Competing against eight other schools, Westfield High's thespians won the Fairfax County Theatre Sports Championship, May 21, at Robinson Secondary School. Comprising Westfield's team were Derek Rommel, Jon Lawlor, Megan Henry, Reaves McElveen, Joe Schumacher and Kevin Knickerbocker.
Students had to improvise four scenes, or challenges. After the first two, all but three schools were eliminated. They then competed in the last two challenges and, when the dust cleared, Westfield was on top, with Robinson and West Springfield coming in second and third.
"Since we're all seniors and have a lot of experience together, it was a lot of fun to go out on a win," said Westfield team member Megan Henry, 17. "It tied up our high-school careers very nicely."
Robinson drama director Chip Rome refereed. He told the students which challenges to do and gave them different variables — from which they picked three — to include in the scenes. The challenges were "Space Jump," "Dubbing," "Styles" and "One-on-One Love Scene," and five of the six team members acted in each.
Space Jump's variables were a wheelchair, a proper Englishman and a volcano. "Derek was British royalty, I led a tour group around a volcano and Kevin taught us how to be pickpockets while pickpocketing us," said Henry.
"Dubbing's" variables were Bambi, a giant cicada and a place where hot dogs wouldn't be sold. Two students were on stage, and two were their voices, off stage. "Derek was a voice for Jon, who portrayed a rabbi selling hot dogs," said Henry. "I was a member of his synagogue and Joe was my voice. Kevin played a cicada who bounced across the stage. We were talking about plagues, so it seemed to fit."
In "Styles," students had to act their scene in different styles of theater, changing each time the referee shouted. Westfield's styles included Kabuki and deep-sea documentary. "Reaves was a fish and actually received an award for 'Best Fish,'" said Henry. "Derek was Robin Williams, and we had a Kung Fu fight."
The variables for "Love Scene" were a Speedo, Oprah Winfrey and a trailer park, and actors were judged on the sincerity of their scene. In this challenge, Lawlor played Oprah and Rommel was an old man who lived in a trailer and was in love with Oprah. Schumacher played Dr. Phil, who counseled the couple.
Lawlor, 18, liked "Space Jump" best because it was the most traditional of all the challenges. "It's one of the staples for all improv games because 'Space Jump' is one of the first improvs [that actors] learn to do," he said. "And it incorporates all five players in the challenge equally. Each gets to start a new scene within the challenge, and each scene is different than the one before it."
"I was a man in a wheelchair," said Lawlor. "I had parked on a hill and couldn't control the wheelchair. I rolled downhill, and Derek was trying to catch me." As for Westfield's victory, he thought its team had a good chance of winning.
"I was hopeful we would, but there are a lot of good teams and anything can happen," he said. "I'm ecstatic about our win because it was the seniors' last one."
The first scene of "Space Jump" was McElveen's favorite scene. "Derek, Jon and I were getting onto a rollercoaster and made funny faces going downhill," he said. Regarding the competition, he said Westfield won it last year, too.
"We know our team's really strong, but we never expect to win," said McElveen. "It's just fun to get out there and have a good time because we're all really good friends."
Schumacher, 18, said "Styles" was his favorite sketch. "I enjoyed that because it allows you to explore a lot of stock characters," he explained. "It's a very open game that moves freely because the styles change. But the danger is that it can get out of control very quickly, so you have to keep the energy at the right level."
He played an older, soap-opera star, plus someone who did the commentary for Kabuki movies. "This scene was really fun because you got to introduce so many aspects of comedy — physical aspects, word play and solid comic timing," said Schumacher. "Improv is fun because it's an art form that comes right off the top of your head and it's a comic reflection of all the absurdities you encounter in daily life."
Knickerbocker liked portraying a cicada. "It's fun to branch out and play things that aren't human because physical comedy is my forte," he said. He also did a walk-on as Bambi.
In "Love Scene," Rommel was a Speedo-clad old man having a date with Oprah. "Dr. Phil was trying to date her, as well," he said. "We all ended up on the set of a movie. Improv's my favorite thing to do because it's no-holds-barred. It's unpredictable and you can take it anywhere you want at any particular moment. And I had the pleasure of doing it with five people who love it as much as I do."