Baldwin High's improv group has is busy practicing its craft after school in advance of the Georgia Thespian Convention that will be held in February. 

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Improvisation is a great skill to have as an actor, and a contingent of Baldwin High theatre students is learning to hone that skill with the school’s new improv group, Error 404 Script Not Found.

Improv is a form of off-the-cuff comedy where no scripts are used and the number one rule is to always reply to any onstage idea, no matter how crazy, with “yes, and…”

BHS English teacher Nick Thompson has helped with some of the school’s bigger productions, but his own improv background had him wanting to get a group started with his students.

“In college I actually helped found the Georgia College improv group The Armed Farces, which is still going on, so I’ve always had an interest in improv,” Thompson said. “This year we just had a lot of interested kids and a lot of talent so we had an audition for a team in November. Since then they’ve been rehearsing and preparing.”

How does one rehearse for a production that doesn’t include a script? Thompson leads his students through different improv games where they are put on the spot to keep the story going and others where students are only allowed to say a certain number of words.

“Actually, improv has a lot of strategy and technique to it,” Thompson said. “It has to do with building a story, not just telling jokes, accepting character traits from another person, focusing on having a plot and a story and a character rather than being funny. The humor comes from the ridiculousness of using audience suggestions and them having to be true to the audience suggestions while trying to stay true to the scene.”

Senior Hayden McCullough said he was introduced to improv through a popular television show and has really enjoyed his time with the group.

“Improv has always been something that’s interested me a lot,” he said. “Even as a little kid I used to watch ‘Whose Line is it Anyway’. Once I got into theatre we did improv a lot as warm-ups before shows and when Mr. Thompson said that we were starting a troupe I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll definitely join.'”

London Henry, another senior at BHS, said her time with the group has taught her to think outside the box.

“The best thing I’ve learned through improv is I’ve kind of found my ability to not really stick with the rules and not really be so strict and so clean,” said Henry. “I can be inappropriate sometimes, as crazy as that sounds. This is a group of really talented kids, and you’re all put together and there are just things flying out of your mouth. It’s hilarious.”

The still fairly new group will compete at the Georgia Thespian Convention in February, but won’t have the luxury of working together. The eight students in the BHS group auditioned to be part of the five that will compete with other students throughout the state.

“Those five are actually going to be split up and be put on teams with entirely different people, so nobody on a team will know each other,” said Thompson. “The idea is to be able to adapt to whoever your partners are so they don’t build up strategies with each other — that it’s purely teamwork.”

Error 404 Script Not Found will put on a show locally Saturday in the little theatre at Baldwin High School. Thompson said the audience will play a crucial role at the local improv night.

“They will help build the show, so nothing will be predetermined,” the English teacher said. “The only thing that will be predetermined will be a couple of games, but the topics and what the scenes are about are going to be determined by the audience that’s there.”

The show starts at 6 p.m. and there is no admission fee, but donations are encouraged to help support the school’s theatre department.