Joyous Chaos brings to stage another year of hilarious chaos for their first official show of the year including their new team members on Monday night at 9:30 in Ladue Auditorium. Joyous Chaos is Greenville University’s Improv Team. Once a month, they provide students with a fun and creative night away from the stresses of college. The team’s goal is not only to have fun but make sure the audience does as well. Together they bring a lot of random and creative ideas to the table, as they unfold hilarious scenes from the first thing that comes to mind. Joyous Chaos has a reputation for creating scenes and jokes that will leave audiences wanting more.
The Team
Members of the team from last year include Logan Murphy, Kenzi Schwab, Brandon Brown, Nick Watterson, Alec Biggs, Sophie Collings, and Dalton Janssen. These members put on a show at the beginning of the semester and soon after hosted auditions for the 2019-2020 Improv team. There was a huge turn out at audiences, but only five were chosen to join the team. These new members include Will Sunderland, Josh Brannon, Solomon Bloomer, Anna Finch, and Victoria Fisher. During Homecoming week Joyous Chaos put on a teaser for their first official show with the new members – which was on Monday.
What Their Chaos Is About
Audiences who have never experienced an Improv show should expect a bunch of their fellow friends and students up on stage saying a lot of crazy things just to make them laugh. There’s a lot of accents, mannerism, stupidity, jokes, and just straight-up fun. Audiences will barely have time to catch a breath. Audiences love watching the team create something out of absolutely nothing. “I think when the audience and the team members come together to find a corporate creative outlet, something truly magical happens,” said Will Sunderland.
The team members don’t know what their scene partner is going to say next, or even what they are going to say next. So while the scene may be going one way, it can easily change directions within a second. This is what has the audience at the edge of their seat the whole show – waiting to see what hilarious line the next person will spit out. Co-Captain of the Improv Team, Logan Murphy said, “The thing I love about improv is the endless possibilities that come with it. One second you’re an old man with a burning passion for bowling and next you’re a clown plotting the demise of zoo animals!”
Monday Night’s Performance
Monday’s show opened up with a video they created which displayed each member’s quirky personality and strange humor. Joyous Chaos then jumped right in and played seven games. One of the first games they played was called “Director’s Cut.” This game consists of three people acting as “actors” and creating a scene you would see in a movie, then the director yells “cut” and keeps changing the genre or characters of the movie. The “actors” then have to change the way they perform it to match the new genre.
Another game played was an audience favorite – “Sing It.” Three members create a scene, then suddenly at any random point, usually after a stupid or strange line, the host yells out “sing it!” which then forces the person who said the last line to create an entire song out of it.
The last game the Improv Team played was called “Scenes From a Hat,” which is a lot like the tv show, Whose Line Is It Anyways. Before the show starts the audience submits prompts into a hat, then during the show two people come on stage and draw two different prompts from the hat. One person gets a prompt for a place and the other gets a prompt for a relationship then they come together and create a scene from it.
Nothing is more exciting than watching a bunch of people create a comedic story out of the first thing that rolls off their tongue.
If you missed Joyous Chaos’ last Improv Show, be sure to make plans to be at their next show on December 9th at 9:30 pm in Ladue Auditorium. Doors open at 9:00 pm. It’s the last show of the semester, so come take a break from Finals and have a good laugh!
