The First Annual University of Michigan Improv Festival went off with barely a hiccup, and its successful debut hopefully foreshadows many more. The first show was at 6 pm and moderately attended. The 9 pm had more people but still didn’t nearly fill Rackham, which was surprising for a top notch performance that was free. Those who didn’t attend missed out!
The only hiccup for patrons, in the otherwise smooth comedic journey, was the RSVP feature the festival had tried to instigate. As advertised, by RSVPing people would get to sit 15 min before the public. In reality the difference in time and pick of seat was almost nothing. The idea was good, and also potentially effective in crowd control if there had been more people, but the execution wasn’t quite there and might want to be changed if they use the system in future years.
A lively audience sat down to an alternative rock playlist before the show began with a short skit by Funny or Die, one of the organizing groups. The sketch featured a president who continually mispronounced words so they became nonsense and was charmingly unaware of the frustration this caused. I can’t hope to do justice in describing each group’s performance but I’ll talk about some of the highlights from each group in an effort to make showcase the array of talent that was present.
After Funny or Die, George Washington University’s Recess performed some sketch comedy. From a Jersey Shore rendition of the Final Supper, a not so appropriate sexual misconduct in the workplace seminar, and a girl named Meredith making up illnesses to get boys to kiss her, their cast was varied and talented, gaining lots of laughs from the audience. Recess was followed by Paperback Rhinos from the University of Iowa, who wanted to interview someone in the audience who’d had an interesting day. And it was an interesting, intricate, and wandering journey the audience member had been on which inspired some bizarre and hilarious comedy. Wet Bus then performed, followed by Alterboyz, both of which are post-college improv groups. Wet Bus was my favorite group at the 6 pm show, while I honestly couldn’t quite get into Alterboyz’s set. Wet Bus got a suggestion from the audience, cheese, and then preceded to start with a technique I’ve never seen before. One person started speaking, and then one at a time, people joined and raised their voices so they all took turns following one person’s lead but all speaking at the same time. It was amazing! And the rest of the show worked on associations with that first piece, even as they performed different scenes, where characters were repeated, and interwoven in a continuous flow of ever changing scenes. It was beautiful to watch!
At the 9 pm show Midnight Book Club and ComCo opened for Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company (UCB). They did UofM proud and got the audience in the right mood for the featured UCB. UCB started just asking for random information about the campus with audience members jist shouting things out. One of the UCB players was a UofM alumni and seemed to have a lot of fun being back! They then interviewed an audience member who was in the acting school and part of greek life. She spilled about the inner workings of the infamous ski trip and taught us about the variety of shapes condoms come in. Both of which became great fuel for the improv UCB then performed. I also learned that the man who plays the washboard outside the library is a professor here at the University, not just a talented community member! UCB put on an amazing show featuring a crazy moth bred Miley Cyrus, a silent rendition of Chopsticks played by jumping on a giant imaginary floor piano, lots of rolling on the floor, and even off the stage at one point!
The Festival was a hit and I look forward to another one next year!
