Earlier this semester, many may have seen posters all around Bryn Mawr and Haverford campuses advertising auditions for the Lighted Fools, a bi-co improv and sketch comedy club. Founded in the early 90s, the club started as a Shakespeare theater troupe, taking its name from the famous soliloquy from “Macbeth,” soon turning its focus to improv and sketch comedy. They perform twice a semester, and their shows include a mixture of improv sets, live sketches, and pre-recorded video segments.
The group consists of an approximately even split of Bryn Mawr and Haverford students who work together to create a fun and supportive environment where members can feel comfortable putting themselves out there and performing.
“It’s a very supportive group environment. Always has been in my tenure in the group… We create a space where we all very much get along, like one another, and feel comfortable sharing and creating art and being silly,” said Liz Larsen, a senior at Bryn Mawr.
When speaking with some of the Lighted Fools members, many of them expressed that they didn’t expect to join an improv group in college.
Daniyal Amjad, a senior at Haverford, said, “I heard about the Fools in freshman year and I was like, improv sounds stupid, I would never do that.” Amjad changed his mind after seeing the Fools perform and ended up auditioning the next semester.
Another member, who wished to remain anonymous, mentioned that they had only auditioned because they had a crush on their TA who told them that they should audition.
Despite this, all of the members I spoke to love the group and cherish the community they are a part of. The Fools take an annual trip to the Poconos where they bond and share good memories, including getting emotional and comforting each other on the kitchen floor, one member highlighted.
Bryn Mawr senior Helen Buckley-Jones expressed that the group’s closeness and friendship “makes our improv better because… we step on stage and we don’t need to communicate about how the scene’s going. We can kind of instinctively do that. We put a lot of trust in each other and I think that comes from being really close and having a lot of fun.”
The Fools rehearse twice a week throughout the semester, ramping up during tech week right before their shows. Now, you may be asking yourself how one rehearses for improv. I was asking myself the same question and was therefore excited to be invited as a guest to one of their rehearsals. I arrived mid-rehearsal, and upon coming in encountered two members in the midst of an improv game, with the other members watching and laughing at their antics.
As it turns out, rehearsing for improv involves playing a lot of games. For example, one game was called “New Choice,” where two members perform an improv sketch, but have to say or do something different from what they just did whenever someone claps, which reflects the different directions a sketch can go that might not be thought of at first. The game required members to be quick-witted and think on their feet, which also trained them to perform with the added pressure of being in front of an audience.
Another game they played was “Death in a Minute,” where the goal was to create a sketch that ends with one person dying as close to one minute as possible. This game rehearses time awareness and working on how to end scenes in a satisfying way. For example, with the one-word suggestion of “wasp,” two members improvised a sketch between two WASP (white anglo-saxon protestant) mothers battling it out for a PTA position.
What struck me while watching rehearsal was how the seasoned members of the group used each game and exercise as a teaching moment, giving feedback about the technicalities of performing and the mechanics of an improv scene, like its arc and ending. After everyone got a chance to go, the Fools took time to discuss what went well and what could be improved upon, giving constructive feedback and calling attention to specific highlights.
Overall, rehearsals are a lot of fun and I found myself laughing throughout. Seeing the Fools rehearse helped me appreciate the skill and practice that goes into improv that one might not think about or expect. They have a variety of codes and signs to communicate onstage, and they think outside the box with the one-word suggestion they are given, playing with the multiple meanings that words often have.
As the Fools get settled with their new members, they are also getting prepared for their next performances. Right now, they mainly rehearse improv, but as performances approach they also start to brainstorm scripted sketch ideas, analyze some favorite sketches, and submit and vote on ideas before rehearsing them during tech week.
“Our practices are mostly improv, but, our shows are mostly sketches, which is something we joke about,” said Natalie Schliekelman, a junior at Bryn Mawr.
New members who have yet to perform, lovingly called babies by the older members of the Fools (they themselves are called vets), are encouraged to put themselves out there in rehearsal and get comfortable and integrated with all of the group members.
Gwen Dumond, a Bryn Mawr freshman, stated that during the audition process she felt exhilarated. “I remember standing in the circle and my heart was beating out of my chest, but I was like, this is so great.”
The Fools emphasized how the club has grown and adapted over the years as people come and go. Each group of people, they shared, creates a unique atmosphere that everyone is a part of creating, and with each new person that energy grows and changes a little. However, they also highlighted that graduated Fools still keep in touch, reaching out to current members or coming to shows years after they graduate.
Claire Wennink, a junior at Bryn Mawr, expressed that “it’s really fun to see how the dynamic shifts with new members, and it will never be the same as it was when there were different people in the group. But it’s very beautiful to watch it shift with time, and it’s fun to watch everyone get better the longer that we’re in the group.”
The Lighted Fools will have their first performances of the 2025 spring semester on April 4th and 5th. Keep an eye out for the posters that will inevitably appear all around campus advertising the show, which, from what little I’ve seen from their rehearsal, will surely be a hilarious and entertaining adventure.
