“Not Quite There,” Point Park University’s student improvisation troupe, successfully performed last Wednesday during a campus comedy night held in the GRW Theater in the University Center. Unlike most shows around Point Park – elaborately staged, costumed, directed and scripted – last week’s comedy night, which lasted nearly two hours, was, for the most part, invented on the spot.
“It’s all from the noggin!” said Amy Schlierf, a junior sport, arts and entertainment management major and “Not Quite There” member.
In the style of most famous improvisational comedy groups, such as the Upright Citizen’s Brigade out of New York or the Groundlings out of Los Angeles, “Not Quite There” uses little more than sketch games, audience participation and pure creativity to fuel their funny.
“The games are just a formula for us,” Alex Tracy, sophomore cinema and digital arts major, said. “We take suggestions for a scene from the audience and just go with it.”
“Not Quite There” used about six different games throughout the night. One game, called “The Bucket Game,” was comprised of dialogue being directed by sentences written on strips of paper by audience members before the show began. Another, fittingly called “Facebook,” required one brave audience member to come on stage and log into their Facebook account, which was projected on a large screen, and allow the cast members to use their wall-posts, info section and photos to come up with a sketch.
A third game, called “Actor’s Nightmare,” consisted of one cast member reading random lines from a play, while another had to respond sans-script, in order to keep the scene going.
Patty Miller, a first-year transfer into the Conservatory of Performing Arts (COPA) acting program, said comedic aspects aside, improvisation is actually a great life skill to have – particularly for actors.
“Some companies will actually bring improv troupes in to work with their employees. It’s a great way to become a better communicator and learn to think on your feet,” Miller said. “More actors should know how to improv.”
