Loyola Greyhound

Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Arts & Society

Media Credit: Nora Benedict/Greyhound Senior Tom Saporito, pictured above, is one of the six members of the Loyola-based improv comedy troupe, Bleu Picnic.

Loyola's annual little siblings weekend marked the fifth performance (this year) of Bleu Picnic, the College's student-based Improv troop. Founded by Michael Herdson of Student Life, the group uses audience-driven cues in which to sketch the directions of their skits. Formed last year, the troupe has established a style similar to that of famed television show "Who's Line is it Anyway?" where off-beat antics and clever off-the-cuff humor is at the center of the show's spontaneity.

Improv, unlike other forms of performance art, requires not only the crowd's pivotal involvement, but the members' ability to anticipate words and actions of the rest of the cast. The scenes in which the group is able to build on one another's material in a coherent and entertaining fashion are electric. However, improv is "Not just about coming up with things that we think will make people laugh." Quick wit and the real talent of being able to perform in front of a large body of people is only a piece of what goes into the success of Bleu Picnic. Practices and workshops led by Herdson coupled with the close friendships between the six members allow a certain fluidity that seems natural and unforced.

Herdson, who has been formally trained in improv, is concerned first and foremost with developing the cohesive qualities that make the show have the illusion of effortlessness. Off stage, Herdson is genial but with a business-like quality, taking the work he has done, and the future of the troupe seriously. The group, who has for the most part performed at charitable Loyola functions, is exercising the kinks in their craft, hoping to eventually move beyond campus. However, the troupe realizes that community clout, the kind that Baltimore Improv Group has, is needed in order to book shows elsewhere.

Onstage there is a metamorphosis. Herdson along with seniors Tom Saporito, Tim Hillmann, Tim Mintel, and sophomores Colin Reilly and Travis Seminara, mold into whichever persona adheres best to the storyline and audience suggestions. Modulating voices and accents, high energy and rapid movement around the stage pushes the audience's senses to the brink, at times crying from head-hurting laughter. One of the peaks within the hour-and-a-half show was the "gibberish game." In this particular situation the members of the audience construct an outlandish story in which all but two members of the troupe are aware of. Using only nonsensical words and actions, the members come in one by one to view the gibberish story, then recreate it. The troupe pre-selects the style of skit, and is able to rehearse hypothetical situations, but in scenes such as gibberish, they have no control over the story in which they are acting out.

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