Benicia High School improv team takes to the stage

The Hayley Horn Theater at Benicia High School filled with raucous laughter and clamors of excited audience participation when members of the Benicia Improvisational Theatre Ensemble (B.I.T.E.) took to the stage Friday night.

B.I.T.E, associated with Theater Arts Boosters Benicia, is a program aimed to encourage students to build upon their confidence, creativity, teamwork and "out of the box" thinking.

There are 24 students in the program, though only 22 performed in the show.

The cast and individual members performed a combined total of 21 games, sometimes with audience participation, other times with prompts at random between cast members.

A "ding!" from a service bell tapped by B.I.T.E. Director Nikki Clark marked either the end of the scene or the game.

The performance began with a disclaimer by B.I.T.E. member Isaiah Figueroa to the audience that if the audience deemed one of the jokes told on stage as inappropriate, the actor would be "brown bagged" -a penalty in which an actor must cover their face with a grocery bag for the remainder of the scene.

Fortunately, none of the actors donned the WinCo shopping paper bag for the remainder of the performance.

Throughout the show, members would approach the front of the stage and call out audience members by row section and encourage them to shout out their suggestions.

One game that called for audience participation was "Superheroes", in which the audience determined the "super mundane problem" the heroes faced. The audience chose the first hero name; the rest of the three names were spontaneously named by other members on stage.

"What is my super hero name?" B.I.T.E. member Jeremy Ross called out to the audience at the beginning of the game.

"Mr. Buttons!" shouted an audience member.

"What is my super mundane problem?" asked Ross.

"Too many lentils!" An audience member shouted.

"Too many shopping carts in Costco's parking lot!" Exclaimed another audience member above the rest.

"I am Mr. Buttons and there are too many shopping carts in Costco's parking lot!" Ross declared to the audience.

Another game, "No Laughs," began with two members sitting on stage; if the audience laughed at either one of them, the actor left the stage and was replaced with another. The newly-joined member must then continue the scene.

"Can I get something just in between cool and lame? Like, not sad but borderline?" B.I.T.E. member Damien Geist called out to the audience.

After clamoring from the audience, Ross declared, "We heard 'newspapers!'" causing them to erupt in laughter.

Other games included "Genre Rollercoaster," in which performers acted out a continuous scene while Clark called out genres at random - ranging from western, horror, film noire and romance - that required them to quickly adapt their dialogue without breaking character.

In "Sound Effects," performers acted out a scene using live sound cues created by other members on microphones positioned on either side of the stage.

The performance lasted 2 hours with a 45 minute first act, a brief 10 minute intermission and a 35 minute second act.

Benicia High School, along with Armijo High School in Fairfield, is one of only two high schools in Solano County to have an improv team.

"(Improv) can get repetitive with the same game. Even though there are hundreds of them, it can seem like (they) always go back to what (they) know. So we wanted to keep it fresh by introducing new games," explained Clark.

She added that it was the first time that the cast performed new games such as "Superheroes" and "Slacker," a 10 minute "montage" of interconnected scenes that followed a character from one scene into another.

Although B.I.T.E. is a high school improvisational team, many students have had prior years of practice ranging from elementary school, middle school, community programs or through BHS theater classes.

Some students have gone on to professional careers including former alumni student Austin Scott, who played the titular role of "Alexander Hamilton" in the first national tour of "Hamilton" in 2018 before joining the Broadway production in 2019.

"The best thing is seeing the camaraderie between them and the bonds and friendships that have formed. This is their safe space where they can just let it all out," said Clark.

To learn more about Theater Arts Boosters Benicia and B.I.T.E. visit tabbs.org.

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This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 7:22 PM.