Tonight,
we’re going off script.
A clear
lack of structure littered the floor as DePaul Philosophy Professor Peter
Steeves threw down his notes for the evening and introduced the audience to The
Scholar’s Improv, embracing the improvisational atmosphere.
Organized
by the DePaul Humanities Center with five DePaul professors showcased along
with a troupe of improv comedians, the professors were put to the test and
forced to lecture on topics they were entirely unaware of until they stepped on
stage.
Although
audience members originally expected the professors to be working with topics
they knew nothing about, the topics that unfolded were all disappointedly in
areas that the professors were well-versed in. However, Steeves and Pete
Parsons, lead organizer of the event from the troupe, made sure the pictures
accompanying each slide were bare and far from what the professors expected to
see.
Matthew
Girson, Greg Scott, Lexa Murphy, David Degras-Valabregue and Rick Lee were the
lucky DePaul professors chosen to improvise the lectures. Professors had eight
minutes to maneuver themselves and the audience through an entirely unplanned PowerPoint,
improvising the whole lecture and providing some comic relief for the audience
along the way.
Between
each DePaul professor’s lecture, the comedians performed different skits on
stage. From going off of topics and time periods picked by the audience, to
utilizing a list of phrases the audience provided before the event started, the
cast was left with plenty to work with, wittily incorporating various comedic
components into their skits.
Though
the comedians generated the most laughs and applause throughout, many of the
professors had students in attendance who appreciated witnessing the discomfort
that accompanies an unplanned lecture.
Jordan
Weber, a senior English and philosophy major at DePaul, mentioned how he
enjoyed seeing one of his own professors, Rick Lee, up on stage, thinking on
his feet and trying to make it through the improvised lecture.
“I
thought it was a nice event, it was cool to see scholars and I guess something
you don’t typically think would be paired with them like improv,” Weber said.
“It was nice to see professors have to work on their feet and think in
different ways.”
To round
out the event, the improv troupe partnered together with the professors
and acted through a freeze frame-type skit. While two or three of the professional
comedians started the skits, those not involved were expected to step in when
the word “freeze” was said, taking the place of one of the other people in the
scene.
When
stumped with nothing to say, both the professionals and the professors had the opportunity
to pick up phrases from the floor to piece together their scenes.
As
expected, what the skits lacked in comprehension was made up for with irony and
laughter.
As a loud
round of applause echoed steadily throughout the third floor of the Student
Center, a wave of relief washed over the professors as they exited the
unfamiliar world of improv and entered back into the comforts of academia.