IMPROVathon is 24 hours of spontaneous fun and games
Performers in the 24-hour IMPROVathon stand in a line during the judging portion of the event.
Photo credit: Josiah Horvath
By Josiah Horvath
Team Preppy triumphed over Team Emo during the IMPROVables’ 24 Hour IMPROVathon and students had fun with games such as “Oscar-Worthy Moment.”
Judges included Dr. John Genter, Dr. Vicki Anderson, Pastor Matthias, Rose Wecker and Concordia graduate Alleah Struble. Team Preppy included Caleb Jalas, Ella Bradley, Claire Horacek, Nathan Sollberger and Mi-Ree Zwick.
Professor of Communication & Theatre Arts Bryan Moore, who is the faculty advisor for the improvisational theatre group the IMPROVables, said judges critiqued teams based on character development, storytelling, collaboration, use of prompts, and other criteria.
“Most of our improv shows do not include judges, but the group likes to use a ‘comedy sports’ style improv competition to start their IMPROVathon,” Moore said. “Casting two teams allows the group to involve more student members and to engage more directly with the audience.”
After the competition, the participants continued acting off of prompts and playing games.
“The 24-Hour Improvathon is…the pinnacle of college-kid energy: trying to be as quick-witted, intelligent, and silly as possible at 5 a.m.,” Jalas said. “This show is our biggest way of showing the community what we’re about — bringing people together via fun dramatics.”
Sophomore Claire Horacek, a theater major, consistently attends IMPROVables. She said she stayed awake for most of it, but slept for about four hours. Memorable moments included a strange variation of Rapunzel. “The scene revolved around a broom tangled in Rapunzel’s hair which led to a bad haircut, and I was dying laughing,” she said.
She also enjoyed a game where four participants had to narrate a story while singing in different music genre.
Sophomore Jacob Taylor, who was there for about 12 hours, said he came because a lot of his friends were in the show.
“It was a good opportunity to spend time with them and cheer them on,” he said.
Taylor liked what was called Oscar-Worthy Moment, where someone in the audience says, “Oscar-Worthy Moment” to stop the plot, and whoever said the last line has to give a dramatic speech about that last line. In this game, the prompt was crusader puppy. Sarah Stepp played the puppy and Nathan Sollberger played a crusader. Conveniently, Sollberger is known for dressing as crusader around campus, armor and all.
“The crusader knighted the crusader puppy, so then she was a crusader dog. He gave her a sword, but it was too heavy, and she fell over. Then, he gave her a dagger,” Taylor said. “You couldn’t understand what she was saying because she had it in her mouth. Then someone said, ‘Oscar-worthy moment,’ and she had to spit the dagger out to give her speech. It was really funny.”
Despite the triviality and silliness of the scenes, participants found that improv is useful in life, universally applicable, and far from being a merely childish endeavor.
“Improvisational theatre… develop[s] physical and vocal skills and vocal skills and public presence,” Moore said. “All which are applicable for many career, social, and speaking situations.”
Jalas, a senior, is doing his capstone in on the importance of improv in ministry.
“Improv’s promotion of divergent thinking, uncertainty tolerance and affective well-being enrich a person’s ability to relate to others and more precisely conduct engaging interactions that, by the grace of God, shine His light into others’ lives,” he said.
Horacek said that most of what we live is improv, from normal conversation to problem solving.
“Often, improv can be used to help people grow comfortable in front of an audience, feel better about talking, and learn to see things from other perspectives,” she said. “If your future job includes working with other people, improv is a great skill to develop.”
IMPROVables meets Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Black Box (in the lowest level of the Music building) from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
“It’s scary when you start, but after that first hurdle, you’ll find you are more capable than you know,” Horacek said. “A lot of new people got to try improv during the IMPROVathon, and I hope they can come back and keep growing their skills.”
Taylor said that regardless of whether or not you participate if you visit IMPROVables, it’s enjoyable just to watch whatever the actors perform.
“I am thinking about participating more in the future,” Taylor said. “It is a nice chance to take a break from studying and to spend some time with friends.”
