Waldorf Theatre Department Introduces Improv Club

By: Ben Hassebroek

Waldorf University’s theater department has introduced Improv Club this year, dedicated to teaching students a unique style of performing.

The club was formed early in September, with help from Waldorf theater department sophomore Anya Golovko. Meetings occur twice a month on every second and fourth Friday. According to Anya, she was inspired by her old high school theater teacher to make her own improv club. Seeing the success of these clubs in other colleges only further motivated her to follow suit.

“Improv is form of comedy where you are basically working by foot,” Anya said. “Everything you do is based off of actions and emotions.”

Actors are given a prompt and are to build a scene around that scenario in a very brief span of time. This results in scenes where actors must think on their feet, with the only goal being to make it to the end of the scene and to do so without stopping. This creates unique, free-form scenes that are driven by the talents and emotions of the actors.

Anya’s improv club meets inside The Blackbox, a storage room in the campus’s basement where Theater students go to practice for shows, meet for certain classes, or even put on “Shoe Box” performances (shows directed by senior students in their free time).

During these meetings, participants play short-form improv games. These are games meant to get everyone involved. Participants are also encouraged to speak up about ways to incorporate their ideas into these games. Anya also hopes to start long-form improv games as the semester goes on.

Anya hopes she’ll be able to get more students to participate. Currently the number of participants float around 10 to 20 students. She also hopes that she can make the club more inclusive to out-of-country students. Her ultimate goal is to take her club and have it participate in large-scale speech competitions on a national level.

Anya encourages anyone reading to come in and participate.

“Don’t be shy, we’ll even let you just watch!” Anya said.

Improv club is scheduled to go on for the rest of the school year, every second and fourth Friday of the month, in Waldorf’s Blackbox studio.