A theatrical throwdown took place this year between FHN’s Masque Players and FHC’s Spotlight Players on March 6. The first annual Battle of The Howells Improv and Acting competition was very well received, with FHN coming out on top, winning four out of six individual performance events and two out of three rounds of improv.

“Central did pretty well,” Senior Zion Perry said. “They had pretty funny and skilled actors.”

There were five performance events for acting and singing. Performers included freshmen Natalie Meers, Bryce James, Erik Henze, and Chase Dishon, sophomores Jenna Weber, Caroline Blanke, and Zoë Meier, and juniors Leann Smyth, Anjolina Blackwell, and Nico Boenitz. Each were scored by the same guidelines as done by the International Thespian Society in events such as the Missouri Thespian Convention, which the drama club attended earlier this year in January. The winning events were solo musical, duet musical, duet acting, and the group skit.

“One of the characters I was told to portray in one of the improv events was a computer nerd and one of the questions the judges asked my character was what my favorite snack was,” Senior Zion Perry. “I wanted to say fruit snacks, but I also wanted to say something with microwave, so it accidentally came out as ‘my mother’s microwaved fruit snacks’. It was very funny, and did not sound out of place at all. I was actually really proud of how my brain decided to work that on it’s own.”

The improv events involved a random assortment of three games chosen out of a pool of seven. The judges, made up of former alumni, chose the games at the beginning of the round for the eight person improv team, captained by Senior Riley Lawson to compete against Central’s team. 

“I love standing up in front of people,” Junior Austin Goff said. “I loved being the center of attention and it was a really fun way to show off my boisterous personality.”

Although the performers were well received and made very talented expositions, the spectacle also involved three hosts who added humor and charm with their antics to the already chaotic event. Juniors Francisco Jimenez, Austin Goff, and senior Jordan Keating were the hosts for the night and they added some improv of their own as they worked to keep the show running smoothly. Ultimately what made the night memorable were the judges interests in the participant’s favorite colors as they waited to write down results, the comically timed jokes on the side, and the spontaneous singing of the Star Spangled Banner to end the night.

“Every time we would have a pause, and the person who was set to perform next would stand in the middle of the stage a good minute the judges would ask questions like ‘what’s your favorite color?” senior Zack Wellman said, “And one time this happened we had a big fight over the color lilac and what it was.”