Mission: Improv-able, AU’s improv troupe, sent off two of their seniors on April 21 in a final show filled with laughs, debates and a Swedish milkmaid.
Although the event’s Facebook page promoted the show to run from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., it began ten minutes late and ended thirty minutes early. However, the second the ball was rolling, there was no stopping it. Seniors David Brown and Paul Stewart quickly said their goodbyes after participating in the the club for eight and seven semesters, respectively.
Afterward, Brown’s co-director Ryan Cangarlu kicked off a game of Pink Pants, in which characters live in an alternative universe where everything is the same except for one element change given by an audience member. The night’s specialty? Sometimes the floor was actually lava.
The show was off to bit of a slow start, as the fact that the floor only sometimes turned into lava made the element a bit lost and forgotten. Cangarlu attempted to keep it in the mind of the audience throughout, once walking through a scene to point out that the lava had suddenly appeared. Fortunately, Brady Hill deserves best in show for his gnarly role as a badass surfer beach therapist with the scar on his back to prove it.
The energy picked up after a game of The Debate, in which audience members choose two topics for actors to argue over. Freshman Jane Rothstein and sophomore Julia Gagnon played characters arguing that cups are the world’s best beverage container, while the seniors fought for mugs as the superior dishware for drinks.
The game took a hilarious turn as cast members started playing with words. The cup duo reminded audience members of the satisfaction one feels when cupping a breast, while the mug duo reminded the audience of the satisfaction one would receive by easily mugging people. In the end, even though you can’t spell couple without cup, it was clear that one can’t spell muggle without mug, as the seniors won the debate while proving that you can never go wrong with a Harry Potter reference.
Laughs echoed throughout the rest of the night with final games including Dime Store Novel, Movie Critiques and Assscat. Audience members doubled over in laughter at the movie critique segment, in which a Swedish milkmaid with dreams of being a Broadway star landed her big break after wowing producers with her skill of shoving her fist down a cow’s throat repeatedly until it died. While it was a bit on the wild side, Cangarlu’s performance got the audience members laughing so ferociously that there didn’t seem to be one drop of discomfort in the room.
Mission: Improv-able ended their final show with a bang, causing me to nearly die of laughter only to have my soul reincarnated long enough to do it all over again. After attending multiple shows, it’s safe to say that this semester has been an absolutely terrific run for Mission: Improv-able, with each and every member of the cast always managing to grab the best jokes out of thin air and use them in the best possible way.
In addition to Brown and Stewart’s departure, members Hill and Grace Goulding plan to study abroad next semester, while Zoe Greenblott intends to take a gap semester prior to graduating. Although this cuts the size of the fun-loving troupe down to three, it’s without a doubt that Cangarlu and Gagnon will maintain the same knee-slapping hilarity they were able to bring to us this semester as director and producer, respectively. Be sure to check out their Facebook page in the fall for future events and ways to get involved.
life@theeagleonline.com
