 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Devin Begley Photography")
It's no secret the Hollywood talent pool has drained.
When Britney Spears guest starred in CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" in an attempt to save her career on March 24, it was a tragic reminder of how far the entertainment industry has fallen as casting based on talent becomes less of a necessity and more of an afterthought.
The industry's lackluster quality has not gone unnoticed by film audiences.
The Motion Picture Association of America has pinpointed increased box office sales as proof of Hollywood's prosperity, but actual theater visits did not increase from 2006 to 2007.
In other words, rising theater prices are sustaining Hollywood, not faithful patrons, and one look at the quality of acting today seems to confirm critics' worst suspicions: Hollywood isn't entertaining anymore.
But what does all this have to do with the 5th Annual Fracas! Improv Festival? Everything.
The 5th Annual Fracas! Improv Festival, hosted by Second Nature Improv and sponsored by The Onion, brings together more than 160 college performers Thursday to Saturday.
Groups from all over the country will arrive to refine their improvisational comedy, or improv, skills, alongside professionals and members of the on-campus group, Second Nature.
Traditionally the dark horse of the theater world, improv has gained mainstream momentum through television shows such as "Whose Line is it Anyway?"
While the genre takes on many different styles, from short games and scenes, or short form, to fully improvised plays, or long form, improv is loosely defined as live comedic performances without prepared scripts or plots.
This year's festival is organized by Second Nature's Festival Coordinator Dan Lippert, a junior majoring in theatre, and Jacob Reed, a USC alumnus who serves as the Director of Second Nature.
Created in 2004, Fracas! is the first all-university improv festival.
"There were, at least at that point [in 2004], no festivals which were purely about the college improviser's experience," Reed said.
With 25 hours of performance, Fracas! offers a rare glimpse into the cult-like world of live comedy.
"There's a huge community where improv is treated as an art form in the same way as dance or painting is. It's kind of like a passing of the torch from one generation of this secret sect of improvisers to the next one," Reed said.
This year's festival includes acts from all over the country and the festival's first international British entrant.
The weekend will feature four discussion panels led by professionals talking about specific aspects of improv, 25 hours of performance by the troupes and free merchandise from The Onion.
The first night of performances will be held at a tent in McCarthy Quad; the panels and the subsequent performances will be held at Ground Zero.
This year, Ed Helms ("The Office") and Kaitlin Olson ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") are panelists, among many others.
Last year's festival featured "The Office's" Angela Kinsey and Melora Hardin, who spoke about improv's impact on their show.
"The cast almost entirely improvises; even though it's a scripted show ... [improv] is definitely why those people were cast," Reed said of "The Office."
Reed argued that improv has always played a formative role in many of Hollywood's greatest comedians and actors because "it teaches you to make decisions right away and allow that to inform your character and to find patterns."
"I think that it [has] only been recently that people have started to recognize that," Lippert said.
Perhaps Hollywood will take a cue from Fracas! and remember that while cheap thrills and celebrity sweethearts might gross phenomenal opening weekend profits at the box office, it takes talent to resurrect Los Angeles' favorite business.
And that's no laughing matter.
- For more information, visit 2nimprov.com/fracas.
