The Next Best Thing Improv group is a club here at SOU; they were founded in 2012 and celebrated their 10th anniversary this year. Last month, The Siskiyou wrote a club spotlight article on a show of The Next Best Things held back on October 21st. On December 2nd, The Next Best Thing held an exhibition to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the group’s founding and an excellent way to cap off 2022 and the Fall term for them.
The show was supposed to begin at 6:30, but due to technical issues on their YouTube channel. So, the start was 6:45. But once the glitch went away, the show began. The evening menu the audience could enjoy was Pizza, lemonade, and water.
The first game of the night was Fun Shop. Now the rules of Fun Shop have five players going through four scenes. It starts with two players of the four players; then another person joins, which changes the scene. When the fifth person enters, they will leave after some time and return to the previous scenes until they start back at the original one with the two initial players.
Once Fun Shop wrapped, they went into the second game, another five-player game, New Choice. One player presses the bell and changes what the other four players are saying or doing. Again, they asked the audience for a setting for the scene. The scene was on being set in a Spirit Halloween after Thanksgiving.
The third game was Foreign Film Dub. It has four players, two actors acting in a film scene and speaking gibberish, and from a genre, the audience picked a romantic comedy. At the same time, the other two players would come up with a translation of what the two leading players were saying and doing.
The fourth game was Survivor with a Twist. When there are four players in a scene, then after a round is over, they close their eyes, and the audience cheers for which character dies; after they die, that player becomes a puppet controlled by another one of the living players. Again, the game was long due to the length of the rounds, as it lasted until three players became puppets for the last Survivor. After Survivor with a Twist, we reached the show’s halfway point and the 10-minute intermission.
The first game after the break was Three Scene Tag. Which had six players, split into three groups of two, and each group took turns before their respective scenes, but each time it changed, the set continued with what was last said in the previous stage before it.
The 6th game was called that guy named Larry, which focuses on players acting as co-workers in a work setting and adds a fourth player named Larry, who is a lousy boss, which creates a bad work situation. Before Larry showed up, the other players would talk about the issues Larry caused, leading to funny office-like problems.
The penultimate game was Half-Life. Four players act out a scene that lasts a minute, then they do it again in 30 seconds, then again in 15 seconds, then 7 seconds, ending with three seconds, then negative 15 seconds where they start from the ending. The focus of this scene was a suggestion from the audience, which was the assassination of Julius Caesar.
The last game included three alums as guests, two of whom were Emily Perry and Bekah Kenney, the two captains of the group last year, along with a previous member from last year, Forest. Which also included all players. The scene had everyone acting out a sideshow, where the current members acted how the three guests described—a perfect way to cap off the 10th anniversary.
If you are interested in joining the Next Best Thing, auditions will be next term, with dates still to be determined. However, keep an eye out for them during the Winter term club’s fair on Wednesday, January 18th, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, where they will have a table where you can sign up. For info on The Next Best Thing, follow their Instagram for updates on auditions and future shows.
