After a long, well-memorized scene, a silent pause signaled the actress that it was her turn to exit the stage. But instead of exiting stage right, the actress walked out the wrong door sending the scene and its actors into a temporary panic. Yet the actors quickly adapted to the situation.

This situation embarrassed Jamie Meadows, ’03, when the drama class visited Sunrise Retirement home a few months ago. Many actors have gone through awkward moments and through this they learn how to react.

“The funny aspect about improv are the personalities of the actors that bring out their best work,” Meadows said. “When you accidentally put yourself in an especially embarrassing situation, it causes the other actors to perfect their craft through helping others.”

Meadows said this is just an element that comes along with the appraisal and hardships of acting.

The drama class has done all kinds of dramas, from comedy to serious material, with parts ranging from French nobility to Scottish terriers. The class has a wide array of variety in their class selections of dramas.

“Improv covers the basics for every actor,” Tom McEntee, drama adviser, said. “I want the students to consider God’s sovereignty over every aspect of life. Doing improv allows students to create and experience new realities within His realm.”

The characteristics of the actors in the class allow the students to utilize their creativity and invent unique dramas.

“I have started arranging our class to perform Theatre Sports at local churches,” McEntee said. “What we perform are not dramas but two teams that compete acts improving all the scenes. This provides the audience with amusement and takes a load off of the actors since they do not have to learn all the lines.”

The campus drama class has tried many different types of scripts to allow the audience to get the most out of each drama. They believe one of the best things about their drama class itself is that they have a broad variety of acting ability so there are no limits to their performances.

“I have been in drama for six years,” Greg Tharpe, ’04, said. “I love the stage and believe I can exert my talent in different ways when I perform. Our class is a tight group and I think we perform well together.”

Tharpe, Lacy Hearnsberger, ’03, Paul Kinnear, ’06, and Jesse Madsen, ’05, will next perform improv games at the First Church of God on Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m.

The drama troupe will also create improv teams with the church youth group to teach drama skills through workshops. A couple of campus students will also give their testimonies to round out the evening.

Drama will also perform at the Fresno Christian Fine Arts evening, held at Fresno’s downtown Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium on March 18. The evening begins at 7:30 p.m. and cost $5. Call the high school office at 299-1695, ext. 128 for more information.