In Homer’s The Iliad, the mighty hero Odysseus bravely leaves his home with his army for the war in Troy. For ten whole years, Odysseus and his men wield their swords and shields in a perilous fight with the Spartans, the rivaling force. Many things happen over the course of those ten years; however, arguably, the most important event in this epic story is obviously…

The Trojan Horse.

Starting at the beginning of the year, The Trojan Horse was a more underground or “niche” subsection of the drama club; with the community’s support, it has grown into a thriving program that presents opportunities for performers to hone their skills and play games with others.

Wayzata High School’s improv comedy troupe, The Trojan Horse, is saddling up for a third show to end off the school year, and this time, they’ve brought noteworthy guests. In the past few months, The Trojan Horse has been working with multiple group games focused on collaboration, but they’ve also started to experiment with comedy sports. Their last show of the year, The Trojan War, will feature some crazy competitive improv games, audience participation, and a heated battle between two teams composed of the most-skilled improvisers in the school.

Sammy Terres, the emcee for the next event, gave a few words on what audiences should expect from the next show.

“Expect a lot of laughs because we have double the amount of performers. I think there’s gonna be way more of an encouragement to make everyone try way harder to be funnier, so I think everyone’s gonna be going to more extremes with their comedy.”

Many of the improv group leaders are expecting this new introduction of competition to heighten the performance of the actors, since they’ll be awarded for making big and weird decisions. Some of these strange decisions that I observed at their last meeting included an impromptu karaoke of “Honey I’m Good” by Andy Grammar, Jed Adamow becoming a literal wrecking ball, and a strange “Five Nights at Freddy’s”-style Mickey Mouse animatronic whose body was piloted by Riley, and whose arms were piloted by Bennet.

Riley Mann, the improv club president, also pitched in some information regarding the rehearsal process and what the performers are working on.

“It’s going to be different from our two previous shows because it’s the ‘Trojan war. There’s two opposing sides and they’re improvising against each other in a competition-style format. This is something we’ve never done here at Wayzata. It’s (also) something that should create a unique and amazing viewing experience.”

Riley also notes that he’s very excited for the night’s performance of “The Harold”, a classic long-form improv game, and that if audiences want to see any Trojan Horse show ever, it should be this one.

”It’s going to be a night to remember, and you should be there.”

The Trojan War is performing on May 11th at 7:00 PM in auditorium 2, and seating is open to everyone who wants to join in on the fun, even if you’re not a part of the drama club. The best part? It’s completely free! Every Trojan Horse show has first-come first-serve seating and doesn’t require any ticket purchases.

So, in the words of Riley Mann himself,

”Be there, or be square!” and enjoy the show!