On April 28, students packed into the Forum as California Lutheran University’s Improv Troupe took the stage for their second to last performance of the year.
“Tonight there’s no special theme or anything like we sometimes have,” Improv Troupe member Matthew Waxman said. “We’re just looking to go out there, get goofy and make some people laugh.”
The show had all of the usual members of the troupe performing the normal improv games, except for this time the show was being run by Cal Lutheran Improv Troupe Alumni Jeremy Hanna in place of usual emcee and coach Lisa Fredrickson
“It was just an in the moment thing,” Hanna said. “We did an alumni show two weeks ago and Lisa [Fredrickson] said she was going out of town this week, so I was like ‘well I’d love to emcee’ and she was like ‘OK do it,’ and that’s exactly what happened.”
Hanna may not regularly run the show, but he was able to come in and mesh with the members almost immediately without a problem.
“He’s a really funny guy. He definitely stood out at the alumni show a few weeks ago and just from here he’s a great improviser, he’s done a great job filling in” Troupe member Frankie Manes said.
The last two shows may have focused on the alumni, but according to Waxman the final Improv performance of the year will be all about the seniors.
“Next week is our last week and we will actually be performing two shows back to back,” Waxman said. “There’s not going to be any special theme, but we’re looking to give one final goodbye to our senior improv-ers.”
According to Hanna, this final show has the potential to be the wackiest show yet.
“It’s going to be crazy I predict next week probably being the weirdest show possible,” Hanna said. “It is going to be a lot of fun, but at the same time, it’s going to be really sad because we’re losing half of the team.”
The current troupe consists of 10 members and five of those are seniors that will be leaving the troupe.
“I didn’t realize how many seniors there were because we’re pretty young,” Manes said. “If anyone wants to try it out then they should definitely try out next year because we’re losing a lot of people.”
Hanna said everyone should give improv a try to some capacity because there’s a lot more to it than just being funny.
“It’s not all about being funny, it’s about support, listening and making everyone around you look good,” Hanna said.
The final Cal Lutheran Improv Troupe performances will take place on May 5 in the Preus-Brandt Forum at 11 p.m.
Evan Underwood
Staff Writer
Published May 4th, 2016
