Theater has graced our presence since the earliest of civilizations. It has taken on many different forms and a variety of stages around the world.
Last Thursday, The Galileo Players sketch comedy group made a hysterical showing in the Student Center Auditorium.
This group is made up of five members who all met in the Second City training course in Chicago. According to its Web site, Second City is “the leading brand in improv-based sketch comedy.”
“We all graduated for the class and were kind of like, ‘what’s next,’” said Galileo co-founder Tom Flanigan. “We started our own group because we like working with one another. Our teacher said get a niche, so we decided on science.”
This niche went over well with the audience, who laughed at this slap-stick and witty humor. The beginning of the show started with all five members who were working for the Department of Artificial Selection.
They started talking in a very robotic fashion about Darwin’s survival of the fittest and it was very funny, but not over the top.
“It’s fun when a group identifies what you’re going to get,” said member Tim Sniffen. “In a general show you put something on for everyone. However, with this material, if you like it you’re really going to get into it.”
The Galileo Players put on a variety of skits, including some live improv that used audience members. The audience was asked to shout out ideas and the cast members would then build a scene and roll with it.
“The audience gets an A for participation,” member Kate James said.
“Sometimes when we perform, it is very difficult to get the audience to participate and that can slow the show down. I was very excited that people were literally jumping out of their seats and onto the stage to be a part of our show.”
Some of these improv games came from renowned improvisator Viola Spolin.
Flanigan said he preferred games that could have a scene and a lot of audience interaction opposed to elimination games.
“Before the show I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if this inspired someone to do this?’ ” cast member Meagan Flanigan said. “I was an engineer before this and when I started taking Second City classes it made me better at my job.”
“Whenever I saw improv I was impressed,” co-member Joey Bland said. “Though it was scary at first, but I have never had a better time on stage. When I got out of college I went for it. It’s pretty easy to find a venue. It takes time and one must say interested in a lot of stuff to be well rounded.”
The Galileo Players can be found on Facebook and will be next performing at Virginia Tech.
