The lights come up in a Westwood apartment, and 11 Bruins solemnly rise around the cornucopia, but there is no Katniss in sight – and no script.
UCLA’s only exclusively long-form improv troupe, Rapid Fire, is made up of nearly a dozen improvisers who perform free 45-minute shows in the Westwood apartments, as well as collaborative shows with other college comedy groups at the Upright Citizens Brigade, a renowned Los Angeles comedy club in Hollywood. The team centers performances around a theme – including this quarter’s “Hunger Games,” “2016,” and “Remember Pompeii” – and models their shows after the Upright Citizens Brigade’s structure and style. Rapid Fire is dedicated to producing high quality, accessible comedy for the UCLA and broader LA arts community. Semira Robinson, a third-year English student and returning member of Rapid Fire said its shows are an ideal getaway from the stress of college.
“I do believe that comedy is one of the great lights in the world,” Robinson said. “Come and have some fun with us and do nothing else. Have 45 minutes where you are thinking only about how we are embarrassing ourselves, and not about whatever midterm or assignment that you have to do.”
Shows are organized by “games,” which are unscripted, collaborative scenes that make up the basic units of Rapid Fire’s craft. Every production begins and ends with a 20 minute long-form game – a continuous improvised scene – broken up by their staple five minute mini-game, “Sex with Me.” The bit requires a word from the audience, which improvisers each compare to “sex with me.” JD Cavalluzzi Cavalluzzi, a first-year communication student and new member of Rapid Fire, said the fan favorite is a welcomed break for its audience. Cameryn Mitchell, fourth-year theater student and returning member added that its audience is appreciative of their growing diversity.
“I’m not afraid to say that Rapid Fire was just a bunch of straight white guys for a really long time,” Mitchell said. “I know that our audience now is really receptive to being reflected on stage and that’s really cool.”
Cavalluzzi said this diversity is crucial to all good improv teams, partly because it opens their comedic domain and gives them the ability to joke about more topics.In addition to the group’s demographic variety, he said, they are highly diverse in thought, each bringing a different sense of humor to the table. Robinson said that the club has come a long way since her freshman year when she was the only black woman in the student group, adding that the team is also aesthetically mixed.
“We have exploded in color, in a visual sense,” Robinson said. “We have such varied artistic styles, fashion styles now. … We definitely look like the arts department vomited up a group of kids who think they’re really funny.”
With these changes and renovations, Rapid Fire’s core values – both in how they approach improv and how they treat one another – remain constant and clear among members, said Robinson. They are a democracy, Cavalluzzi said, and there are no formalized roles, president or hierarchy. The team members enter the space as equals, Robinson added.
The group places a huge emphasis on closeness, Cavalluzzi said, because the ability to know what makes another improviser funny and how to play into that is extremely important. Since the start of fall quarter, the group has gotten significantly closer, and that comfortable sense of support allows for risk-tasking and thus higher-quality performances, Cavalluzzi added. The members holds themselves accountable, he said, and Rapid Fire does their best to adhere to high quality standards by avoiding cheap jokes.
“Everyone there is committed to taking this seriously, and ironically enough, we say this in theater: ‘Play with a deadly seriousness,’” Mitchell said. “Even though it’s funny and even though we’re all joking the whole time, we’re trying to show up on time, we’re trying to be better for each other and give each other constructive criticism and notes after each show.”
Seeing funny women perform with Rapid Fire helped Mitchell recognize that comedy could be viable professionally, she said. Rapid Fire has several alumni who have gone on to become professional comedians, and Robinson said graduates and members often stay connected on Instagram.
Apart from career inspiration, the club has gifted its members with transferable skills, Cavalluzzi said. Life is improv, he said, in the sense that people always have to come up with things on the fly. Robinson added that Rapid Fire instills a quiet confidence from repeated failure and recovery on stage. She said she is now incapable of experiencing stage fright, purely from the number of times she has fallen and gotten back up.
“You have to be audacious and have the audacity to think that even for a second a crazy idea is gonna work,” Mitchell said. “It goes back to our thing about flopping and being okay with flopping forward.”
Such recoveries are built on the team’s comfortability with one another and the uplifting environment they create, Robinson said. People in the group are always there as a safety net, no matter what one person is going through, she added.
The team is planning for its post-Valentine’s Day, potentially Christian Mingle-themed show, Robinson said. The date is to be determined, she said, and Mitchell added people should check out an improv show even if they don’t think it’s their cup of tea.
“Whatever your idea of improv is, you’re probably right, but you should still come to a show,” Mitchell said. “Even if you think this is silly and probably a little lame, you’re 100% correct, and I hope I see you on Saturday.”
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