2008 Woodie Awards
Improv group to perform comedy routine March 12
John Keenan
Issue date: 3/11/08 Section: Campus
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The improvisational comedy group Chicago City Limits (CCL) will be performing at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 12 in the hall.
The group will soon celebrate its 28th birthday and has performed more than 8,500 times in locations throughout the country. CCL has been hosted on the "Today Show" and Comedy Central and performed during the 1995 Super Bowl.
The ease with which groups like CCL quickly create their sketches may give audiences the impression that on-the-spot improvisation is just simple fun and games. According to local improv actors, the art of improvisation is a bit more complex.
"Improvisation honors your impulses and compels you to work at the top of your mindset," said Bekka Eaton, assistant professor of theatre and leader of an improv group at Miami's Hamilton campus. "There's something incredibly honest about it."
Matt Derda, director of Smarty Pants Theater in Dayton, Ohio agreed.
"We find that (improv) is applicable to anything in life," he said. "We even run corporate-orientated workshops because the ability to improvise is an important skill to have in the business world."
On-the-fly public speaking is a very common phobia, even for veteran speakers. But according to Derda and Eaton, there are effective methods of confronting the five-second prep times and split-second pressures of improvisation.
"When people freeze up, it's not because they can't think of anything; it's because they're thinking of too much," Derda said. "We try to teach people to focus on one topic at a time."
Eaton said improv is about becoming comfortable in and aware of one's surroundings.
"You want to embrace comfort and listen with your whole body," Eaton said.
The two also preach the gospel of goofiness in improvisation.
"We want you to know that you can be a total goofball," Eaton said. "You're really dealing with two opposite ends of the spectrum. You have to be a child to do well in improv, but you have to use adult intelligence too."
Derda said there is even an exercise modeled after the idea of being as goofy as possible.
"We call one of our workshops the Dork-Free Zone, where we break down barriers and allow people to be as absurdly goofy as they want" Derda said.
Tickets for the show are available online and at the Shriver Box Office. Prices are $9 for students, $20 for adults and $19 for senior citizens.
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