I wasn’t even going to audition.

It was yet another bright and sunny Friday afternoon at Conn, and the annual club fair was in full force on Library Green. I was running the Ski Club booth given my new position as president for this academic year. Along with the other club members, I had been recruiting new members for about an hour before I took a break to say hi to my friends at other booths. My friend and fellow blogger, Dani Maney ‘20, was running a booth at the fair for her improv group N20. 

I went over to her table to say hi. Another member of the improv group, James, was avidly attempting to get people to sign up for an audition. He looked at me and said “you must be funny. You should sign up!” I was at first hesitant because, while I have done improv in the past, I have never performed it in any capacity. But for some reason I decided to sign up for an audition.

Fast forward a week later and it was time for auditions. I was pretty nervous. The auditions were held in Olin Basement. The space that houses every N20 show so I was already familiar with the room from watching Dani perform. The members of the group called all of the auditionees up on stage (there were about 20 of us) and asked us to participate in their typical rehearsal warm-ups. After this, the group members had us shuffle through some of their classic games to test whether we would be a good fit.

I was pretty nervous during the initial auditions but felt that it went well. They were over after about an hour and I went off to the library to work on some homework. The group members told us that they would email us about callbacks within a few hours but I tried to not anxiously check my email too much. Nevertheless, I wasn’t able to stop myself for long and I saw that I had been called back! My heart was racing from excitement and I had trouble focusing on the rest of my homework.

A couple hours later, I was back in Olin Basement for the callbacks. There were only about six of us this time. The stakes were high. They were only going to accept two or three new members. The games in this round of auditions were more challenging and I did not feel as confident about my performances. The callbacks ended after about an hour and a half and I went back to the library again. The members told us we would be hearing from them that night.

I spent the next few hours anxiously awaiting either a text or phone call saying I was in or radio silence declaring that I was not. I had a staff meeting for my job at the Coffee Closet at 7 p.m. and I was glad this was the case so that I would be distracted from the good/bad news. I walked through the doors and saw Dani (who also works at the Coffee Closet) and she gave me a sly smile that I had trouble deciphering. At exactly 7 p.m., I received a text from Dani that stated I was a part of the N20 family!

My day was full of many ups and downs but in the end, all my nerves and anxiety surrounding the audition were alleviated. Now, I am ecstatic to be a part of such a funny and awesome group of people. I’m really looking forward to becoming part of the N20 family and becoming a better improv comedian in the process.