By Karoline Robak
Improv on the Rocks had their Welcome Back Show on Friday the 13th, featuring a pleasant surprise. The WNEU Improv Crew, alongside Professor and Advisor Hillary Bucs, welcomed back students in the St. Germain campus center with skits the team created on the spot. WNEK radio station and GBTV television were present to help with sound and recording.
In the skit “Substitution,” Cassidy Brannon and Gabriel Kelly painted a scene based on the crowd’s provided noun, aquarium. When prompted by the crew, the players on stage would switch spots and take on the persona of the other’s fabricated characters. Professor Bucs joined in through the switches, becoming a fish the two aquarium workers (Brannon and Kelly) were feeding. The scene ended with an aggravated fish (Brannon) attacking the aquarium workers (Bucs and Kelly), who were devising a plan to take the creature down.
Halfway through the show special guests Jake Vautrain and Owen Boynes were welcomed to stage, both WNEU and Improv Troupe Alumni. The two joined the current crew in a scene called “Yo Mama,” where the crowd’s proposed words were turned into timeless your mama jokes.
My personal favorites: “Yo mama so kitchen, she always butters me up” said by Kelly and “Yo mama so math, it was great until we started multiplying” by Cameron Turcotte. The Alumni did not hesitate to join in, “Yo mama so bird, just like an egg I’m getting laid” said by Vautrain and “Yo mama so math, I’m gonna be doing her for the rest of my life” said by Boynes.
Wrapping up, the actors played “DVD” where Brannon and Kelly starred in a movie Turcotte controlled with a remote. The movie, dubbed “Beach Wizard” by viewers, is watched through scene selection and director’s cuts Turcotte picked. The actors on stage go through speaking in French to playing out the scene in 2x speed with a click of a (metaphorical) button. The movie ended with awakening an ancient demon, who joins in on the surfer’s shenanigans.
After the show, I was lucky enough to get an exclusive interview with the troupe inside their very own meeting room. Meeting with the players and sitting at their oval shaped table, white board covered in game plans and papers scattering the table with potential skits, I wanted to learn their secrets to comedy.
What gives you the courage to get onto the stage?
“It takes a lot of the edge off knowing that everyone knows you are making it up on the spot,” said Hunter Leach.
“One of the fundamentals of improv- it’s okay to mess up. If you go in knowing that mistakes are celebrated, I feel like that takes a lot of the nerves away” adds Vautrain.
The crew arrives two hours before showtime, warming up with improv games and a quick dress rehearsal before the real deal. They play theater games (When asked for details, I heard they were highly confidential) to hype each other up before the show. Games chosen before the set are noted to be something mental and something physical- to keep the crew energized and train their minds to adjust for the stage environment. They referred to it as Brain Body and Bond (BBB).
The after-show protocol involves a compliment circle and reviewing scenes.
“Something so small like that, it really does add a lot,” said Vautrain.
They make sure to avoid the “should’ve” and to encourage each other.
“We don’t punch down in reviews,” adds Vautrain.
The team hangs out after their post-show routine.
“Improv is nothing without your troop members, your scene partners. Knowing you’re supported, like you’re both together making up nonsense…we know we always have each other’s backs, you know?” Said Turcotte.
“That bond, especially over years grows really strong, on the stage off the stage, I know I can trust any of you with anything” adds Boynes.
Being in the room with them, I could feel the level of comfort they each had with one another.
“It’s not that I forget there’s an audience; I know that there’s an audience… I’m not doing this for them, I’m doing this for whoever I’m doing the scene with,” said Brannon.
