by Kelly Sheehan
As the lights dimmed in the Quick Center black box theatre, a hush fell over the audience until a Shakira impersonator took the stage with Fairfield’s improvisational teams “On the Spot” and “Off the Wall” tangoing in the background.
“It was a great show. I’ve been to all the rehearsals today and it’s mind boggling how after rehearsing all day they can get up there with no scripts and perform,” said Lauren Satos ’06 of the tech crew. “They’ve improved so much; they feed off one another.”
All proceeds from Saturday night’s “Spring Improvisational Extravaganza” went to Hunger Clean-up and mission volunteers. The teams raised over 800 dollars.
“Off the Wall”, the JV of the teams which consists of 16 students, performed short form unscripted theatre in two back-to-back shows. Each scene was inspired by the audience, which was filled with family members and friends.
Tim Eberle ’05 of “On the Spot” directed “Off the Wall” and the group’s short pieces “The Real World”, “The Dating Game”, “World’s Worst” and “Da-doo-run-run”.
“The Real World” piece came alive with a suggestion from the audience to have the scene take place in Oxford and have four performers fight over milk. Their characters ranged from a lazy bum living in the backyard to a hysterical emotional girl. One member chose from three crazy date selections (a plumber, orthodontist and porn star) in “The Dating Game”. The whole team stood up and acted out “The World’s Worst” magician, thing to say to your mother and hangover. “Da-doo-run-run” was sang by members who could come up with fast rhymes in tune.
“They were really funny tonight. My roommate, Carla Pasquale, has been doing this since last semester, but tonight put her in a completely new light,” laughed Jen Recine ’06. “My favorite part was when she played the orthodontist in ‘The Dating Game’.”
At the end of the “Off the Wall” performance, the team excitedly welcomed “On the Spot” member Kristy Farrell ’04 who introduced the Varsity team. The 16 members performed long form unscripted theatre based on suggestions from the audience without breaks for a full hour.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the group. Tonight showed how important it is to focus being on scene. Our character work was very strong,” said “On the Spot” member Tim Eberle ’05.Some of the scenes included a little boy who murdered his friends when they wouldn’t play ball with him, a mother who wanted her children to take shots with her, a Lego eating child, people who spoke their own language and a blind woman who could not even look at her lover when she was cured.
Each scene tied into the next in some way. Eberle successfully tied the show together in the last scene by figuring out why his two friends would not speak English to him. He guessed the topic just by the way one of the members was standing with his hand on his hip.
“It was a great reflection of what we were trying to accomplish,” said “On the Spot” member Ian Bonner ’04. “We had a lot of fun and the audience was receptive and caught on right away that we wanted participation.”
Throughout the performance, the members of “On the Spot” took ladies from the audience and sang humorous songs on the guitar or recited poems to them. Jimmy Allwein ’04 sang a song titled “Amanda” about his love for stranger and audience member Amanda Chamberlain ’06. The song took a hilarious 180 when Chamberlain said she did not have a good time at his Thanksgiving dinner.
“It was a lot of fun. I didn’t feel uncomfortable volunteering and I wasn’t nervous at all because the group had the whole audience involved,” said Chamberlain. “I was hysterical the whole time, and so were the rest of my friends. Everyone had tears coming down their eyes.”
According to “Off the Wall” member Beth Casciano ’06, “On the Spot” always keeps the audience laughing.
“The improvisational teams go into every performance night not knowing what is going to happen,” said Casciano. “It really says something about how well we work together when we are able to keep the audience laughing and even get them involved.”
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