![MORE THAN A GAME. With two diving catches in the outfield, the Lions showed up defensively, aiding in their victory over the Pacers. One catch was made by Atwood, and the other by McGraw. Throughout the game, the Lions knew that it wasn’t just about their victory today. “I think [playing for cancer] makes it bigger than just a game,” McGraw said. “Knowing that you have a bigger impact in this world than just who you are as one person.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/I70A1454-1-1200x800.jpg)
![Students in the National Art Honor Society work on the Mount Hood mural on the window of SouthLake Church. The students brought a variety of paints and mixed their own custom colors. “Instead of brushstrokes, we’re doing more dabbing, because it gives [a] better impression of tree foliage, rather than looking like actual brush strokes, because if we’re painting trees, we need it to look like trees,” Crawford said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_2397-1200x900.jpg)
*WEB CONTINUATION: This article originally appeared in Volume 106 Issue 2 of our news magazine, Amplifier.
After only six rehearsals, the West Linn High School Improv Troupe performed in The Black Box theater on Dec. 12 and 13. Led by Eric Nepom, director and professional improviser, students performed a show without scripts or prep, having to make up the stories and jokes as they performed.
“We [essentially] had four [days] in the end, because of how much we changed things around on the schedule. [But] we’re talking about a few short hours on each one of those days,” Nepom said. “Taking 19 students in that short period of time and still being able to put on a productive, enjoyable, [and] entertaining show that feels almost rehearsed, is a skill set that just doesn’t exist as easily in scripted work.”
Nepom believes that improv is a great opportunity for any students interested in using theatre as a starting-off point.
“Originally, the improv program was an opportunity for people who either weren’t into the musical or that were maybe a little newer to the theater world,” Nepom said. “An opportunity for them to perform, to play together, to see the ensemble, [and] to see the process before they get into the mix.”
Cadence Cox, senior, started doing improv her freshman year and has been in the community since.
“[The community is] so supportive,” Cox said. “We have lots of people with lots of different backgrounds that give very different ideas. Sometimes they’ll overlap really well, and sometimes they don’t. But when they don’t, that’s great, because it allows for lots of ideas that we might not think of. It opens up lots of worlds.”
While not having a script may seem daunting, Kyla Hennessey, sophomore, views the challenge a different way.
“With improv, you always have something to go off of,” Hennessey said. “You’re never stuck. Someone else will always come up with something to add on. What makes you good at improv is just trusting yourself and trusting your castmates to help you and pick up where you left off. Having that trust between you two is very important. It’s like a trust fall.”
Nepom believes that improv is something anyone can be good at, because it’s something we do in our everyday lives every time we have a conversation.
“I think today’s society isn’t great [at] communicating with other people, because we do a lot more of it through screens and such,” Nepom said. “So doing [improv] is a big extra step as well.”
