The California Lutheran University Improv Troupe is back for another year of sharing their comedic craft. Last week, the troupe performed in their first Thursday night show of the year, with three new troupe members making their improv debut.
Adjunct Professor Lisa Fredrickson has been teaching improv at Cal Lutheran since 2006 and advises the improv troupe.
“We love improv because it’s just so free,” Fredrickson said. “It unlocks whatever is inside you that you thought you could never do. We see people soar, we see people struggle through stuff, and so many students tell me, ‘I’m so glad I took that improv class.’”
Cassie Washburn, senior co-president of the Cal Lutheran Improv Troupe, has been doing improv since she was 12 years old.
“I kind of just did it as a fun little hobby, and it was a good way of breaking out of my shell and becoming more social,” Washburn said. “When I found out in my first semester that there was improv at CLU I was over the moon.”
While improv relies heavily on spontaneity, Washburn said that there is a lot of preparation that goes into each performance.
“We have our group chats where we will think out possible themes. It just becomes a chaotic rant of what we’re going to do, thinking about what’s current, or what random weird holidays are coming up,” Washburn said. “We have rehearsals every Sunday, where we basically talk through what games we’re going to play, what our theme is going to be, and what our cold open is going to be.”
After Sunday’s rehearsal, Washburn said the group focuses on marketing the show via social media. On Thursday, the troupe attends their scheduled club time in the evening, which is followed by a dinner.
“We’ll come back and rehearse together from 9-10:30, where we’re just making sure we’re confident and that lights and everything are working, and then from 10:30-11 we do a troupe warm-up,” Washburn said.
Washburn said that the warm-up is also an opportunity to garner support from one another within the troupe.
“One of the things that we do at every show is that we have a buddy that we’re supporting throughout the show,” Washburn said. “So if we see them struggling or maybe in their head, we can step in to make them be the best improviser they can be.”
Washburn said that the moments before a performance set the tone for the show, and there is great emphasis on the importance of keeping the mood light. Washburn said that the troupe even throws a dance party backstage before the curtain goes up.
Fredrickson said that the Cal Lutheran Improv Troupe is grounded in a strong sense of community, inclusivity, and trust both amongst performers and between the audience.
“Our audience is one of the players, it’s really important that we talk about really connecting to the audience,” Fredrickson said. “That’s what’s exciting about improv, it’s visceral when you watch it.”
Washburn and Fredrickson said that inclusivity is also something that influences the troupe’s craft, and celebrates a diverse population of improvisers and audience suggestions.
“It matters who’s out there, and it definitely matters who’s on stage,” Fredrickson said. “Especially in these last five years where we’ve all been making more thoughtful choices like, who’s in our audience, whose stories are we telling, and how do we more fully bring our experiences to the stage.”
Noelle Raffy Porter, chair of the theatre and dance department at Cal Lutheran said that the inherent uniqueness of improvisational comedy is what has made the troupe so successful on campus.
“It’s never going to be the same, and I think that’s why people keep coming back,” Raffy Porter said. “It’s what they come up with in that moment, and it won’t be repeated.”
Raffy Porter said the importance of student-run organizations like the Cal Lutheran Improv Troupe is undeniable and allows creativity to abound.
“They get to create their own opportunities, which is key in today’s world with so many performers writing their own screenplays, directing their own shows, and acting, starring, and producing,” Raffy Porter said. “I feel like students in our department are so versatile because they can do so much.”
Washburn said that the challenges of the past few years have also helped the troupe to enhance their skill sets as entertainers.
“When we went to Zoom, you had to learn a different style of improv, because now you’re not playing to a theater of 150 people, but a screen,” Washburn said. “We focused a lot on facial comedy and expressive comedy on Zoom, and you can still use those on stage. It’s just this entirely different part of comedy that I don’t think we had approached before.”
Washburn said improv provides something for everyone, regardless of background, personal interests, or academic major.
“One of my favorite things is when the theatre department shows are made up of people that are not theatre majors,” Washburn said. “We literally have a mix of everything; computer science, business, marketing communication, theatre, sociology, music production, organ performance; we have a big mix. It’s awesome because we all bring something different.”
Others look at improv as a form of self-care, something that Frederickson said she has seen in her own improv classes.
“Even if they’re too busy studying they make time to come to class, it’s a release. It’s a place where you can just kind of let stuff go, and it’s a little bit of therapy for everyone, it’s a little bit of everything,” Fredrickson said
This year, Washburn said the troupe is focusing on getting its name out there, particularly collaborating with and inviting improv troupes from other universities to perform at Cal Lutheran.
“Last year we were invited up to UC Berkeley to perform with Berkeley and Columbia University from New York which was really cool, and this year we’re doing even more,” Washburn said. “It’s really cool to branch out not just to the community at Cal Lu but to see that there’s these other schools that have that same community, and we get to play together.”
The troupe is also looking forward to trying new things as the year progresses. Washburn said that they plan to invite club members to participate in some of their Thursday night performances, visit local elementary schools to share their craft with younger generations, and organize upcoming fundraising events.
Fredrickson said that every year, each new combination of troupe members brings new ideas to the art of improvisational comedy.
“There are endless stories, we’re first and foremost storytellers,” Fredrickson said. “The kind of stories I make up might be different than the kind of stories you make up, and the kind of stories we make up together, neither of us ever imagined before and that’s what’s exciting. Nobody’s ever in charge of the scene, it’s always a share back and forth.”
The Cal Lutheran Improv Troupe strives to spread joy in every performance, something that Washburn said is what makes improv so rewarding.
“I love being in the games, I really, really do, but one of my favorite things is sitting off to the side and watching other people do the scenes, and looking out in the audience and seeing people smile and laugh,” Washburn said. “That is where I find the most appreciation, in the love that is both radiating off stage and on stage.
