Music plays. Voices chatter. On the stage, seven empty chairs wait lined up in a row. The audience is ready for the show. Clapping and cheers suddenly erupt as seven people rush to the stage.
“Good evening! And welcome to our show!”
It is going to be a fine night with Blank Slate Improv.
The improv team has been performing for almost ten years now. First established in 2014, Blank Slate will be celebrating its 10th anniversary next year. When Blank Slate first began, it was primarily an alternative for students who loved theater to have a different way to perform and be on stage. It was formed in 2014 by a group of students from Alpha Psi Omega, the National Theater Honor Society, who wanted to hone the craft of improv. As the years have gone by, Blank Slate has grown into a unique show that is comprised of students from different majors and backgrounds who share that same love for performance and improvisational comedy. Over the years, the size and people have changed, as does with any college club or organization, but the purpose remains the same: providing an outlet for creativity and laughter.
Nate Barnard, junior math major and co-captain of Blank Slate, told me the story of how he came to audition for the improv team. As a freshman, Barnard was spontaneously recruited by former Blank Slate member Caleb Atkins while Atkins was hanging up improv auditions posters in the hallway. Coming with no performance or theater experience, Barnard decided to go to auditions at Atkins’ encouragement and has been on the team ever since.
“It’s a creative outlet for me,” Barnard said. “I’m not a great painter or sculptor or I’m not that great of a musician, but I have good public speaking ability, I can think on my feet and I like making people laugh. And so that kind of combination of gifts/interests fits really well with improv and it just became a really fun thing to do.”
Making people laugh is certainly something that Blank Slate does well. The absurd characters, outrageous antics and ridiculous on-the-spot stories cause the room to be bombarded by a chorus of booming laughter from the audience. Even the cast members bust out laughing occasionally. You laugh and laugh together. You laugh so hard it hurts. And it’s moments like this when you realize it’s been a while since you’ve laughed that hard. Blank Slate provides a space to laugh away your stress and troubles and enjoy the night you have. Sometimes you never want it to end.
I shared this cathartic experience I’ve had at shows with senior English major and co-captain of Blank Slate Jon Clemmons.
“I think that that catharsis is a really cool thing that you’ve experienced at our shows, and there’s always so much pressure at college for every person, that it’s like you need to do this, this and this. And you come to an improv show and there’s literally no pressure on you but a lot of pressure on us. And then you get to see us either rise to it or break under it and laugh at us and then we laugh at ourselves. So it’s kind of all like a big ‘let’s just laugh at ourselves and enjoy the pressure and have fun with it,’” Clemmons said.
Improv can be quite daunting. It is vulnerable and takes a lot of courage to put yourself in the spotlight, expected to come up with something funny on the spot.
“I’m a very by-the-book, analytical, structured person, and here I am on an improv comedy team where the things that we do is long-form improv where we basically take the rulebook and throw it away!” Barnard said.
By throwing the rulebook and any kind of structure out the window, you are forced outside your comfort zone and you must learn how to create something out of chaos with your fellow cast members. You repeatedly risk the possibility of something going wrong and having the comedic mood die. But even if that happens, Blank Slate is devoted to having each other’s backs.
Clemmons recalled a scary moment for him during a past improv show. He was the only one on stage during a long-form scene when he realized that it was beginning to go south and the mood was about to die.
“It almost got to the point where I was going to take my sock off, and when that happens, you know you’re wrong. You should just stop right there!” Clemmons laughed at the memory.
Clemmons was saved by a teammate jumping in but it didn’t keep him from being frustrated and beating himself up over his mistake. But Clemmons received the encouragement he needed from his teammate Caleb Atkins, who looked Clemmons in the eyes and said in the middle of the show, “Blank Slate.” Clemmons keeps that moment with him as a reminder to move on from your mistakes, to keep going, knowing that your teammates will pick you right up again if you fall.
Blank Slate improv is a place that challenges and teaches its members and they are all in it together. It is a place where you learn to listen and communicate with your teammate to create something new. It requires a special attentiveness, the ability to read the room and act on impulse, trusting that your team has your back to build the story you started and to achieve the laughter.
Isabella Gray, 2022 graduate and Blank Slate veteran, shared her fond memories of her experience on the improv team:
“It teaches a lot about working with others in the real world, I think, because everyone on the team was a different major and different background entirely, and so finding common ground within a whimsical improv scene to be able to naturally bounce our talents off of each other and make it coherent for an audience was where the magic happened,” Gray said. “It was a community — a “mind-meld,” if you will — of talented, genuine and encouraging people who I don’t know would’ve been brought together otherwise, and those connections will always be so special to me.”
As Blank Slate approaches its 10th year, its mission continues. Members may come and go but Blank Slate will remain to be a place creativity and laughter for both its members and the audience. It is a joy that is shared.
“All that to say, I really love Blank Slate,” Clemmons said.
Barnard gave a thumbs up, “10/10 would recommend!”
And we laughed.
Photo by Suzanna Rhodes
