WU’s Line production to benefit APO
On Oct. 8, the comedy group “WU’s Line Is It Anyway” will hit the Goodwin Preforming Arts Center stage to deliver a night of comedy.
“WU’s Line Is It Anyway,” or WU’s Line, is student-run improvisational comedy show that has three performances per semester. They will debut on Oct. 8 at 9:30 p.m. for a one-dollar admission.
WU’s Line is based on the popular television show, “Who’s Line Is It Anyway,” an improvisational British comedy television series that premiered in 1988. In 1998, an American version of the show was created, which can still be watched on television today.
WU’s Line is a fundraiser for Alpha Psi Omega (APO), a national theatre fraternity that has a chapter at Waynesburg University.
“WU’s Line is currently the main fundraiser for APO,” said APO President and senior criminal justice major Mariah West. “Some [of the funds] will be used to take theater students and APO members to see plays or musicals in Pittsburgh, as well as used to help fund the theater productions at Waynesburg.
Without WU’s Line, APO would not be able to do half the activities and events that it plans for its members and the theater department.
This year, WU’s Line will be hosted by junior computer science major Austin Orth, while the main performers include Dawson Laabs, Ethan Quinn, Alex Sielski and Adam Tapparo. Jeff Champ, Sara Lesher and Nick Merrill will be cameos – someone with a minor role who will rotate in and out of skits.
“The cast is on point and has so much talent this year,” said senior Olivia Long, WU’s Line director. “I am so exited to see my cast perform in their first show. They leave me in tears from laughing so much after every practice.”
“I’m super excited for just the entire hoisting experience” said Orth. “Just being able to give points to people, whenever I want for whatever I feel like giving them for, makes hosting so much fun.”
This is Orth’s first year as the host, and on WU’s Line in general.
The points given to performers in WU’s Line are purely decorative and mostly serve no practical purpose; they are given to add to the humor to the show.
The WU’s Line cast practices twice a week to prepare for their shows, though “you can only practice to an extent, because it is improv, so we’re just getting comfortable with the games and skits,” said sophomore criminal justice major Alex Sielski.
This is also Sielski’s first year on the WU’s line cast.
Some of the cast’s favorite games are Super Heroes, Scenes From a Hat, and Once Upon a Time. Super Heroes is a game where one of the actors has a problem, and they have to call out the name of a super hero. Another actor has to pretend to be that super hero in the most comedic way possible.
Scenes From a Hat is where the Host gives a scenario and the actors can do whatever they want with that scenario.
“There’s nothing to hold you in, there’s no real rules, which lets you be as creative as you want,” said junior public relations major Adam Tapparo.
Tapparo said that Scenes From a Hat was his favorite game to act in. This will be his third year as a member of the WU’s Line cast.
Once Upon a Time is a skit where the narrator and two other actors are given a fairy tale with a twist, which they then have to act out. A cast favorite is Redneck Cinderella.
Long described the entire show in one word: random. She goes on to say how students will never see anything else like this at Waynesburg.