Improv Club Looks for New Members

Most everyone could say that they knew an “improv” student in high school. They were the kid who sort of spent time in the drama department, who would speak up in class just to make people laugh, and generally stuck to their… different group of friends.

“[My friends’ and my own] mental connecting was very strong in high school,” said Braden Egtvedt, one of the club’s leaders. “But we definitely still have that here.”

Improv Club started up loosely last academic year, through a handful of meetings. Their goal was to allow members a place to relax once a week and feel free to express themselves in a way that not many can.

However, the club has faced declining interest in the past couple of months, and many students have no idea that the club exists at all. The meetings continue, though, and generally they follow the same schedule each week.

“To get things started, we’ll teach different games and warm-ups to new members,” Egtvedt said. “As we learn the games, we’ll also focus on different techniques and advice to help improve the improv.”

Why, if they have reduced interest, do they continue to train? The club plans to debut its talents outside of the weekly meeting, whether that be in talent shows or other events thrown by Mines Little Theater on campus.

“We plan to work as an extension of MLT, rather than a separate club altogether,” he said. “We have members who are both part of the department and not, so we want to be our own entity.”

The leaders of the club, Egtvedt and fellow student Joseph Bales, have worked tirelessly to keep the members’ passion and momentum moving forward throughout this and last semester.

“The leaders are not professionals,” Egtvedt said, “but rather two kids with seven years of combined high school improv experience who didn’t want to stop improv-ing.”

Both graduates of Standley Lake High School, and with experience in both of the improv teams at the school, Egtvedt and Bales bring a wide variety of talent to the club, but find themselves learning just as much as their newer members with each meeting.

“New members… would technically be all of us,” Egtvedt pointed out. They firmly believe in the idea that leaders should look to better themselves every day, and constantly learn from new and fresh talent.

Improv Club meetings will resume in the coming weeks, and they are looking for any new students interested in improv to join their ranks. If interested, email Egtvedt at begtvedt@mines.edu or Bales at jbales@mines.edu.