“SHU’s Line Is It Anyway?” is Sacred Heart University’s student improv troupe, focused on creating funny, spontaneous performances for the SHU community and at off-campus events and competitions. The improv troupe hosts a plethora of events throughout the semester, each with its own theme such as back to school, Halloween, nursing home, Thanksgiving and more.
| Kai Commercio, Staff Writer and Photographer |
Students must be involved in rehearsals to participate in these performances. Rehearsals consist of various improv warmups, exercises, and games, alongside group discussions, advice on performances, and building a rapport amongst the club’s members.
“Trying to maximize getting people to improv rehearsals is the biggest thing for me,” said junior Taber Johnston, the Theatre Arts Program Improv Chair. “You can’t get cast in a show if you don’t come to rehearsals.”
As improv chair, Johnston picks a lineup of students to perform before every event based on experience and their performance in rehearsals. He emphasized that improv is open to anyone of any major or experience level.
Johnston described hosting a freshman retreat earlier in September and managing new students of different experience levels.
“If they say they’ve done it before, I like to go a bit more advanced into it,” said Johnston. “But if someone tells me that they haven’t done a lot, okay, we’ll go to the basics, because I like teaching those too.”
Johnston and the club’s members are dedicated to creating an inviting environment for new students to join improv.
“I just really liked the vibes,” said junior Frank Macri, a member of the club. “Everyone is always trying new things, and we’re all here to uplift each other. This is one of the most positive communities I’ve gotten to be a part of in my life.”
“There are so many things that seem so awkward to do in your room or to practice acting. It’s very easy to practice all those things within improv and in a safe space as well,” said sophomore Griffin Carroll.
As for Macri, he believes that improv greatly improved his teamwork skills.
“A big part of improv is you can’t run a scene by yourself. So learning how to work with a variety of different people, in a variety of different rules and circumstances, makes you learn to adapt,” said Macri. “Just being in an improv scene, and actually trying, really works wonders if you want to learn to work better with people.”
“There’s so much to learn at improv you can’t really put a counter on it,” said Johnston.
He believes whether it’s improving your acting skills or your ability to work with and help others, there is always something to learn by getting up on stage and having fun.
“Just come here and have a laugh. We say it every rehearsal,” said Johnston.
“I showed up to every single rehearsal besides two last year, and I just kind of fell in love with it to the point I got a Tappy for improv last year,” said Carroll. A Tappy is a student award for the Theatre Arts Program.
Johnston, Macri, and Carroll, among other members of SHU’s Line Is It Anyway? performed to a full house on Sept. 17. The back-to-school themed event consisted of seven games that had the audience in tears laughing for the entire 90-minute show.
“SHU’s Line Is It Anyway?” has their next rehearsal at 8 pm on Thursday, Sept. 24 in room HC 103. Their next show is on Oct. 15 at 10:10 p.m.
