Undefined ended their 2024-2025 season April 25. The show’s theme was surrounded around the future, and all team’s names were related to time and the future.
Last Friday’s show was also the last for the team’s 13 seniors. Seniors Jenna Barakat, Lauren Blosser, Natalie Caudle, Andi Getman, Kaden Grey, Blake Jaycox, Annie Jones, Ella Luvai, Joe Meier, Raymond Murphy-Cazembe, Payton Skipton, Evan Sommer and CJ Woode took their final bow. In between the 3:45 p.m. and 7 p.m. show, each senior learned the meaning behind their Undefined nickname, which had been given to them when they first joined the team.
Skipton and Sommer, the only seniors who were on Undefined for all four years, reflected on their time with the improv team.
Following “Lightning Round,” which marks the end of each improv show, Undefined’s underclassmen concluded the show by recognizing the senior members and giving them the poster for the show, which had been designed by junior McHale McHale and hung around the school.
Next year’s captains were also announced. Taking over for Skipton and Sommer are juniors Mary Kirtley and McHale who will be the new captains for Undefined in the 2025-2026 school year.
For Kirtley, her experience with improv started even before joining Undefined as a freshman. She used to attend Undefined shows with her older siblings when they were in high school, while she was in fourth grade, and she also joined an improv group through the Center for Creative Learning.
“I like it because you can just become someone completely different when you’re on stage. Anything goes, pretty much,” she said.
In addition to the performance aspect, Kirtley also enjoys Undefined because of the wide range of people that are involved.
“We have people on the football team and regular theater kids and people who have never been on the stage before. You meet some really cool people,” Kirtley said.
The application process to be a captain was fairly simple, Kirtley said. In order to be a captain, Kirtley was interviewed and asked what about the program she would change next year. She also hosted the 3:45 p.m. show on Friday because anyone interested in being a captain hosted a show. It was the first show she had hosted.
“[Hosting] was so much fun, I loved it so much. It was definitely a little stressful because you have to be locked in all the time, and there were definitely things I forgot to do, but it was just so much fun,” Kirtley said.
Kirtley is interested to see how the dynamic of next year will change since there are so many seniors leaving this year.
“Every person has their own little quirks,” she said.
McHale decided they wanted to join Undefined during AcLab their freshman year. But it was actually a misunderstanding on their part.
“My friend said in AcLab they would play a lot of games,” McHale said. “And I was like ‘I want to play some fun games.'”
As the Undefined members played their games, McHale said they immediately felt very unqualified. As members were playing “French Braid,” McHale said that Class of 2023 graduate Bhushan Sreekrishnavilas asked people who have not played the game before, and they raised their hand as they were not yet on the team at that time.
“[Sreekrishnavilas] asked what my name was, and he was like ‘oh yeah, you’re not supposed to be here, but you can come to our show,'” McHale said.
After having accidentally attending that AcLab rehearsal, McHale then attended the next Undefined show. They knew from that moment that they had to audition for the team, and after trying out, they officially made the improv team their sophomore year.
Similar to Kirtley, McHale also likes Undefined because of the wide range of people. They also like it because you can still be involved in other activities.
“I like the versatility of it. You don’t have to memorize a book to act, and I think it’s a good opportunity for people who have a big workload. It’s just fun,” they said.
McHale said they feel both excited and a little fearful for next year.
“I feel super eager to get to auditions and then rehearsals and performances,” they said. “But it’s also that feeling of not knowing how I’ll do overall.”
Regardless, they are excited to work with Kirtley and said that they’ll make a great team. With 13 spots now up for grabs on the team, they’re also looking forward to seeing many new faces in improv.
