While many students bought roses, chocolates, and candlelit dinners for their lovers, some of the less financially successful members of campus saved money attending the premiere of Off-Center’s “Lonely Hearts Club Improv Show”.
This set of skits (hereafter referred to as “games” in deference to Off-Center’s term) was catered to those lonely souls feeling left out of the holiday festivities by the absence of a loved one.
As if to stress this point, the first section presented after the club’s usual “Ask the Expert” was an interview between “Sergeant” (Club President) Declan Candela and a chosen member of the audience concerning their Valentine’s Day.
The only restrictions on the story were that it could be neither boring nor could the inconvenience caused be minor. In the “Sergeant”’s words, “if you have an awful (story about your 2014 Valentine’s Day) and you’re here to forget it, we want you in that chair”.
A couple, Danielle and Ben, stepped up to the plate. Danielle, a senior majoring in Family Studies at Montclair University, and Ben, a 4/6 Computer Science major here, were planning on attending an improvisation comedy show at her school held by Montclair counterparts the Players.
Since Montclair had closed for the day because of snow, the show, named after an unprintable acronym rhyming with milk, was cancelled.
The couple decided to relax at Ben’s place, but on the way back home, his car was stuck where he parked it. Note that he was not at the university at this time.
The poor kid spotted a shovel and asked the man who owned it for permission to use the shovel. After much hassle and hilarity, not helped by the man’s practically immediate desire to call the police, the couple was able to make it home.
Other games centered around Valentine’s Day include one centered on the interactions between a couple consisting of a cheap man and his long-suffering girlfriend at a restaurant on a date the day after Valentine’s Day.
The male figure took pride in his cheapness because of the abundance of funds he could allocate to events like Valentine’s Day; to stress this point, he confessed to having “ordered (gifts for his girlfriend) two months after Christmas” so that he could save money.
The girl, Jessica, lost her temper at hearing that she could only order $4.00 wine as well as only being able to stay at the table for less than ten minutes.
In response to her significant other yelling at her to eat as much bread, the only food available, as possible, she screamed, “The bread is stale!”. The male figure, ignorant to the reason for her anger, yelled to “chew harder”.
Some portions of the show were meant to fool the viewer’s perception. For example, a restaurant patron (henceforth referred to as Man # 1) was waiting in a restaurant looking like the typical forsaken date. He asked the waiter for the time, to which the waiter replied, “32 years”.
Said waiter tried to convince Man #1 to forsake waiting while serving him a glass of water with lemon. Man #2 had been waiting for 20 years at the same restaurant, a few tables away. The waiter gave Man #2 an empty glass.
At this point, the audience was meant to think that both men had been waiting for someone dear. However, Man #2 said, “I actually think I’ll take that water with lemon.”
Another surprise was that Friday’s show differed from Saturday’s. According to former Off Center member Zach Kastner, Off Center mixed both short and long form improvisation games up until the “Lonely Hearts Club Improv Show”.
On Friday, short form games were shown and on Saturday, long form games took the spotlight. The audience seemed to be highly engaged and no lack of participation could be observed.
According to Off-Center member Nicholas Antonov, such a reaction is no accident. He commented that Off Center keeps material with the “most laughs”.
Such a positive reaction from the audience may signal that this change may stay in future shows.
If such a change were implemented, students would now have a reason to attend one or both performances according to their comedic tastes.
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