Written by Andy Anderson. Media by Jack Wang. [divide]
As a class of seniors at Greenville College, we’ve entered the season of a pestering question, “what are you going to do after you graduate?” The same dreaded question has caused anxiety for undergraduate seniors for hundreds of years. Joyous Chaos’s timely hosting of a stress relieving comedy show was the perfect remedy for some worrisome students around campus.
Joyous Chaos is a Greenville College club that specializes in impromptu comedy. It commonly hosts one show a month for students and faculty members. However, on March 27th the comedic team hosted a special event designed for students nearing graduation. The show was titled, Career Chaos, and offered a plethora of interviewing, resume building, and job searching techniques. These tips and techniques were explained between comedy skits by former Joyous Chaos cast members: Ben Linder, Mike Arb, and Tyler Semple.
The show was held in the Upper Union at 8 p.m., and was full of memorable jokes, outrageously comedic characters and lots of laughter. An unsung hero of the show was Greenville College’s Associate Dean for Career and Calling, Patrick Miller. Miller helped orchestrate the show as well as offering a handful of tips for job hunting. However, Miller’s most memorable moment was when he was asked to participate in an improv game with one of the Joyous Chaos members. I (Andy Anderson) had the priviledge of being the Joyous Chaos member who acted alongside Miller, or “PAT!” as I called him in the scene. We played a game called write-ins, which involves two actors who carry out a scene while picking up “write-ins” of random lines written by audience members. The actors must implement the lines that they read into the scene, but the catch is that the actors don’t know what the lines are until they read them during the performance.
The scene that Patrick and I acted out told the story of a peculiar, yet passionate boxing coach and his trainee. I played the part of the boxing coach, and Miller was the young prodigy. As the scene progressed I quickly realized how witty and hilarious Miller was. He didn’t skip a beat during the performance and came up with plenty of memorable jokes along the way. At one point in the scene his character even had an emotional breakdown, which led to him crying on my shoulder while we shared a comforting hug. I never thought I would have the opportunity to act alongside Greenville College’s Dean for Career and Calling, but it was a definitely an enjoyable experience.
After the show, many students picked up informative packets (involving job hunting) and business brochures. Some students also signed-up for personal resume building assistance from student McKinley Watson. Watson is an expert in self branding, and is willing to assist other students in the resume building process. Overall, the night was a success. Students had a chance to relieve some stress through laughter, all while gaining knowledge to prepare for the dreaded question, “what are you going to do after you graduate?”
