Improv is going online as the Redhawk Improvisational Troupe presents its first virtual performance of the year Thursday on Zoom starting at 7 p.m.

“We began working with our improv troupe online this semester to give all LHS students the opportunity to participate in a Liberty Theatre production,” theater director Heather Willingham said. “Whether or not they were face to face or virtual.”

Improvisational theater, or improv, is a form of theater in which actors completely make up lines on the spot.

“Improv troupe is a club obviously part of the Liberty Theater department where a bunch of students get together in this case over zoom and we perform improvisational theater,” senior and co-host Johnny Anderson said.  “It’s like regular theater except it’s completely made up from the ground up. You’re always making stuff up on the fly saying all these fun things no matter what it is. It can be the most random dumb thing ever and it still flies, that’s just kind of how improv rolls.”

Although confident, sophomore Riziki Kimani feels that this performance will lack the true audience reaction aspect of theater.

“I think the show is gonna run pretty smoothly due to the huge amount of preparation we’ve done to build up to this point,” Kimani said. “I feel like since it is virtual, the audience will be a bit less involved than normal but I’m mostly scared of how the energy will be passed between the audience and the actors because we can’t really hear the audience’s reaction since they’ll be muted most of the show.” 

As a co-host of the show, Anderson feels that the main purpose of the show is to simply enjoy it as much as any other show and to not worry about not knowing what to say.

“My main goal with the show is the same that has been done with every other improv show and it’s to have fun. Improv isn’t anything complicated, it’s not meant to be stressful. The idea of it is intimidating at first with the idea that you have to go out there and you have to say just whatever comes to your head, that can be kind of scary,” Anderson said. “But in practice, it’s really not that hard. It’s something anybody can do, it’s not something that you need to have practice at. You can go in having never done a day of theater in your life and you could have done it and just have fun with it and that’s the end of the day that’s what matters.”

Willingham sees improvement in her students in not only this show but other projects they have been working on.

“The students get better with every rehearsal,” Willingham said. “We are currently working with face-to-face rehearsals for our fall play, The Laramie Project, and that has been going great too.”