While Baton Rouge offers many venues for performances such as theater and comedy, the improvisation scene is lacking in opportunities.
Theo Roll, a mass communication sophomore hopes to fill the lack of improvisation opportunities in Baton Rouge by founding a new improv/sketch comedy group.
While traditional actors commonly use improv in rehearsal, improvisation as entertainment received a monumental boost with the airing of “Whose Line is it Anyway?”
“[Improvisation] is not acting,” Roll explains, “It’s performing. Improvisation is a synthesis of ideas scattered all over the place and presented to the audience. It’s doing, instead of showing or thinking, and that’s what the audience wants to watch.”
Roll started doing improvisation with LSU’s “Making It Up… As We Go Along,” or MIU, an improvisation group that showcased competitions. After David Charles, MIU’s advisor, left, many students felt a void without an opportunity to perform.
Founded by veteran MIU actors, the Family Dinner troupe gave students like Roll another outlet for performance.
“It was a bunch of people who did MIU and still wanted to perform,” Roll said.
However, after what he considered “creative differences,” Roll decided to form his own troupe.
Roll has yet to name the group. He believes the group, once formed, should collectively choose a name.
“These people can have ownership,” Roll said. “It’s more fun to be a part of something you named.”
Improvisation is different from traditional theater, according to Roll, and is not limited to theater majors or actors with talent.
“I love it because I don’t have to rehearse lines,” Roll said. “Plays are cool and all, but how about we make a play without preconception. When the audience knows it’s spontaneous, the audience is on the edge of their seats.”
Lance Wise, a theatre junior, was also involved in “Making It Up… As We Go Along” and “Making It Up Again.” Wise, who has acted in LSU productions such as “Louisiana Purchase” and “Purple Bird and the Color Tree,” notes differences between improv and theatrical acting.
“Everything is new and fresh,” Wise said. “Sometimes you’d do something better in rehearsal. There are so many games and ways to use yourself.”
Roll’s group is currently advertising for new members around campus. Roll believes anyone can do improvisation and aims to get diverse members.
Terry Hooker, an accounting junior, has seen many improvisational performances with Roll. While Hooker admits he does not have improvisation experience as a performer, he appreciates its value.
“I don’t have any performing capability,” Hooker said. “But it was fun. I have never been to any comedy shows and I don’t like plays.”
While there are existing differences between traditional theater and improvisation, Wise believes improvisation is a foundation of acting, one which inspired him to start acting.
“Without improv,” Wise explains, “I would have never gotten into theater. It was a springboard.”
Roll, currently recruiting for his improv/sketch group, hopes to present a new venue to Baton Rouge. He draws inspiration from the improvisation groups he has worked with and the rising comedy scene downtown.
He challenges anybody interested in improvisation and performing to contact him at [email protected] for more information.