Amie Gossett

The improv team and other members of the International Thespian Society poses at the Missouri State Thespian conference. It was the first day of the event, and the students had gathered at the Stifel Theatre to watch another high school theatre department’s rendition of “We Live by the Sea.” “[My favorite part of the conference] was probably the shows we saw. There were schools that attended that put on whole entire shows. [Some of them were] absolutely humongous. It was awesome,” senior Luke Mathiesen said.

The improv team earned a Superior rating at the Missouri State Thespian (MST) Conference at Union Station. Over 50 schools from all over Missouri gathered to compete in several theatre-related events. The conference lasted three days, during which Missouri’s theatre departments put on shows and musicals, attended acting and tech workshops, competed for scholarships and learned about careers in theatre. 

The MST improv team included seniors Shannon Dobson, Luke Mathiesen, Griffin Morse and Jackson Gillespie, who attended the conference along with four other students. There was also a team competing in a technical challenge relating to lighting, sound and set design.

“I love going there. Everything was super interesting to me. I learned things that I didn’t think I would ever learn, I learned circus skills. There was this guy who was a professional clown. He just taught us to juggle and spin plates on top of sticks,” Dobson said. “I also learned how to be a better actor and channel my emotions. It was cool and awesome to be able to learn in this way.”

The improv competition, Improv Intensive, involved three games where each team had random scenarios to improv. The games included a dance-off, a podcast about bowling and a news story about sending kids to school. The improv team was one of the few to get a superior rating out of the 30 teams that competed. 

“The hardest part about [these games] was not knowing them ahead of time. A lot of it is kind of like a mental game. It comes with relaxing and not being nervous on stage,” Mathiesen said. “It’s just getting over stage fright, and once you’re past that, it all just comes naturally. It is a little difficult, but [it gets easier] as long as you’re engaged and paying attention.”

Mathiesen is one of the captains and the only one attending the conference who’s been doing improv for more than a year. Although there are practices every Monday and Tuesday after school, the four team members had never improved together before this event. There was also a limited number of students from the theatre department going to the conference, so the team was thrown together rather quickly. 

“I love my team. We like hanging out with each other, we’ve got inside jokes and we’re just able to bounce off of each other well. We know what makes us laugh, and usually, what makes us laugh is what makes other people laugh,” Dobson said. “I was nervous about it because improv is out of my comfort zone, and this is the first year I’ve been on the improv team. It’s just a freaky feeling, being so exposed and not having something rehearsed in your head, but [my teammates] made it so much better.”

The team found out about their victory on the last day of the conference and hoped their success would get more people interested in improv. Also, with the school’s improv tryouts coming up after the next improv show, the team hopes to recruit more members who have a passion for acting.

“It felt awesome [to win] because I wasn’t expecting it. I watched a lot of the other scenes, and they did well. I flipped [when I found out that we won],” Mathiesen said. “For ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare,’ I was the absent captain, and I’ve been given the nickname of the ‘absent father’ for improv. So my goal [this semester] is just to be a better improv captain because I’ve been gone a while with [the winter show]. [To anyone thinking about joining improv], don’t be scared, just do it. Like I said, once you get past the stage fright, it all just comes naturally.”