Some Assembly Required presents ‘Love Stories’

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ANNA ALLDREDGE

On Saturday, Feb. 22 at 8 p.m., the basement of ThreeHouse was packed in anticipation for Some Assembly Required’s (SAR) comedic and ad-libbed performance. The improv group, consisting of current UNI students, is well-known, both on campus and in the larger Cedar Falls community. In this show, “Love Stories,” the troupe turned to audience participation for inspiration.

The group asked for titles of stories that didn’t exist and then created narratives based on the responses from the crowd. The first, “Turtle’s Black Hole Adventure,” received laughs from the audience. The next, “Firefly in Space,” featured grow rays, giant bugs, a mission to the moon and some not so harmless pranks.

“I wasn’t sure what I was getting into at first but that was the most I’ve laughed in a while,” freshman computer science major and first-time attendee Jacob Kuhn said. “For pulling things together on the spot, the group was remarkably cohesive and played off each other incredibly well.”

Halfway through the night, the troupe challenged their improv abilities with several games that went along with their theme, “Love Stories.” In one scenario, a man was running late for a date and had to explain to his partner why he was late. However, he had to do so with only the help of a waiter and waitress acting out what happened to him before the date.

In another, modeled after the dating game, a bachelor was allowed to ask several questions to figure out if he would date them. He then had to guess the identity of the contestant. For each of these games, while one member left the room, the group asked for audience suggestions for different excuses, everyday objects and celebrities. In both cases, the performers were incredibly close or spot on to the prompts the audience had given.

These short games had the audience in hysterics and provided a fun way to break up the groups’ four improvised stories. After the shorts, the group took on two more story suggestions from the audience. These included “Missed the Bus” and “Thief of the Night,” both of which the audience found humorous and entertaining.

“As a team, our main goal is to provide fun, goofy and unique shows for our audiences. We are all very close and have a lot of fun in and out of rehearsal,” said Carson Uthe, a freshman member of SAR.

For more information on Some Assembly Required and their upcoming shows, visit their Facebook or Instagram pages @sarimprov.