Ad Liberty’s humble beginnings in the Simpson basement have since evolved into a worthy alternative to Thirsty Thursday.
Hillsdale students founded the club in the fall of 2013.
“We started the club because there weren’t really many comedy-oriented groups on campus,” said junior Alex Buchmann, the club’s leader.
Regular attendee Luke Robson said that the club grew in popularity during the early days because “Alex constantly harassed us to come to improv.”
Originally, the club held its shows in the basement of Simpson, and about 20 people attended.
Improv club’s self-described biggest fan, Hannah Flemming, said the club started out with more games that required volunteers from the audience, and the cast constantly rotated.
“It was kind of disorganized,” she said.
Due to construction in Simpson this year, the club decided to move to the Olds lobby, where there were more seats for guests and more space for actors.
With some summer studying of the improv hit television show, “Who’s Line is it Anyway?” Buchmann brought inspiration and organization back to the improv Club.
Since the move to Olds, Ad Liberty saw exponential growth, with most shows attracting audiences greater than 80. Along with Flemming, consistent audience members Claudia Sladick and Mehgan Cain frequently refer to improv as the “highlight of their week.”
Popular games include “Who’s Line?”, inspired by the television show, “New Choice,” where actors have to come up with new lines on the spot at the direction of a leader, and “Interrogation,” where two cast members interrogate a third, who is trying to figure out what “crime” he committed.
Elise Clines, another regular cast member, said that although she thought she would not be very good at Improv when she started, she soon gained experience and rapport with her fellow cast members.
One of the actors, Jake Bull, who has participated since the beginning, stated that improv has definitely built up his people skills and his confidence to interact with others.
“The organization has actually made it a lot more fun for both the audience and the actors,” cast member Eric Walker said. “Although I can still guarantee the actors up on stage are having more fun than the audience.”