URI’s very own improv group, Rhody Ridiculousness welcomes fans of comedy into the holiday season as they hold their first in-person event since COVID-19 started. PHOTO CREDIT: James Singer
To kick off “Halloweekend” on Friday, Oct. 29, Rhody Ridiculousness filled Swan Hall Auditorium with laughter for their first in-person show since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The actors showed up wearing costumes such as Albert Einstein, Velma from “Scooby-Doo” and Arthur from the show “Arthur.” Their hour-long show had the crowd engaged and laughing the entire time.
The first skit performed had one person acting as a contestant on a dating show. Junior Darby Wilson, a member of the club, left the room and left the others to pretend to be her potential love interests.
While Wilson was in the hallway, the audience was told to pick three different characters for the actors to improvise on the stage. The actors then proceeded to act as Britney Spears, Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz,” and an elephant. When she came back, she had to guess who each of the actors were pretending to be while going through the skit.
Another skit of the night was pyramid game, where one person came into the scene at a time and switched the plot around, keeping audience members on their toes and filling the room with laughter.
Rowan Coleman, a junior marketing major and member of Rhody Ridiculousness, said that the audiences are what makes doing in-person performances so different from the rehearsals that they’ve been holding while waiting for the chance to perform again.
“It feels so great to perform to a live audience because when you’re in rehearsals, you only get feedback from the other members in the group,” Coleman said. “Sometimes you’ll only get a chuckle out of someone, and you don’t know how well that joke would sit with an audience.”
Coleman also said that positive audience feedback provides adrenaline for the actors on the stage, letting them know that they’re doing a good job.
Practicing for an improvisational show isn’t easy, since there’s no real script to rehearse. Their practices consist of them rehearsing the skits themselves, rather than the actual plots or scripts, so that they’re familiar with the concepts when performing, according to Coleman.
“Rehearsals are just like playing games, you get to play pretend as an adult,” she said. “That’s why I love improv so much, it’s like you get to be a kid again.”
Although her major isn’t theatre, Coleman said that she did theatre all throughout her life, and she likes improv because she feels that she can connect with her theatrical roots and continue her passion for acting.
Freshman Lauren Gardner said that the club was shocked and excited about the turnout to their first show back in a year-and-a-half. Swan Hall Auditorium had about 25 people gathered on the cold Friday night.
“We honestly didn’t know how it was going to go, since it was a Friday night and Halloween weekend, but we were excited to see a good amount of people here and enjoying the show,” Gardner said. “An active audience is all we can ask for.”
Rhody Ridiculousness will have their next show on Friday, Nov. 19. Both Gardner and Coleman are anticipating the outcome of their next performance and excited to rehearse to put on another great show.