AHS’s and Cuesta’s Improv Teams join forces for hilarious ‘Panic Basket’ show Review

From left are Kirra Buhagiar, Kenny Neely (AHS alumni), Payton Rain (AHS alumni), Brendon Haydon, Colby Stith (AHS alumni), and Austin Baro (AHS alumni) during the “Panic Basket” Improv Show. Photo by Eden Rodriguez

Several AHS alumni, currently at Cuesta College, came back to campus to perform with the current AHS Improv Team on Thursday, Dec. 12, at the AHS Black Box Theater. Drama teacher Ms. Volpa directed “Panic Basket,” which was a comical show that delighted the audience.

The Black Box was packed as both Improv teams played ridiculous games that generated plenty of laughs. Despite the current AHS students and the alumni playing multiple games throughout the night, the most memorable was a game where the crowd participated by giving words to finish the prompt, “What's in my soup?” Once a young boy was chosen and said “a cannibal!” The volunteer then had to say to each actor “Waiter, there's a cannibal in my soup.” The actors then used this as a prompt for an improvisational scene. One hilarious moment was when an actor from Cuesta stuck his finger in the pretend “soup,” looked at the volunteer in the eye, and said, “now there's two.” This was received with mad laughter from the crowd, and the volunteer started to giggle helplessly.

At another point in the show there was a scene with two pairs of siblings; the older brother had to do the internal dialogue of his younger sibling, and a younger brother did the same for an older sister. That was also one of my favorite scenes.

The actors were great at thinking on their feet. Each actor was full of personality and was able to keep jokes rolling throughout the night, which created a sense of family for everyone present. I would definitely go to an Improv performance again.