Improv Night lights up Lyceum Theater

Students roared in laughter at Vanguard’s first Improv comedy night. After a successful spoof of last month’s play Oedipus Rex, the chair of the theater department, Susan Berkompas and junior Vincent Catalina wanted to put together an improv group.

“It was something I’ve been wanting to do for a while” Berkompas says, because the actors are forced to used a “completely different muscle” when working without a script.

Monday night was their first performance. Despite the event’s limited publicity, a great deal of students turned out.

“It was really fun” says senior Troy Iwata “everyone seemed like they wanted to be here.”

The hour and a half show jumped from one improv game to another, following a Who’s Line is it Anyway? style. Cast members would step foreword to describe the next game they where about to play, based on suggestions from the audience.

“I like how they included the audience a lot” Iwata says. For some of the games, volunteers from the audience even climbed onto stage to join the fun.

“It’s to really have fun with everybody” Catalina says, “to make it an experience for not only us, but for the audience too. Thats an aspect that people want to come and experience.”

The group’s final performance this semester is on May 6th at 10:30pm in the Lyceum Theater. Catalina invites everyone to come and laugh a little before midnight breakfast.

Next semester, he hopes to throw a comedy night every month, when the group is officially launched. He also hopes to involve other forms of media, such as videos, into the routine.