Laughter and Learning: The Joys of Improv Underground
Written by Victoria Kelly
“Ay, Giuseppi, you put the nitroglycerin in the pizza!”
A different voice, lacking the overly dramatized Italian accent, cut in: “Rotate right!”
“Croussaint! No habla francés! The baguette guillotine! Caramba!”
We in the audience had no clue whether we were in France or in Spain. The actors themselves were laughing almost as hard as their audience, finding it hard to get words out.
“Rotate right!”
The four actors all moved again, with a new pair taking the front. No one had a clue what was about to happen next. That’s the beauty of Improv Underground.
The Ad-Liberty Improv Club is one of many extracurricular opportunities available to students at Hillsdale. Improv Underground, and all its games that result in improvised skits (games like “Four Corners,” “Freeze,” “The Dating Game,” and “Sentences,” to name a few) grew out of that club. Improv Underground serves as an hour-long respite every other Thursday night that is less focused on students honing their acting and comedic skills—though they certainly get an opportunity to do that—and more so on sharing fun and joy with fellow students. According to Chris Dick, ’24, one of the leaders, Improv Underground’s goal is to give students an opportunity to laugh together.
“Four Corners” is one of the most popular games at Improv Underground. Four actors stand in a square in the front of the space, each occupying the corner of a square. Each pair, or side of a square, gets assigned a different scene to act out, and one of the Improv leaders randomly calls out when to switch between scenes. One actor must switch personas as a different actor joins him. Each is juggling two completely unrelated skits. Inevitably, confusion and hilarity result, and those watching get to sit back and laugh.
From the games, stories grow. One student has gained fame for his realistic impression of our college president, Dr. Larry Arnn. Another is remembered for the personality he gave to his “Dating Game” character when he was assigned a squirrel. Inside jokes serve as a reminder of the good times we’ve had, and new stories arise almost every week.
Improv Underground is open to anyone and offers different levels of involvement. Do you want to be one of the audience members who calls out ideas at the beginning of the skits for settings, relationships between characters, and featured imaginary objects? Great! Do you want to act? It doesn’t matter if you have no experience or talent, you can try it. (I have!) Or do you just want to watch and laugh? Also great; they’d love to have you, because at heart, Improv Underground is all about its audience. The leaders plan the games, rearrange the couches in the Olds lobby into a theater-type space, and often act, but the soul of the event is the students who take part in the process. In them, Improv Underground fulfills its purpose of sharing joy.
It’s easy for us to get caught up in the work that comes with being a student. In our busyness, we may come to see the people we live with as merely “that-boy-from-Western-Heritage” or “my-friend-who-likes-calculus.” For that reason, I appreciated what Chris told me makes Improv Underground so important. We get to see our peers in different ways, Chris taught me. We can all be the hard-working Hillsdale students that get up at 7 A.M. and go to bed at 1 A.M., but we can also take an hour to discover one another’s personalities. We can learn about each other, discovering talent, quick-wittedness, and joyful hearts in the people all around. We express ourselves, admire our acquaintances, and build our relationships and memories through the joy we find at Improv Underground.
Victoria Kelly, ’24, is a proud country girl from upstate New York. On the rare occasion she is not studying or hanging out with all her favorite Hillsdale people, you can find her debating politics, practicing Tae Kwon Do, or swing dancing, preferably outside under the stars.
Published in June 2022