The Sloppy Joes Improv Troupe performed its final on-campus show Sunday, Dec. 6 before the biannual Breakfast and Bingo event. The show is consistently the most well-attended show of the fall semester, and this year was no different. With every seat in the Jabara Flexible Theatre filled, audience members had to stand in the back.
The student-led troupe, which performs improvised games like those seen on the television show “Whose Line is it Anyway?” offers four free, on-campus shows per semester along with a free monthly show (every second Monday) at Mead’s Corner, a local coffee and gelato shop at 430 E. Douglas Ave.
The team holds auditions at the beginning of every fall semester. This year more than half of the team are new members, including freshman students Amy Emerson, Lauren Spencer and Nick Wynn, junior Ruben Lerma and senior Kati Bush. Returning members include sophomore Trevor Farney and seniors John Denny and Alison Byrne.
The troupe has performed regularly on the Newman University campus since the mid-2000s and often pairs with other Newman organizations and local high school improv troupes to bring laughter to campus. In the past, the troupe has also hosted charity shows to raise money for breast cancer and for a trip to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., to perform.
Recently, former troupe members and Newman alums have started a new improv troupe called “The League of Extraordinary Sirs” at the Wichita Community Theater, 258 N. Fountain St.
The troupe will perform next at 7 p.m., Monday, Dec. 14 at Mead’s Corner. Next semester, the troupe will host four more free, on-campus shows along with the monthly Mead’s Corner shows. They will also continue to offer free weekly improv workshops.
For more information on show dates and workshops, “Like” the Sloppy Joes Improv Facebook page.
