A Decade of Improvisation

Now in its 10th year as an on-campus organization, Brand Name Improv (BNi) invites all students to join, regardless of their experience or skill.

Instruments, playbooks and scripts are not needed. Participants simply think on the spot in order to create their own scenario, interacting with the other members of the group by playing various improvisational games.

"Improv doesn't require prior knowledge," said junior theater major and BNi core committee member Nate Hults.

It does, however, require participants to continually learn from one another, especially about the main concepts of improvisation.

"One of the biggest rules of improv is to accept and build on another's idea," said freshman Ellen Kress, also a theater major.

But BNi is not just for theater majors. Freshman Ryan Zobel, a history and secondary education major, eagerly attends 10 p.m. practice each Wednesday night in the Mortensen Center.

Zobel believes his passion for improvisation is the result of theater professor Julia Bennett's Improv for Everyone interim class.

"There wasn't a single day that I didn't look forward to going to class," Zobel said.
Other than choir, BNi is the only organization that Zobel's been involved in at Augustana—and he likes how it differs from other organizations.

"In choir, you go in there to sing," Zobel said. "Improv is different; you can even go in there just to meet people. You don't have to be an actor to be in it."

BNi is an example of an improv program that has withstood the test of time. According to Bennett, the first improv group was We Know Dave, then No C in Argyle, eventually evolving "into the current structure of Brand Name.

More recent changes deal with leadership, participation and viewership. There have been about five managers of the team and new this year is a core committee of six improvisers, selected for their varying skills in marketing, communication and teaching others about improvisation.

"They rehearse, they promote, they do shows on and off campus, they solicit business, they do quality management control for their product [and] they recruit new members," Bennett said. "It's very much like a small business."

Participation is a different matter. Since BNi is open to all students, it is not surprising that the group has grown and that several other improv groups have emerged as a result.

"Each student gets to stand on the shoulders of the students before them who helped to shape and anchor the program, which means that their level of work gets to be even higher," Bennett said.

Although Bennett started the program, she is allowing the group to take on more responsibilities as the program improves. Taking notes at every BNi show is a thing of the past now that "the improvisers are better and serve as ad-hoc coaches as well," Bennett said.

"They are responsible for the continuing education and management of the team's growth and artistic strength," she said.

Another improv group, known as Suspiciously Delicious, involves the duo of senior Leigh Hooks and junior Nate Hults and is a testament to the improvisers' personal growth as they delve into different, more complex areas of improvisation.

Another new development, the first ever all-female group, Sibyl, formed this January and is open to all female Augustana students. The group allows the female regulars of BNi another way to improvise apart from the male-dominated BNi group.

Although BNi has many more males, the strong roots of the program, along with the community support, helped to make Sibyl's existence possible.

"Sibyl grew out of BNi and out of the BNi community at Augie," Kress said.

According to freshman Carrie Sullivan, the name Sybil represents that prophetesses of Sybil are "wise women with the answer."

It's not just symbolic, though, for the women involved. Junior Leah Hilsabeck, sophomore Megan McDonald, junior Kayla Straub, Kress and Sullivan delve into different styles of improvisation, as BNi is game-based improv, and Sibyl focuses on short, long and neo-forms of improvisation.

Sullivan addressed the main difference between BNi and Sybil by speaking about the main gender stereotype in improvisation.

"Traditionally in improv, you have two women—a pretty one and a funny one—and a bunch of guys," Sullivan said. "As women, we can explore different perspectives that haven't been represented in the male-dominated form of improv."

The women plan to perform in the near future. Sullivan hopes that female students are empowered by the performance.

"It'll show that there is a way for women to find their voice and have it be heard," Sullivan said.

Several students, such as Hults and senior Will Dietzler, plan to act and improvise after they graduate. Zobel, on the other hand, plans to incorporate improv into life as a history teacher.

"I can bring improv into the classroom by getting away from the traditional lesson plan," Zobel said.

Zobel then specified another key concept of improv, "sharing the focus." Instead of lecturing the entire period, Zobel would encourage his students to speak more during class.

Hults believes that the presence of improv at Augustana is unique—in more ways than one.

"There's no other place in South Dakota where you can find this much improv," he said. "It's special to Augustana. It creates opportunities some people may not otherwise have."