As the members of the Skitty Cats Improv Club filed into the Lucille C. Little Black Box Theatre at the University of Kentucky, the room looked lackluster at best. The space was dull with black walls and curtains, the only furniture: a couch, table, chair and prop door.
Once the club began their warmups, the room came to life. They began with clapping in sync and playing improv games to get their creativity flowing. In this space, mistakes are not negative, they are simply redirection into a new scene.
Blanaid Craig, a human health sciences major and club member, considers the club to be a safe space for her. With a difficult major such as STEM, she said improv is an outlet for her to release the tension in her life.
“You just don’t have to worry about people not thinking it’s funny or not because everyone is being creative and vulnerable in their own space,” Craig said.
This judgement-free space allows the actors to step out of their comfort zones when creating a scene, according to Khushi Arora, the clubs president. Within just a few scenes Arora was on her hands and knees pretending to be a turtle in an aquarium.
While Arora was still acting out the scene in the theater, audiences were transported into the aquarium that Arora was describing. According to her, the little black room was lined with fish tanks emitting a blue glow, bustling crowds and children running by. She said that had she not felt comfortable with her actors, the scene would have been unimaginative.
“We’ve seen these characters, we create them in this safe space during improv and then we get to evolve them and we evolve with them and we get to create something even bigger and better and more nuanced as we go on,” Arora said.
The ever changing nature of improv intrigues her and pulls her in each week. Before becoming a member of the club, Arora said she was convinced she would never succeed in improv.
She said she watched anything from improv to stand-up until college. Her club experience started with the basic techniques of improv, like staying in the moment and establishing where the scene is, and later progressed to the comedic scenes the group now acts in.
Arora said she and her members credit the trusting environment to the connections they have made through acting.
“I’ve been introduced to these new things and I’m being told that I’m not only allowed, but included with these wonderful people in these worlds,” Arora said.
The group found a true sense of belonging within one another, which in turn made each scene deeper on a personal level. Everyone belongs in the club, no matter the background, as long as they’re willing to embrace the power of improv, according to Craig.
Arora and Craig are both on the pre-med track, yet they still find joy in the arts. They both laughed as they explained their majors, finding humor in the vastly different subjects, according to Arora and Craig.
Another member, Dara Ward, is an education major who finds the club to be a welcoming environment.
“You may have different backgrounds but you can find that you have something in common and you can form a bond over that,” Ward said.
Each of these unique backgrounds presented a learning opportunity for the group. The lessons they learn from being in a pretend salon or pizzeria translate to their daily lives, according to Craig.
“There’s times in improv when I’m thinking of jokes or coming up with bits and I didnt even know I was capable of being so quick and on the spot with things,” Craig said.
While not a priority, participants like Craig have learned to be quick on their feet, not be fazed by redirection and maintain a positive attitude.
However, the spontaneity that the members learn is not what keeps them coming back. The space to explore their personalities and ideas draws them in each week, according to Arora.
The Skitty Cats Improv Club is more than just a club to its members, it is a place to forget about their to-do lists and simply be in the moment. To them, the Black Box Theatre is more than just a dull room, it’s a second home.
“Sometimes you have a really crazy week and you just need to be silly and let it out,” Arora said. “Everyone that’s involved with the club is so excited and ingrained in the idea of inclusivity and wants to keep it alive.”
