Improv troupe searches for niche

Author: Cloe Shasha

Last winter, in the middle of the academic school year, a group of students joined together to practice improvisational theater. On Sept. 29, four of these students performed their first official show under the title of "Middlebrow."

Neil Baron '10, Adam Kritzer '11, Danny Metzger-Traber '11 and Andrew Powers '11.5 attracted a crowd of over 120 people in Dana Auditorium on Middlebrow's opening night, leading to a consensus among the members that it was a successful show.

"Rejection is how this story starts," said Kritzer. "We all tried out for Otter Nonsense and didn't make it. But we all knew we wanted to continue doing improv."

Powers explained that he and the other Otter Nonsense rejects wanted to pursue their interest in improvisational theater without the intention of putting on a show.

This fall, however, the four students came back to Middlebury with experiences that inspired them to elevate their hobby to a production level.

"We didn't really know what to do last year," Kritzer said. "So this summer, Neil and I took classes. We both learned fundamental improv from the ground up and we integrated that into the group dynamic this year."

For their first show, the four students decided to pick from their repertoire of improvisational games to work with.

"All of the ones we played during the show are very well-established improv games," said Baron. "So we looked for games that let us demonstrate our improv ability - and for ones that would entertain the audience."

The group is excited to expand its membership. Middlebrow held auditions shortly after their first show and callbacks on Oct. 5.

According to Powers, the group wants to aim towards putting on three to four shows per semester.

"We do it for the girls," Powers said.

But these four students are not only aiming towards a performance role on campus. Because they all know what it's like to be rejected from a group, they want anybody to be able to take part in their process. They want to include other students in some of their rehearsals - any students who are interested in improvisation.

"I think a nice way for Middlebrow to evolve would be to teach improv comedy around the campus," Metzger-Traber said. "We want to elevate its accessibility."

Starting on the Saturday after fall break, Middlebrow will hold open rehearsals in Coltrane Lounge.

The current members of Middlebrow wrote a constitution for their group and are on their way to becoming a recognized Middlebury College club.

"It will be good to have two improv groups on campus," Powers said. "More people will have an option to explore that type of acting,"

Eventually Middlebrow plans on participating in workshops with improvisational actors in other parts of the northeast. The group wants to get exposure to as many forms of improvisation as possible."