Saturday, December 27, 2014

Reflection #70 (Only 1006 to go): Improv and Other Non-athletic Activities


In early November, my wife and I went to Ignatius to watch our granddaughter perform as a part of the Improv Troop.   In our biased opinion, she was the best.  OK, OK!  It’s grandma and grandpa making that call, but she must be pretty good, because she is one of the three leaders of the group.
Improv is an interesting activity.   For the uninitiated, it is one of the performing arts, but there is no written script.  The cast participates in scenes that are called “games” in which the audience calls out certain conditions such as the characters occupation, nationality, and even personality type.   The actors must try to perform within those parameters with the objective being humor.
Image yourself on stage in front of family, friends and total strangers, being instructed to play, for example, a plumber with a French accent, trying to convince an space alien that he’s on the wrong planet, and doing it with no script.  Then make it funny and entertaining.   This requires both intelligence and courage.   I can’t think of any other realm in which this is done…except, of course, teaching math.
           
            I got to thinking about how many changes have occurred in the non-athletic extra-curriculars since I started at Ignatius 50-some years ago, so I went to the 1963 and 2013 yearbooks to compare.  One obvious difference is the number of activities.  The ’63 yearbook listed 21 activities; the 2013 yearbook listed 55.  It is probably needless to say that “Improv” was not an activity in ’63.   the activities list in 1963 included Potpourri, the talent show, and the Melody Knights which was the band.  Activities that were listed then-and-now were the Harlequins, Forensics and the Chess Team.  Perhaps counting the yearbook entries may not give the exact number for each year, but I’m pretty sure that it is a good indication.
There were also some other interesting differences.  For example, in 1963 there were no “ethic clubs”; in 2013, there were 8 listed.  This is not the same as “language” clubs.  In ’63 there was the French Club; in ’13, there were French, Latin, Spanish and Chinese. 

Another significant difference is the shift away from strictly religious organizations.   In ’63 there were the Mass Servers, the Apostleship of Prayer and Sodality.   Since then, activities have moved more toward “service” organizations, such as Peer Community Tutoring, Outdoor Ecology Club, Respect-Life Club, IETA, SCSA and SADD.  This reflects the direction that society at-large has moved.  There are several activities in which the purpose is not immediately evident, for example, Body, Mind and Spirit and  Do It Yourself Club.

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and that 2015 will be the best year yet…but not as good as 2016.