WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Get ready to laugh, West Plains, because Missouri State Improv is rolling into town at 7 p.m. Sept. 1 to perform an evening of completely spontaneous adult comedy in the West Plains Civic Center theater.
Tickets are $5 each and go on sale Aug. 1 at the civic center box office, 110 St. Louis St. They also may be purchased by calling 417-256-8087. Missouri State University-West Plains students with a valid BearPass ID will be admitted free to this event hosted by the University/Community Programs (U/CP) Department.
Missouri State Improv is a nationally-recognized collegiate improvisational group from Missouri State University in Springfield that has performed throughout the Midwest. Improvisation is a form of theater in which no script is used, according to www.improvcomedy.org. Instead, the comedians create the dialogue and action themselves as they perform.
The most popular style of improvisation today is “spot” improv, in which performers obtain suggestions from their audience and use them to create short, entertaining scenes. Comedians in Missouri State Improv perform this type of improvisation. They engage the audience by asking for prompts, then they launch into a comedy set based solely on the audience prompt. Nothing and no one is off limits with this group of young comedians, so the performance is recommended for mature audiences due to adult language and humor, organizers said.
“Improv comedy has been around for a while, but it’s harder to find in the rural Midwest,” said Jennifer Moore, coordinator of theater and events. “This group is familiar enough with the Ozarks to know the audience and push the bar a little. Humor, including poking fun at yourself sometimes, can be a good thing.
Chance Nichols is the president of Missouri State Improv and a regular on the improv comedy scene in Springfield. He started doing improvisation at age 12 and has been hooked ever since, performing with various companies over the years. He helped build Missouri State Improv into a top 40 collegiate improv national team. He also is a writer and performer for the Emmy Award-winning late night talk show The Mystery Hour on Fox and has appeared in and written numerous sketches for the show, including “Instagram Husband” and “Mom Text Decoder.”
For more information about Missouri State Improv, visit the group’s Facebook page. For more information about the group’s Sept. 1 performance in West Plains, contact Missouri State-West Plains’ U/CP Department at 417-255-7966.