Umprov, the improv club at the University of Mississippi, will host the improvisation festival “Laughin’ in the Sip” at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 22, in Meek Auditorium. Tickets are available for $10 on Umprov’s website, and all are invited to attend.
The festival will include performances by improv groups from UM, Southeast Missouri State and Mississippi State.
“People should be excited because this is the first time we have thrown this event. It’s going to be a collection of amazingly talented people,” Umprov Director of Outreach Camp Holder, a junior political science major from Huntsville, Ala., said. “Additionally, this is a rare occurrence where you have four different improv troupes in the same place.”
Kayla Fifer, a junior pursuing a bachelor’s of fine arts in acting from Memphis and vice president of Umprov, detailed how UM’s troupe was selected.
“At the beginning of the school year, (President) Max (Glasser), myself and our Troupe Captain, Cooper Thorpe hold auditions for our Umprov troupe,” Fifer said. “We select 16-19 people who we consider the best of the best. These guys put on a number of our shows, and so we absolutely had to bring them along to compete.”
Fifer, Glasser and Holder will perform as part of the troupe. The show on Saturday is open to anyone, but events begin on Friday for Umprov and the other performers.
“The first night will be a jam,” Holder said. “This will be where the troupes will show their different games and dynamics they will be bringing to the festival.”
Saturday morning, before performing the show for audiences, the improv performers will practice and enrich their talents.
“The second day is filled with workshops to help develop the improviser skills, and then to finish the festival is a show,” Holder said. “Each troupe will have a segment of the show to perform.”
Fifer believes that this inaugural event serves as an important milestone for the club.
“It’s the biggest Umprov event we’ve had thus far,” Fifer said. “We’ve come a long way since 2021, and I feel like this festival is the culmination of all our growth and hard work.”
Founded in 2021, the club has become quite popular. Umprov meets at 10:15 p.m. in Isom Hall every Monday and Thursday, and anyone is welcome to attend.
“My favorite part of Umprov is just how open and welcoming we are,” Fifer said. “It started out as something that only involved theater majors, but it has stretched out into so many different areas of campus, and we are still growing. It’s awesome to laugh with your friends and make other people laugh for an hour.”
