Improv team prepares to entertain
By Rebekah Richards
Staff Writer
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
“Pun Intended," Franciscan University of Steubenville's competitive improv show, has one goal: entertainment.
It is a drama group that does not focus on an actor being one single character for the sole purpose of art, but rather on each actor taking on many roles throughout the show. Their only purpose is to make the audience laugh with ridiculous scenes and characters.
The first show of "Pun Intended" will be Feb. 20. The time is undecided, but fliers will be up around campus as the date gets closer. Admission will be free.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Chad Hewitt, an English literature major. He is one of three leaders of the team.
“It really exercises our acting abilities,” said Peter Johnson, 23, a drama and theology major who founded “Pun Intended.”
There are 10 members on the team. The show works by having two teams who earn points by being funnier than their competition. The teams will vary every show.
“I really feel like we become a family and try to build each other up,” said Teresa Arredondo, a theology catechetics major.
“We are there for each other all the time,” Arredondo said.
Arredondo is also a leader of the team, but refers to herself as the lone female teaming with Johnson and Hewitt.
Before starting the improv team, Johnson surveyed interest in improv on campus with open nights a year ago where anyone could attend and participate.
There are many different games that the teams play, each one putting the team in a different ridiculous and hilarious situation. One game is called “Dead Celebrities” where three people meet in heaven at a restaurant but do not know what dead celebrity they are. The waiter has to give them hints to who they are until all three know.
Johnson said his favorite games are repeat games and “Five Things,” which he said really could not be explained. The only way to understand it would be to see a show.
“My favorite games are the ones where you do not know who you are supposed to be,” said Hewitt.
“You have to have an open mind and have to want to laugh,” said Hewitt about what people should expect when attending a show.
Arredondo said, “It’s nothing like you have ever seen before if you have never seen improv.”
Much of the show has audience participation. The game “Family Dinner” pulls a member from the audience, interviews them about four members of their family. Then the actors become those family members.
Most of the members did improv in high school.
Arredondo said that improv at Franciscan is more structured than her high school experience.
“I have learned a lot,” Arredondo said. “No other acting allows you to be tons of different people.”
“We take it more seriously as a group whereas in high school it was more of a club,” said Johnson.
“My high school experience was not that good,” said Hewitt.
“Pun Intended” gets together three hours a week to practice. Sometimes they call a practice just for fun because they love improv.
The practice is not to prepare jokes or rehearse how things will come out, but rather just to give all members an understanding of the games.
“We can only get better with practice,” said Hewitt.
Johnson said, “Practicing for improv is like practicing for sports. You have to have an idea of what is happening.”