From spelling out fake words to creating wacky poetry off the top of their heads, the OverReactors improv troupe taps into the root of creativity and gets the audience belly-laughing — all without a script.
Throughout the year, the troupe puts on a variety of shows in which the improvisers come up with characters and scenes on the fly. Through a mixture of clever scenes, ridiculous antics and audience participation, the troupe makes an energetic, friendly environment.
The inviting atmosphere, of both the shows and the troupe itself, is something that OverReactors president Sam Edelson values and enjoys.
"Having people not only welcome you, but want you to be there gives this real, unbelievable feeling of family," he said. "It's hard to find a place where people ... will greet you and want to know who you are and support you and laugh at the stupid s--- that you say."
The third-year theatre student said that creating an inclusive space — where people with any level of improv experience could join — was important to him as the troupe's president.
"We are very much creating this form of improv where people can come and go as they please, very relaxed way," he said.
The troupe has open practices that all USC students are welcome to participate in. Third-year theatre student Riley Lucas said that while he now loves doing improv, he initially had doubts on whether or not he would be able to do it.
“I love it. It’s insane,” Lucas said. “It’s one of those things where it’s really easy to be like, ‘I could never do improv.’ I’m not saying that it’s not hard, but it gets easier and easier every time you do it.”
Lucas is a member of the troupe’s core cast, a group of five actors who participate in every show. He said improv is a "new way of thinking" that has made him a funnier person in general, not just in shows.
"The more you get used to it, the more your mind just travels that way," Lucas said. "Like, even outside of improv, they come up with things quicker. They're always thinking in that sort of funny way."
According to Edelson, the scenes don't go as well when the troupe tries to plan them out too much. Rehearsing gimmicks makes it harder to bounce back if the audience doesn't find them funny, so the troupe prefers to go without a specific plan more often than not.
"I feel like it hurts more when you plan out a joke and it doesn't work, rather than when you spitball it," he said.
On Saturday night, the troupe put on a show with the theme of Oregon Trail at USC’s Benson Theater. Each of the improviser's personas and all the games had a frontier twist.
As for how the troupe came up with the theme, Edelson said, "We were sitting on a couch, just talking of dumb stuff and I was like, 'Oregon Trail theme.' ... We all just looked at each other and started laughing."
Third-year graphic design student Sophie Tipton — who uses the stage name Sesame during shows — said that everyone in the troupe had been working hard to get ready for Saturday's show. Because improv is on-the-spot, the improvisers don't rehearse in the traditional theater way, but they do practice the games that they use in their shows.
"Games are like general structure, and directions and limitations to help us get creative," Tipton said.
Some games need only one or two improvisers, while others need more of the troupe to participate. At Saturday's show, the games all had a frontier twist as they moved along the "Oregon Trail," but the troupe uses the same games in most of their shows.
Tipton said that the challenge of improv is to keep the scene progressing within the rules of the game. For example, in a game called "Silence," two improvisers have to begin communicating in silence, but the story of the scene has to keep going.
Saturday night, the hard work paid off. The audience erupted into laughter throughout the performance as the improvisers ran away from taxes, acted out TV shows about croutons and died from poisonous pickles on the Oregon Trail.
The OverReactors hold open practices at Booker T. Washington every Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Their next show is Monday at 7 p.m. in the Russell House Theater.