by Karen Garcia |
While most students are asleep, procrastinating or hunched over their desks on any given Tuesday and Thursday midnights, the members of the the Bluffoons can be found onstage, honing their comedic talents during rehearsals.
The long nights have paid off — it’s been a landmark year for the improv group, which has had consistently packed performances in Mago Hunt auditorium during its weekly Friday night performances.
Junior Gavin Enos and sophomore Tatiana Spisz credit the group’s rising popularity to an increased effort on the part of veteran actors to stress higher quality performances during rehearsals, along with word of mouth and teamwork.
Unlike scripted forms of comedy like sketch and stand-up, the success of improv relies on spontaneity: the actors’ ability to time their moves at the right pace, with just the necessary amount of energy, to make it all appear as seamless as possible. To achieve this, a lot of work must be done offstage.
“We do a lot of group bonding things, because if you don’t trust the person you’re with onstage, you’re not going to be able to do (the scene),” Bluffoons president Tara Egan said. “We hope to eventually achieve groupthink, where everyone knows each other well enough to know what they’re thinking and make up the scene.”
The collaborative nature of improv means that Bluffoon members can be seen eating, studying and even living together, which can create the impression that the group is somehow exclusive. Enos said the Bluffoons aren’t a clique, and all that’s needed for a person to start improv is an interest and willingness to follow their creativity.
“The way you learn is through playing together, practicing, watching and letting everything in your head that’s saying ‘You’re wrong,’ or ‘Don’t do that’ go,” Enos said. “(Improv) lets your creativity explode, and teaches you how you can take what you think and make it funnier.”
In January, the Bluffoons will head to Seattle for the Northwest Regionals of the annual College Improv Tournament (CIT). In past years, only Upset, the varsity sect of the Bluffoons, has attended CIT, but this year the yet to be named junior varsity team plans to attend as well. The junior varsity team was created in order to start grooming the next generation of actors once this year’s seniors graduate.
Spisz said that over the next year, the Bluffoons aim to become more active in the local comedy scene. During a Friday night performance a few weeks ago, Upset did a mixer with “Peter,” an improv group from Bellingham made up of recent college graduates.
The Bluffoons plan to use the $5,000 line item granted to them by ASUP last year to host a professional improv group on campus for a performance and a workshop at some point later in the semester.
Club members encourage those who are intrigued by improv to attend at least one practice to see how they like it, because more likely than not, they’ll want to come back.
“[The group] does a very good job of being supportive,” Enos said. “Nothing you do or say is wrong.” Karen Garcia is the living editor of The Beacon. She can be reached at garciaka17@up.edu.
