Hello Dali!: Improv group takes the stage
September 24, 2021
Hello Dali! is Eastern’s improv club. Their second show of the semester occurred last night at 8 p.m. in the Doudna Fine Arts center.
“Nothing in the show is scripted, written, or prepared beforehand,” according to the Hello Dali! Website.
They are one of the oldest registered student organizations on Eastern’s campus. The website adds that “scenes and characters are based on the suggestions from the audience.”
Hello Dali! also holds auditions every year at the beginning of the month after their first show, which was September 2nd at 7:30 p.m.
Both people planning on attending the show and those unable to attend are allowed to make suggestions on the Hello Dali! Website. The performers will also ask for suggestions from the audience members during the show.
During the show, certain cast members are called on to the stage to perform skits. Some skits from tonight’s show included “Unnecessary Walk Ons,” “Last Line First Line,” and “Try Again.”
Shows “are a boatload of spontaneous fun as we perform Short-Form or Long-Form Improv.” the Hello Dali! website states.
Hello Dali! shows are both exciting for attendees and performers alike.
“The performers create the scenes on the spot and discover the world as the audience does,” the Hello Dali! Website notes.
The amount of performers called to the stage is dependent on what the game is.
For example, “Try Again,” the last game of the show, is where “two players act out a scene on a given scenario. The host chooses when the player must make a different choice or idea by saying ‘Try Again,’” says the Hello Dali! Website.
Each performer in Hello Dali! has a nickname which is picked from performances during the auditions that were held. Each of the nicknames is also on the performer’s bowling shirts, which also count as their uniform.
One of the show’s attendees, Lucas Kisner, said that his favorite game that Hello Dali plays is called “Unnecessary Walk Ons.”
“The cool part is you have complete freedom to interrupt however you want,” Kisner said.
During this skit “two players act out a scene on a given topic. The other players walk on at unnecessary moments,” according to the Hello Dali! website.
“Last Line, First Line” is a game where “three groups of two stand spaced apart. One group starts off the scene on a given scenario. When another group claps their hands, they act out a new scene starting with the last line from the previous scene,” the Hello Dali! Website says.
The Hello Dali shows are open to Eastern students and the Charleston community.
For those interested in seeing one of their future shows, they perform every other Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Doudna Lecture Hall. Their next show is September 3. All shows are free to all attendees.
Katja Benz can be reached at 581-2812 or kkbenz@eiu.edu.