Waynesburg University’s improv comedy group ‘WU’s Line is it Anyway’ announced its new cast members in preparation for their upcoming shows after holding a series of auditions, beginning on Sept. 11.

Based on the popular 90’s television show ‘Who’s Line is it Anyway’, the performance features improv comedy, games and a director set onstage assigning random points to the cast members.

The group, organized by director Tre Thomas, is comprised of a main and supporting cast, with the main being comprised of 4 members who are selected participate more frequently in the show compared to the 5 members in the supporting cast.

“The main cast are the main characters of our show,” Thomas, junior history major, said. “They always get good laughs.”  

Thomas, who “struggled” with the task of selecting those to move forward in the auditioning process, scored participants by a tally system that marked every joke they told that he considered clever.

The 13 students who initially auditioned for the comedy show had diverse range in years, majors and experience performing in the show. Two of those who received the opportunity of joining the main cast were considered “rookies”, with this being their first year participating in WU’s Line though they are in their senior years at the university.

“They both really brought it during auditions,” Thomas said. “They’re very funny and I am confident that they will make great additions to the cast.”

The two-step audition process narrowed the 13 who originally auditioned to 10, and finally nine were chosen to be on cast.

“I thought that [the auditions] went great, a little too great if you ask me,” said Thomas. “People were a little too funny, which made the decision really hard for me, but in all honesty everyone who came out did an amazing job.”

According to Thomas, due to the quality and number of applicants, Thomas had to re-evaluate his desired setup of the cast.

“This is the hardest decision I’ve had to make since I’ve been director. I really wanted to put everyone on cast,” Thomas said.

For Thomas, this is his third year participating in WU’s Line, though, according to Thomas, he hadn’t considered becoming director till the previous director approached him with the opportunity last year.

“My first year I auditioned for WU’s Line under the guides of being an assistant director, that’s what I wanted to do,” said Thomas. “I wrote prompts and that kind of thing.”

Some games that they play routinely during the show, including “Scenes from a Hat”, require submissions from cast members, called prompts.  

“The prompts will usually come from creative ideas in our heads and we will go off each other to see what seems funny and what doesn’t seem funny,” Thomas said.

The duties of cast members include participating in their shows, which take place twice per semester, writing prompts for the improv games and putting “their best effort” into every performance.

“Even though we’re an improv show it requires a lot of work. A lot of rehearsals, testing jokes and trying new games to always be bringing a new element to our shows,” Thomas said.

The group, which originated in 2007, is overseen by Eddie Powers, professor of theatre. According to Powers, the event has grown in notoriety around campus since its inception over a decade ago.

“There is always different energies with the different casts, and our audiences have gotten larger over the past couple of years,” Powers said. “I think the word has gotten out and we have a lot of loyalty to WU’s Line now.”

Thomas, who has taken the initiative to increase audience attendance and participation in the show, extends his focus from just the cast and production itself.

“My goals for this year are to get the audience involved as much as possible in the show and to make sure that everyone involved in the show has a great time and really feels like they are a part of what the WU’s Line experience really is,” Thomas said. “The audience is the reason that WU’s Line is still here. They mean everything to our show.”

For their first performance of the semester, set for sometime around midterms, Thomas hopes for audience turnout and for the casts’ hard work during rehearsals to pay off on stage.

“We look forward to laughs a plenty these evenings for WU’s Line and again we just want all of the Waynesburg community to support all of the aspects of the theatre program,” said Powers.