Imaginations run wild at WFL improv class

[ccfic caption-text format="plaintext"]

By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter

Where else but the Wellesley Free Library (WFL) could one witness the antics of a bank-robbing moose and his unwitting accomplice or find out what happens when a snobby hermit crab threatens to sue a restaurant for slow service?

These were just two ideas created on the spot during Improv for Middle Schoolers at the Wellesley Free Library on July 27.

Emma Caywood Hicks, a WFL librarian and former theater and improv teacher, facilitated the hour-long class by providing direction, feedback, and structure to the class. Hicks studied theater and improv at Northwestern University, bringing a wealth of knowledge of acting and improvisation to the class.

But Hicks did not squander any of the students’ ideas or suggestions. Instead, she believed in letting the incoming sixth, seventh, and eighth graders unleash their own imaginations and run the scenes, and then to critique and compliment them once they were finished.

In just five minutes, three middle school students performed an act in which Red Eyes, a Twitter-famous vampiric moose, takes a tour of the Egyptian pyramids with his frog sibling. In an attempt to get trending on Twitter, the moose starts touching the mummies and runs into trouble with a cat named Meow, who works at the museum. Of course, that doesn’t stop Red Eyes from asking Meow for the pyramids’ WiFi password.

While many of the improvisers brought great ideas and plans to the class, Hicks made sure the young comedians embraced the true spirit of improv, which means there is no plan.

Although the students chose whichever hand puppets they would like to use as their character, Hicks ensured that the scenes were improvised by asking students in the audience to give the performers a setting and relationship between the characters. When one student suggested a tropical beach for the setting and proposed the bank robber and accomplice relationship, the improvisers came up with a moose named Hairy See-A-Doctor Eyebrow, a fox named Mr. Feeny (inspired by the character of the same name from the television series “Boy Meets World”), and Bart, the interrupting giraffe.

In this short skit, Hairy Eyebrow is revealed to be a bank robber who had stolen $1.5 million in $10 bills. “Today is National Andrew Jackson Day and I hate Andrew Jackson,” said the moose’s puppeteer. “That’s why everything I steal is in Hamiltons.” Playing off of the word Hamilton, the other improvisers cleverly brought up the Broadway play, working the musical into the scene as well.

While some of the improvisers were more extroverted and eager to perform at every opportunity, Hicks ensured that every student had the chance to be involved and feel comfortable.

“Improv isn’t just about being funny,” said Hicks. “It’s about listening to each other and working with each other as a team.”