For students looking for a fun break from the boatload of exams and assignments, Off Center Comedy provides just that. Each semester, Off Center holds three shows offering a mix between sketch comedy and improv comedy. There’s also free food and drinks at every show. Ultimately, Off Center aims to provide a hilarious environment where students can watch inventive acts from talented comedians and performers.
According to improv captain Max Langer and treasurer Matt Brantl, the performers have been holding large rehearsals for about two weeks from the start of the semester for their first spring show. Practices happened every Tuesday and Thursday with some practices on Saturdays for those who wanted to perform in long form. The comedy on display managed to be very unique as the show included some improv games that had never been done before by Off Center. Attendance of the event, which took place in Bissinger’s on February 3 and February 4 at 9 p.m. and 3 p.m. respectively, was strong.
Multiple types of improv games were performed during the shows, which consisted of two types of segments: short form and long form. The short form events included: Detail, in which three improv performers acted out a scene before Max would ring a bell to make them add detail to their last sentence; Movie Director, in which a director is interviewed about an upcoming movie—the audience participates by coming up with a title—while two actors enact scenes from said movie; In With While, in which two performers do a scene in something, with something, while something happens (the somethings are determined by the audience); Confession, in which a sinner recounts their sins to a priest, but must guess the sins based on other two actors acting out the sins (the sins are determined by the audience); Elimination, in which two performers swap out of a scene while maintaining consistent roles; Speedrun, where two improv actors act out a scene with a decreasing amount of time; Inside Voices, where two performers perform an improv scene while two improv actors behind them reveal what they are thinking; and Understudy, where improv actors act out a scene while being replaced by two other improv actors who haven’t seen the scene before. After short form, there is a long form where the improvers are given a situation by the audience and act out the situation. The performers included Serina Rodriguez, Vinny Tufo, Jack Kraus, Rachel Seasonwein, president David Treder, Stephen Pachucki, Matt Brantl, Joe Grosso, Dan Craig, Zoe Casten, Max Langer, and Liz Foster.
Off Center has two future shows: a sketch show on March 3 and an improv show on April 21. Students interested in performing can attend rehearsals on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Peirce 116 at 9 p.m.
