The mermaids at the pool, fairies in the forest, or princesses in the castle. Playing pretend is a staple in one’s childhood. But once you get older your imagination tends to go to different things, so playing pretend gets left behind. But what if we didn’t have to stop pretending? What if we kept playing those imaginary games? What if we kept our silly little story going?
Improv is definitely more advanced than just a fun little game of cops and robbers. The main goal is to keep the scene going and have fun! In my experience with doing theater auditions, improv is the least stressful and the most fun audition of the year. I personally have played many Improv games and every single one has been an absolute blast. When talking to one of the sophomore team members, Quinn, he told me one of his favorite games is Shakespeare A-Z –Which as the Shakespeare captain I would love to play– that is a game about speaking Shakespearen but in alphabetical order.
There is more to these fun silly games though. “Improv is about a group of individuals working together to tell a story and it’s all improvised,” said Claire, the improv capitan, when I interviewed her. She goes on to talk about different types of improv, like for example, the bingham improv team (unaccompanied miners) mostly does short form improv which is mostly in the form of silly games you see at their shows. For example, let’s say that they are playing dating app. One person sits in a chair swiping right or left on different characters that the other improvisers make up. If you swipe left that person goes to the back of the line, if you swipe right you go on a ‘date’ with this character. The game ends when you find your match or when they stop it because its gone on a little too long. There is also Long form improv which is “one overarching story without a script” Claire explained to me. It is much more difficult because you must keep the story going but a script is non-existent so it takes a lot of brain power to keep the story connected.
In another Interview with a Junior team member, Jensen, he talked about how improv is a silly goofy safespace where he gets to make believe with his friends. Improv is known as a safespace for silly moments and interesting quotes. There is more to it than just that, according to Claire Improv is collaborative art form where people can connect and become close, to go from a team to a second family!
The improv team is a very tight knit group but they will always be willing to be a friend. I love my friends on the improv team and am always happy to watch them perform. Speaking of improv performances, make sure to come to the January show on the 31st! It’ll be a blast so be there. It won’t be the same without you <3
