While dozens of drama students excel onstage during regular productions, smaller groups of ‘actletes’ enter the spotlight during Theater Sports tournaments. The Drama Department sponsored the latest of these county-wide competitions in Davala Hall on Jan. 11.

Theater Sports competitions require teams of participants from local schools to improvise dialogue about audience-selected topics, which panels of judges then score. The winning team receives what Douglas Rome, Director of Theatre Arts, calls the “Embarrassingly Large Trophy.”

“Theatre Sports is familiar to a lot of people through the [television program] ‘Whose Line is It Anyway?,’ but we got there first and have lasted longer,” Rome said. “If you haven’t been to this crazy night of comedy sketches, then you’re really missing something.  Topics could vary from a scene done in pantomime to one with an invisible torturer.”

Though the Drama Department did not field a team for this competition, senior drama veteran Jackson Viccora said he believes the event was still a valuable experience for the drama students in attendance.

“Everyone has something funny they can bring to the table, so if you start to learn from other people, then you yourself will become funnier,” Viccora said. “It was a night of hilarity for all.”

After sponsoring this Theater Sports competition, the Drama Department will participate in the upcoming one, scheduled for Friday, March 15.