Written by Whitney Vitt. Media by Riley Hannula.
Joyous Chaos is an energetic and hilarious improv team that a few Greenville College students participate in. During their shows, they entertain and create laughs with the talents God gave them. Practices are two times a week with around five shows a semester, but many additional hours are put into scheduling, skits, filming and much more.
Roman Butler, Mikhaela Romoser and Rachel Rousseau are co-captains of Joyous Chaos. The rest of the gifted team includes Eddie Allison, Justin Langly, Trey Manning, Austin Simmons and Corinne Weber. Their two-hour practices consist of many games. Butler comments, “The practice starts with warm up games to get the funny juices pumping.” After warm-ups, the team covers any business or announcements that need to be made, such as upcoming show dates, gigs outside of school, any complaints from the last show, or things to work on and prayer requests.
During practices, three skits are generally played. Each member participates with other members so they know how to compliment each other’s personalities when performing. The team’s first-year host, Jacob Gooden, plays a large part in this process and comments on his job as MC, “Ultimately my job boils down to finding material and suggestions that the team can work with and create skits that the audience enjoys. Being the MC is awesome. It is great to be a part of something that brings joy and laughter to our campus. Also, it is great helping the team shine in their gifts.”
The Joyous Chaos team made many memories throughout their years performing together. Romoser comments, “It’s hard to pick a favorite memory because each week is so much fun. If I had to pick one, it would be getting my first laugh in my first show. I made a joke about poop and people thought it was hysterical.” Allison, a second-year member, describes the Christmas show in 2014: “Will Florian did a scene from a hat and busted through the back wall of the stage in LaDue.” Butler added, “It was in the middle of a skit and he left a hole the size of a small child.”
Joyous Chaos brings joy to their audience members in a hysterical way. To add more laughter to the stage, the team occasionally has alumni join them in performances. Joyous Chaos alumni and Greenville College graduate, Andy Anderson, shares his memories in Joyous Chaos:
“Honestly, a lot of the funniest memories took place when we all hung out as a group outside of shows and practice. Improv is a big part of every member’s personality, so the goofy characters, strange accents and role playing doesn’t stop on stage. My senior year was basically an endless improv show. I improvised with the team on stage, my roommates and I improvised for hours at home and I improvised with random people on campus. Comedy makes life more interesting and enjoyable and I was honored to make people laugh and to laugh along with others during my time with Joyous Chaos. Joyous Chaos has given me a lot of lifelong friends and I’m thankful for that. I still feel a part of the Joyous Chaos family, and I love going to the shows to support this year’s team.”
Helping the Greenville community to laugh is what Joyous Chaos is all about. If you are interested in joining the team or seeing a show, check out their Facebook page, Joyous Chaos. Their next show is Friday, May 6 in LaDue. You won’t want to miss it!
