Feature Photo: Signing up for service
The quick thinking that is required by improvisational theater is a double-edged sword for Andy Luttrell, bringing both excitement and danger.
“It’s an adrenaline rush because you have no idea where it’s going to go,” said Luttrell, a junior psychology major.
The fact that he doesn’t have a script to fall back on means he has to keep his mind in the act.
Luttreul, who describes himself as “just another improv comic,” has seen both sides of the coin.
Fortunately, he isn’t alone.
He performs with other members of Hello Dali, Eastern’s improvisation entertainment group.
This weekend, Luttrell has more allies than usual, with past members participating in the reunion show this Saturday.
The format of the show won’t be that much different from normal.
The event will be similar to the game show “Whose Line is it Anyway,” with the actors given roles and rules to follow.
Those rules change with each game, but they all require high-speed adaptation to events.
One popular choice is “Party Quirks,” where the host has to figure out what the quirks of his guests are, while in “Oscar-Winning Moment,” the referee can suddenly demand a player perform the next part extra dramatically while avoiding non-sequitors.
During the reunion show audience members will get to choose what games are played.
But even if they didn’t, the audience’s reaction to what’s going on on-stage is always on the minds of the actors.
The goal is to entertain them, after all, so they adapt what they do for different groups.
“After a while you learn how to read your audience,” said Lenze Davis, a current member and a junior psychology major.
For example, the focus would be more on “toilet humor” for younger crowds, while that sort of thing would be avoided for other audiences.
Fellow member Caitlin Bieda, a sophomore theatre arts major, said the worst part of the experience is when the audience doesn’t participate.
Details of Hello Dali’s origins are shrouded in mystery.
No one made records when the group was founded, so no one even knows what Dali has to do with the group.
Somewhat less mysterious is their future: The reunion show will be at noon tomorrow in Doudna’s main theater.
For the performers who are getting to meet their predecessors from the 17 years the troop has existed, the excitement has been building for a couple months.
“I’m bursting at the seams,” Davis said. “It’s really hard to go wrong when you have so many geniuses in the same room.”
Feature Photo: Signing up for service
Students sign up to volunteer to be Panther Pals and help new students move in on campus for the fall semester in the North Quad Wednesday. The Panther Pals help incoming freshmen and transfer students with moving items into their room and finding where t