The Current Summer 20

MAN OVERBOARD:
HOW WOMEN AND NON-BINARY IMPROVISERS
CREATED A SPACE OF THEIR OWN
By Aaron Applebey
On a snowy February afternoon, as
Michigan State University students trudged
along the cracked sidewalks three stories
below, the fourteen cast members of Man
Overboard flung imaginary swords at one
anothers’ heads. Hearty grunts, yelps and
laughs filled the circle of performers as
they settled onto a singular wavelength.
A group mind
Breaking from their warm-up, seven of the
women and non-binary improvisers began
a longform set — a series of short scenes.
The remaining teammates watched from
seats on the studio floor, sandwiched
between humming radiators. Scenes
involved a young woman admitting to
a love affair with a vampire, classmates
fervently discussing the banned “The
Grapes of Wrath” with its sexy final page
and a mother’s secret leather room.
Every subsequent beat of the longform
rhymed with the previous as the members
discovered a mutually accepted thread of
comedic spontaneity.
“It’s raw, human connection,” reflected
Claire Wilcher, the graduate student
director of Man Overboard. “You don’t
have a script. It’s the ultimate practice in trust.”
Unlike the other two improv teams on
campus, After School Special and Roial
Improv, Man Overboard is a space
exclusively for women and non-binary
performers. The improv comedy scene
in East Lansing has not shied away from
exclusivity. After School Special, formally
known as Second Stage Improv, prioritizes
theater majors in its semesterly auditioning.
After School Special performs in monthly
shows that student leader Brandon Drap
say “bring a certain … theatricality” to the
MSU comedy scene. Across Auditorium
Road in Snyder-Phillips Hall, the longest
running team on campus, Roial Improv,
offers a playful sibling-like comedy space
for non-arts majors.
Man Overboard began in December
of 2018, when undergraduates Sarah
Wietecha, Abby Byrne and Jess Black
approached Second City alumna and MSU
Theater Department faculty member Sarah
Hendrickson with their idea for an allwomen-and-non-binary
team. Separately,
longtime improviser Claire Wilcher had
also approached Hendrickson.
Wilcher was freshly off coordinating Gal
Pal, the seven-year-running women’s
comedy festival in Indianapolis held
22 SUMMER 2020