Quick. Pretend you're Abraham Lincoln. Now pretend you're Abraham Lincoln standing in the middle of a Venus Flytrap. Now imagine the Flytrap is covered in honey, and it's about to kill you.
Students performing in "Instant Laughter: An Evening of Improvisation" had to act out that very scenario, and many others, during two improv comedy shows held Oct. 21 and 22 in Yeager Recital Hall.
To say the performers were fearless during the show would be an understatement.
"(Fearlessness is) exactly what is necessary when doing improv," sophomore Jared Allen said. "When you are not limited by reality and you accept any and all of the things that you, your partner or the audience say or do onstage, then you create a flowing story that gets wilder and more crazy."
There was no shortage of crazy audience suggestions during Friday's performance. For many of the skits, audience members would call out the names of random people, places and things, upon which the skits would be based. At one point, Allen was asked to portray one of Santa's reindeer, which required that he crawl on his hands and knees around the stage.
If a performer commits to the situation, they cannot go wrong, according to Allen.
"As long as you are certain about your choice and you keep the energy up, the audience won't care how accurate you were," he said. "They'll be too lost in how much fun you're having onstage."
The comedy troupe consisted of eight students in the performing arts department, who auditioned last month and rehearsed consistently in the weeks leading up to Homecoming.
"We used rehearsal to test out different games until we chose the ones we wanted to do for the final performances," said Fred Rubeck, chair of the performing arts department and organizer of the comedy group. "This way, they get into their bodies and brains how each game works and they can focus on the suggestions and playing the scenes."
Watching the students perform for an audience was more than worth it, according to Rubeck.
"It was exhilarating," he said. "I was so proud of them all every night. I was often, in my mind, playing along with them."
Though the money raised from ticket sales will go toward funding master classes and guest artists for the Department of Performing Arts, Friday's performance had a relatively small turnout.
But Rubeck said it is the quality of the audience that matters, not the quantity.
"The best would be a large enthusiastic crowd, but the most important thing is that the people there want to have a good time along with the performers," Rubeck said.
Regardless of the audience size, many of the performers said this experience has bonded them with their fellow cast members.
"We are a very tight-knit group," freshman Sam Jones said. "Performing improv comedy is all about trusting your fellow performers and supporting each other."
Allen agreed that the experience was unforgettable, and something he would do again.
"If you are really working hard to make the show fun and flawless, then you have no choice but to know and love the people you work with," Allen said. "And there is no way you won't become close to people you are working with if all you do is play games"