On  Friday, Sept. 16 supporters of both Citrus Valley High and Redlands East Valley High School’s Comedy Sportz teams gathered in the Blackhawk Theater for Citrus’ first home match of the 2016­-17 school year. Comedy Sportz is competitive improvisation where two teams fight for an audience’s laughter and applause in order to win.

The lights in the theater dimmed as “Mr. Voice”,  the commentator of Comedy Sportz matches, welcomed the audience to the night’s match. Both teams in the 7:00 pm Junior Varsity match were Citrus teams.

Sophomore Jackson Bottorff, who played on the red team during the JV match had a few things to say about his time preparing throughout the match.

How was the preparation process for the match?  

Bottorff: Great. We always play warm up games like Whoosh or Zip Zap Zop to get energy up.  (In theatre, warm­ up games are played to make sure team members stay energetic during a  performance.)

What was going through your head knowing that you were going to play in the match that would set the mood for the rest of the night?  

Bottorff: It’s a cool feeling, especially knowing that we were the first to play on stage this year.  It’s mostly an extra incentive to bring out the best energy to the stage.  
​
Lastly, how did you feel about the audience energy you were receiving? Was it what you expected beforehand?  

Bottorff: It was much better than I expected. Since there were other events going on at the time, I anticipated a very small audience. Since there were a lot of theatre students as  well as alumni, the energy was great.    

After the Junior Varsity match, REV supporters flooded in to see their players in the Varsity match. The energy in the audience was high, as per usual for a Comedy Sportz match, filled with whooping, hollering, and outrageous laughter for the players onstage. The games were performed with a captivating hilarity, keeping the audience engaged and energized throughout the match. 

At the end of the match, Citrus Valley was declared the winner. The match concluded with the traditional slow-motion fight sequence that culminated with the players being announced and exiting the stage. 

Both REV and Citrus will host more Comedy Sportz matches throughout the rest of the year, with Citrus competing again on October 14.