Imagine standing on stage with a hot spotlight in your face as you stare into a shadowed audience and try to remember your lines. Public speaking of any sort is a common fear on its own, but what if there weren’t even any lines?

That’s what improvisation entails. For some, it is a purely theatrical outlet, but for others, it is a medium for self-expression and team-building.

Enter, stage right: Mouse House Players, the new student-run improv comedy troupe on campus. Created by Alex Selden and Greg Jacks, two juniors majoring in environmental engineering and anthropology, respectively, Mouse House Players is seeking to create its own place on campus.

The group became an official student organization last October, and held their first auditions of the semester on Friday.

Traditionally, the Syracuse University improv scene has been limited to headliners such as Zamboni Revolution and a handful of smaller, unofficial organizations. Both Selden and Jacks said they auditioned for Zamboni Revolution. When they were rejected, they decided to create an “all-inclusive” group of their own.

“We should all be able to make fools out of ourselves,” said Jacks.

Selden, who has been involved with improv since high school, said he has always wanted to create a troupe. “We don’t want Syracuse to be limited by one group. At RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), there are multiple improv troupes that aren’t in competition with one another. Instead, they’re all supporting the improv community,” said Selden.

Although formal auditions were last Friday, there is always an opportunity for more students to become involved, said Selden. This all-inclusive theme is epitomized by its open-rehearsal schedule. Mouse House Players plans to have two practices per week: one practice for the official troupe, and the other for all interested individuals, he said.

“We want people who aren’t yet ‘good enough’ to come,” Selden said. Traditionally, he said, with the available organizations there was no place for people to learn and get better.

Jacks said those in Mouse House Players are not expecting serious or experienced actors who can take a single word and instantaneously create a scene. Selden described the ideal candidate as being “open-minded, committed and humble.” Jacks used the words “spontaneous” and “creative,” saying candidates should “be able to show people emotions.”

Selden and Jacks said that at its auditions last Friday, Mouse House Players welcomed a variety of students with varying levels of experience. Warm-up activities included everything from freeze tag to light openers designed to get everyone involved, they said.

One of these students, Dan Franco, a senior psychology major, had zero previous improv experience before joining Mouse House Players.

Franco said he went to a meeting before the group was officially registered. He had a friend who loved it and said he would, too.

“Once you get into it, you really start to express yourself,” Franco said. “There were a bunch of new people and they seemed to jump into it really fast.”

Joseph Blum, a professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and faculty advisor for the Mouse House Players, knew a lot about off-campus activities, including the Thumbs UPstate Improv Festival, which he coordinates. Both Selden and Jack said they owe Blum a lot, as he’s helped to expand their idea of both the on-campus and off-campus improv community.

Now, Selden said, “when we get bigger, we want to do shows everywhere we can.”

Selden and Jacks said they have plans to train their current team and expand the outreach of the organization as a whole. With more practice, they said they expect each member to handle harder prompts and activities.

“I want someone to walk off the street and come into our show and think we’re putting on a play,” Selden said. “It will feel that natural and well-scripted.”

Franco said it takes a little courage to put oneself out there, but it can be really cathartic once they do.

“Honestly, I think everyone should try it,” he said. “There’s a human need to be loud and expressive and make other people laugh.”

Published on February 16, 2014 at 11:32 pm