Stroopwafel Improv Group Hopes to Have Last Laugh at College Comedy Festival
Emerson’s Stroopwafel will compete in ImprovBoston’s 14th Annual College Comedy Festival from Thursday, February 22 to Saturday, February 24.
The group will be doing short form and long form comedy, according to Augustus Viveiros ‘20, a Visual and Media Arts major. Short form comedy is shorter, structured comedy with more rules and gimmicks, while long form comedy consists of longer scenes with fewer restrictions.
Viveiros, who will be attending the festival for the first time, said he is looking forward to the competition.
“I’m excited to do it,” he said. “It’ll be cool to see what other schools do. It’s a huge deal, I’d like to represent Emerson well,” he said.
This will be the third festival for Aidan Watt ‘19, also a VMA major, who said he’s excited to participate again this year. Stroopwafel took third place in last year’s competition, he said.
Performing Arts major Claire Layden ’21 is new to Stroopwafel and the Comedy Festival. She said she’s excited for the possible career opportunities it will bring.
“Watching improv helps you open up and you learn more,” Layden said. Layden also said the festival is good for making connections with people from other schools.
Participants are able to attend comedy workshops during the festival. In previous years, workshops for clowning and musical improv have been offered, Watt said.
Stroopwafel will be competing with schools from across New England.
This year, Emerson alumnus Josh Shelor ‘17 is the executive producer of the festival. He said his hope for the festival is that students are able to learn something new.
“From the coaches that we assign to the judges and workshops, our goal is to help them understand how much fun comedy can be, reinforce how much fun they’re already having, and give them more skills to grow their repertoire,” he said.
Shelor said his experience at Emerson helped prepare him for this role. Emerson taught him how to challenge himself, he said.
“I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for the past three months because it’s going to be so energetic and enthusiastic,” Shelor said
Stroopwafel will be competing on Thursday at 7:30 pm and Friday at 7:00 pm. The troupe will take part in a line game, where students will stand in a line and tell one-liners based on a prompt, on Thursday at 11:00 pm, according to Matthew McMahan, who helps coach the group.
Students can attend any show apart of the festival for $10.
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