LOS ALAMITOS, CA –The LosAl Live Comedy team held both a 4 p.m. show and a 7 p.m. show in Room 513, with tickets selling for $10 at the door. The premiere set out to provide a riveting experience for its audience through occasionally interactive improv games performed by students. Four students comprised the Grey Team facing off against the Black Team of four teachers for each show. Dave Barker judged both competitions and based the winner of the two teams on the group that accumulated the most points.

Barker has led the LosAl Live program for the past 13 years, with tryouts hosted at the beginning of each school year. Practice takes place on Wednesdays after school; this year’s LosAl Live Team incorporates the likes of drama students, members of the marching band, an ASB member, students on Griffin News, choir students, and athletes. The current team has 17 members. Before shows, the team runs through different games while the audience decides the topics used as material in said games during the show. Teachers also met before the show to go over the order of games performed during the show; teachers new to LosAl Live got a chance to understand the rules and how the games function.

Lori Franzen, a teacher participant in the production, reveals that she loved engaging with “colleagues and with the students in the population on a very different level than…in the classroom” because of the comedic value interactions like this provide.

Team member Grace Dejongh says that trying to “be in the moment” helps performance and posits, “it…helps [when] you say the first thing that comes to mind.” Dejongh has been a part of the ensemble since freshman year and recommends that “people who want to have fun and make new friends should join the team.”

Barker mentioned that “at any given show [save for the first and last of the year], there are 8-10 students participating.” Before last Friday’s show, team members set up a ticket booth for admission to the exhibition and a raffle to get free t-shirts distributed during the show.

As promised, the LosAl Live delivered a captivating display of the new LosAl Live Team for the year. Audience members felt very inclined to participate; there was a top-notch performance effort given by both students and teachers, with the teachers coming out on top at each premiere. Of the teacher participants, Franzen claimed, “Nathan Howard is always the best.” Franzen also praised the caliber of the students on the Improv Team this year,“I expect great things from them.”