NJIT Students Make Em' Laugh at Newark Improv Festival 2020
As the great improv comic Robin Williams once said, “You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” Newark audiences enjoyed plenty of unique and entertaining moments, sparked with that little bit of madness, during the city’s annual celebration of improv theater recently.
The Rutgers/NJIT Theatre Arts Program in collaboration with the local arts-based organization, Express Newark, was involved in hosting the two-day 2020 Newark Improv Festival (NIF). Diverse troupes and performers from across the U.S. arrived in Newark to showcase their improvisational stylings ranging from comedy and music to drama.
Proceeds from the festival helped fund Newark residents interested in taking improv classes out of Express Newark.
“The performers in Newark include everything from musical improv, to one-man shows, to student groups, to those who've performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival … there is something for everyone,” said Isaac Jimenez, the festival’s artistic director at Express Newark. “What I think is great about our festival is that it's almost entirely comprised of teams of color, which is often not the case with improv comedy. We've created opportunities for folks in the community, showing our audience that anyone can do this and are creating an atmosphere where professional and amateur teams can network, learn and grow.”
Of course, NJIT students were in on the act.
The Rutgers-NJIT student-run improvisational comedy group, Improv Technicians, and the inaugural Newark Improv teams helped kick off the weekend of festivities, at the Rutgers-Newark campus’ Bradley Hall Theatre.
“We approached this event differently than our shows. … It's a different crowd than normal, not primarily college students, so we have to be a little smarter with our jokes,” said Nicholas Cheney humorously ahead of the event, a theatre arts and technology and chemical engineering double-major who will be participating with the Improv Technicians at NIF. “I have been very excited for the [festival] weekend. When I joined the troupe last year, older members were talking about how great the festival was in years past, and it got me excited to see what the hype was all about.
“I adore meeting other troupes. It's fascinating to me being able to meet like-minded people who are as passionate about ‘making stuff up for 15 minutes’ as I am!”
Improv Technicians, once the comedic group of Golden Globe-winner Ramy Youssef, has been “cultivating a culture of improv in Newark and on-campus” since it formed in 2011. The group has evolved its act off campus as well, right alongside Newark’s growing downtown art movement.
“We started the festival in 2013 and it's grown each year,” said Louis Wells, associate director, Rutgers/NJIT Theatre Arts Program. “We prioritize diversity in the selection of performers. This was also the first year that we've been able to bring the community onstage as performers. Over the years the students have gotten more invested in the art form and how it creates community. Improv works with the students because it gives them a voice and reveals their intelligence.”
The multiday event brought in groups from Atlanta, Baltimore, Virginia, New York and Newark, headlined by world-renowned hip-hop improv group, North Coast, and the veteran house team from the Baltimore Improv Group, Casually Dope.
Workshops also took place at Express Newark throughout the weekend with free introductory-level improv classes and workshops in hip-hop, musical freestyle improv and intermediate-level scene work.
For more on the festival, visit: https://newarkimprov.com/festival
