Written by Alex Moncada and Kindell Romine
Taking a different route, the improv program at SCAD decided to perform every night this weekend, mixing improvised stories and comedy sketches in a refreshing new way at the Mondanaro Theatre.
Under the direction of performing arts professor David Storck, the Mobb Line’s three groups took random words shouted from the audience and, like Rumpel Stiltskin with his straw, spun them into comedy gold.
6chix, an all female group, opened this Thursday. This group performed a long-form narrative based on the audience’s given word “pantry.” What followed was your typical high school girl drama, where Becky M (not Becky S) sat over Bobby’s desk during the third period. Crazy, right? But it get’s better. Bobby was Jill’s ex-boyfriend, one of the three sisters who now sits in the pantry eating her feelings out. Her sisters are trying to help her and of course, the dorky mom is outside the door trying to act cool with her teenage daughters.
“Girls, I’m not listening… But should I put an extra plate?” said Gabrielle Hespe, a third-year performing arts student, acting as the dorky mom eavesdropping her daughters outside the pantry room after they decided to invite the so-called Becky M.
The following group, Different Storcks, is known for its ability to create a fully improvised musical conflict that everybody seemed to enjoy. The word for tonight was retch. The performance that followed was what could be best described as “my ex-boyfriend is actually a monster,” with a complete-on-the spot piano accompaniment. The group created a campy horror musical reminiscent of plays like Little Shop of Horrors and Reefer Madness. It featured extravagant elements, in this case, an ex-couple, her friend, a crazy doctor a nurse and a barely smoked joint. Laughter was everywhere and it even reached the stage, where the actors had to pause for a minute but no one cared because everyone was in it together.
“Maybe that was just our inner demons… or drugs” said Bree Doehring, from Different Storcks, in a pitch-perfect throwback to the 90’s anti-drug PSA’s
Lastly, The Other Group, did a series of mini stories starting with a monologue inspired on the word “vomit.” This is the largest crew of the three groups so the variety in the short stories is a refreshing change from the long-narratives of the previous sketches.
The final sketches, written by the students themselves, were a hit with the crowd. The creative overflow the interaction between groups created was obvious during the acts as seen in “The Bank Robbery,” where they used pillows as make-believe guns and their feathery filling as fake blood.
The concluding sketch, “Slumber Party” involving inappropriate puppy-love crushes had audience in hysterics, leaving them on a wonderfully high musical note
“Improv!” is performed Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with a family-friendly 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Tickets are $10 for general admission; $8 for people with student senior and military ID’s, and $5 for SCAD students. The Mob Line also performs every Friday night at 8 p.m. at Crites Hall in room 415 for free.
The mob lines is composed of:
6chix: Sawyer Greenberg, Caroline Huey, Gabrielle Hespe, Rebecca Huey.
Different Storcks: Michael Baldwin, Jacob Giddens, Joel Lawson, Bree Doehring, Will Kommor, Cydnei Prather.
The Other Group: Logan Coffey, James Edwards, Nora Laidman, Will Swisher, Lucy Drew, Timmy Gibson, Ian Mather, Annie-Marie Trabolsi.
