SLU’s Improv Club launched its second-ever semester for with a lighthearted workshop for students to riff together.
While several of the club’s regulars are talented members of SLU’s performing arts programs, senior Ona Alumbaugh, the coordinator, said the club holds inclusivity very highly, ensuring members newer to improv are never made to feel made-fun-of or uncomfortable.
“I’ve noticed that it brings in some people that I would consider to be more shy during class,” said Ona, while club members laughed with each other as they filed out of the room after the meeting. “I think it really just gives them an opportunity to be themselves and try new things, which is something that’s really important to me.”
In their monthly meetings, the club members do a series of warmup activities and then play a variety of games. One game — What Do You Got? — features two competing teams, who have to alternate coming up with and subsequently acting out an action. The team whose leader can’t think of anything loses.
“We did a fun improv night with the cast of the theatre production a few semesters ago and I really enjoyed that,’ Alumbaugh said. “I thought it would be great to just open it up to more people so that more people had the opportunity and because I wanted to do it more regularly.”
