Getting on stage with no rehearsed lines and only a random audience suggestion is how Theatre Strike Force began their performance at the Southwest Regional College Improv Tournament.
The UF improvisation team acted out an improvised play of exaggerated situations. One of the scenes was a party with drugs and alcohol.
Theatre Strike Force vice president Daniel LeVine, 21, said they were all acting out the scenes in strange ways, like taking a shot up their noses.
“Performing the show was really fun,” he said. “It was one our best performances.”
The team traveled to Austin, Texas, for the competition. Six members of the group competed in the Saturday competition. The 13 colleges that participated were placed into the three semifinal rounds.
“We did not place first or second place in our round, so we don’t move on from there,” LeVine
said.
This was the UF team’s first time attending the southwest regional competition, in part due to a scheduling conflict with the date of the Gainesville Improv Festival.
At the 2012 south regional competition in Atlanta, the team placed third in the finals, said Patrick Hart, the 22-year-old Theatre Strike Force long form team director.
“I thought this regional itself was much tougher,” he said. “I was blown away by the amount
of talent that everybody had.”
University of Houston’s team, Glaundor, won first place for the tournament. The
winning team moves on to the national tournament in Chicago to compete in the College Improv
Tournament. The second place winner will be placed in a wild card pool with other
region winners to be entered in the national competition.
Theatre Strike Force creative director Brad Hersch, 21, said the team’s chanting was one of the more memorable experiences of the competition day.
“It really gets us pumped,” he said. “We really wanted to perform and do our best.”
