After putting together an hour-long comedy sketch in the span of a month, Marissa Comstock takes a bow of pride as the full-house audience applauds her and her castmates’ performance in the “Freshman Fifteen” show on Friday, Feb. 28.
The first-year comedy major broke new ground for the college’s School of Theatre and Dance when she pitched, directed and head-wrote “Freshman Fifteen,” a 15-act comedy sketch written, directed and performed by about 15 first-year students.
The cast, all from the “Comedy Foundations II” class, collectively wrote and performed the sketches at Columbia’s Theatre Building. This was the first time a first-year-only sketch was one of the six Comedy Night shows done throughout the year by the School of Theatre and Dance.
Though prior to “Freshmen Fifteen,” Comedy Night shows typically involved upper classmen and a relatively short production timeline, Comstock was motivated by her love for sketch comedy, and was helped by her eager castmates to pull it off by the scheduled show night.
“Sketch is my thing, that’s my favorite form of comedy,” she said. “It’s what I want to do in the future, so it was really easy for me to go ‘I just want it to be a sketch-only show. I know we only have a little bit of time, but I know we can pull it off if we work hard enough.’”
Richard Walker, assistant professor for the School of Theatre and Dance and producer of Comedy Night, said he started producing the shows six years ago as an effort to give a platform that was “low-overhead for the school, but high-opportunity for the students.” He approved Comstock’s show pitch the last week of January, excited to put the spotlight on the first-year students’ talents.
“There hasn’t been an outlet for the first-years just to perform with other first-year performers,” he said. “So, Marissa pitched the idea of having a first-year-only show. I thought it was a great idea, and gave them a chance to do this show.”
Comstock said that sketch comedy is unique, in that every minor detail is scripted, demanding a significant amount of planning by her and the other writers. Though sketch comedy is a skill already under her belt, her cast mates came from different comedy backgrounds, offering learning curves and opportunities while developing the show.
Daniel Connolly, first-year comedy writing major and co-writer and actor of the show, said working in the performance group especially helped his sketch writing process for the show.
“It’s nice to have a group of people that are also really funny to help bounce ideas off of,” Connolly said. “You can write sketches on your own, but you don’t know what’s not working, or what is. So having at least another voice there to help balance it out adds a lot of input, a lot of new ideas that takes scenes to the next level.”
Comstock said she had to take an objective stance to her castmates’ ideas in order to best choose what sketches made it into the final production.
“It was really important for me as a director, and as someone who’s picking the pieces, to make it as fair as possible,” she said. “Which I know is sometimes hard, because there are so many other people. But, just because it’s not necessarily my sense of humor, doesn’t mean that it won’t get a laugh. So I had to keep that in mind.”
The show consisted of quick sketches, all with different concepts and punchlines. However, the cast had a common goal of their sketches being inspired by personal events. Claire Torrance, first-year comedy writing major and co-writer and actress in the show, was able to write her sketch, inspired by her experience attending a Christian summer camp.
“I have a personal connection to it, and I was able to make what was a weird, uncomfortable experience into something that everyone could laugh at and enjoy,” she said.
The show drew a crowd so big that several people had to be turned away at the doors, and an audience of 181 that laughed continuously at the group’s sketches.
Hugo Westreich, first-year comedy major, is also in the “Comedy Foundations II” class. Though they were not involved in the performance, they came to support their classmates’ production.
“I’ve done shows with these guys before, and I could see the difference in having creative freedom,” they said. “I could see a lot more of their personalities coming through as they got more comfortable with working.”
Mary-Mullis Keyse, sophomore fashion merchandising major, came to support her roommate who was the assistant manager of the show, and was pleasantly surprised at the show’s quality.
“I thought it was really funny,” she said. “And I’m not typically a person that likes comedy, so I was surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. They’re very talented freshmen.”
Copy edited by Matt Brady
Resumen en Español:
Como parte de uno de los seis eventos de Noche de Comedia durante el año, organizados por la Escuela de Teatro y Danza, el viernes 28 de febrero, fue el primer espectáculo hecho solo por estudiantes de primer año, “Freshman Fifteen”. Marissa Comstock, estudiante de primer año de comedia, presentó la idea, dirigió y coescribió el sketch de comedia de 15 actos en un mes junto a sus compañeros de la clase de Fundamentos de Comedia II.
Resumen por Sofía Oyarzún
Copia editada por Manuel Nocera
