The Comedic Improvisation Alliance, N.C. State’s improvisational comedy group, performed an improvisation event to its biggest crowd yet on Wednesday night in Stewuart Theatre.
A large portion of the proceeds from the show, CIA: Live in Action Improv Comedy, will go to Habitat for Humanity.
“We want to raise money from the show for Habitat for Humanity and also get our name out,” Philip Boyne, president and co-founder of CIA and a sophomore in physics said. “It was new grounds for us and we had never performed for a crowd this big.”
The show displayed a team competition format based on a point system to determine the winner.
Everything presented on stage was unscripted.
“Any of the games were made up on the tops of our heads, similar to Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Boyne said.
Each performer took the stage without knowing what he or she was about to perform. They then performed scenes or games based on a suggestion from the audience.
“Improv is about agreement and respect for the people you’re performing with and building something together through teamwork,” John Fowler, founder of CIA and a junior in computer science, said. “Improv breeds a mentality of acceptance and agreement, because you have to agree and support each other if you’re building a scene — or else it’ll fail.”
Fowler indicated that the success of improv is primarily based on trust.
“That’s what improv is all about — respecting and supporting each other’s ideas and building off of what you have established together,” he said. “Improv, when it’s done correctly, is the least selfish form of entertainment I can think of.”
Since the club was formed last year, student interest in the group has escalated.
“For our first few practices we had around 10 people show up for meetings. We basically had a snowball effect and the members of our group would tell their friends who would tell their friends,” Boyne said. “Improv is a really addicting thing so people just kept showing up and we really don’ts have to advertise to new members at this point.”
Boyne and Fowler, who worked, studied and performed together at Raleigh’s ComedyWorx, were founding members of CIA.
“Initially, we hoped to find a small but determined group of people who cared about improvisation and, more importantly, bringing improv to N.C. State,” Fowler said. “Luckily for us, we had far greater success than we had ever hoped for, bringing together a group of roughly 30 to 35 people who are both extremely motivated and very talented.”
CIA actively branches out and supports other clubs to give back to the NCSU community. Other performances they have been involved with for charity include Relay for Life and Shack-a-thon.
“We’re always interested in helping out with charity activity,” Fowler said. “Frankly, we’re always excited about performance opportunities.”
One of the major goals of CIA is to make the group a part of campus life.
“We want CIA to be a visible part of the campus lifestyle by doing shows, continuing to invite any interested parties to our practices and supporting NCSU in any way we can,” Fowler said. “We’re here for the students. We want to be an organization that puts on many different types of shows that students can enjoy and be a part of.”
To be eligible to perform in a show, CIA members are encouraged to show up consistently to weekly practices and show a basic grasp of the mechanics and philosophies that make improv work.
“Philip and I always have more willing participants for a show than slots to fill so we try to rotate as best as we can to give everyone a chance,” Fowler said.
He outlined the many benefits of improv.
“Performing is fun. Our members really enjoy it and it’s a great reward for all their hard work they’ve put into learning improv,” he said. “Secondly, this event will raise money for Habitat for Humanity, so we get to raise money for a good cause in addition to feeding our massive egos.”