The Last Laugh Troupe hosted a workshop on the improv technique in theatre on Mar. 11. The workshop was held in the main stage theatre located in the Jenkins Hall on Armstrong campus of Georgia Southern University. Students on Armstrong got an opportunity to work with the Last Laugh Troupe on the “improv” technique.

 Improv is an important technique in theatre when the actors have to improvise during the performance without practicing it beforehand. Improv is not only a technique in theatre, it is also a useful skill to have in life that can help people in many situations. With the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop has some restrictions about social distancing and masks, however, the laughs still go on. 

The workshop was designed like a game event, where students who participated could play games to enhance their improv skill. There were three games in the workshop. In the first game, participants had to imitate different careers in different creative and hilarious ways. The second game was for participants to do the actions that the previous person told them to do. The last game was designed like a dating game show and participants had to use their creativity to make their performance funny. The games were varied but all of them aimed for the same purposes: to enhance improv skills and team work. 

The idea about improv is that it is not only a technique that all theatre majors need, it is also a skill that can be useful to solve some situations in the future. By participating in the games on stage, participants excel through their nervousness while improvising their ideas and at the same time, it helps them become more confident. 

“The workshop really helped people build up their confidence in social settings and it’s good for just about every career because in every career, you usually have to talk to other people and this helps you do that, other people learn to work together,” said Logan Western, a sophomore Theatre major. 

Improv requires a lot of creativity from actors. Being able to improvise on stage is not easy. This workshop was to help actors overcome their fear and gain confidence and a great opportunity for the creative juices to flow. 

“The one thing I really love about improv is it really helps get the creative juices flowing and for the blockage of my creativity, it helps me get it out in a healthy sort of way,” said Darian Discenza, another Theatre major. 

“I think improv really helps with acting because improv is just really on the spot, it makes you think how to do something, it’s also really good at building character, and you need to really build character in normal theatre settings. So, I think it’s a very big helpful thing to get people who don’t really act into acting, and help their skills grow,” said Chloe Anderson, a Theatre major. 

The workshop was not only a place for students to learn about the improv skill in theatre, it was also a place to hang out with new people, especially during the pandemic when it is harder for students to socialize.