seattle area
For Eastlake senior Nahani Toda-Peters, the best part of doing improvisational theater is the moment a good joke comes out by accident. The crowd erupts in laughter and she surprises herself with the hilarity of what she just said.
“When you fail but try so hard is what makes it so funny,” she said.
Toda-Peters is one of the 11 members of Eastlake High School’s Aw Snap! improv team, a relatively new facet of the drama club. It’s also one of the more successful high school comedy teams in the Seattle area after winning the 2009 Jet City Seattle Open in December.
In its first-ever judged competition, Aw Snap! beat out 11 teams from public and private schools in the Puget Sound area in two rounds of competition. Show director Chris Dewar, who watched Eastlake’s winning 15-minute finals performance Dec. 13, cited the team’s energy.
“The group energy was what helped them to the championship round,” Dewar said. “Each one of them had a moment to shine.”
As the students awaited their fate in the contest, team captain Alex Trewin said he stayed at the back of the crowd, worried they would lose. But when the judges called “Eastlake High School,” his feelings changed.
“I was in shock, and I looked at my family and they were laughing at me,” Trewin said.
Teammate Abigail Johnson was on a plane from South Africa when the team won, but she still felt a lot of pride, she said.
“I cried when I found out,” Johnson said.
The competition consisted of short routines — 10 minutes in the preliminary round and 15 minutes in the finals.
While the other schools performed only a few different improv games with smaller teams, the 11-strong Eastlake managed to entertain with five games, Trewin said.
“They kept the momentum going, which I think was in their favor,” Dewar said. “They used their time to the fullest.”
Silas Lindenstein, the club’s advisor, attributes Aw Snap’s success to their organization, strong senior leadership and overall team cohesiveness.
They practice twice a week after school and Trewin and Johnson mostly run things, he said.
They devote time outside of practice to learning improv techniques and are able to teach the rest of the team, all juniors and one sophomore, important tricks and methods.
Each member is fearless, he said.
“Doing improv takes a lot of fearlessness because you don’t know what comes next,” Lindenstein said.
It also takes brains, Johnson said.
“Improv is the perfect combination of comedy and intelligence,” she said. “It takes a lot of brain power and practice. It takes a lot of work to get good at improv.”
Trewin joked about his friends pointing out the irony of having to practice for improv club. It’s improv, you make it up as you go. But there’s a technique one must master to actually make people laugh, he said. It’s not like memorizing lines for a move or a play, but takes alertness and crowd interaction.
“The audience does add a special element to it,” Trewin said.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.
Other Stories of Interest: Eastlake High School
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