EXHIBITION STATEMENT

Does comedy have the power to bring people together? Can it be used to change the world? What does comedy look like as a form of communication? The Comedy Workshop strives to create a space in which students can have the opportunity to discuss and explore comedy as an art form. In the workshop, students spent time exploring each of the questions above through the activities and lessons that were created for each week. The workshop put an emphasis on creating a safe space where all the students felt comfortable being around each other, since comedy can be vulnerable or scary to perform. It was crazy to see how the students' confidence grew as the weeks went on. 

History and Distinction

Sketch comedy has roots going back thousands of years to ancient Greek comedic theater. About 2500 years ago, the ancient Greeks used comedic theater as a way to bring people together, share political messages, and engage in moral and philosophical discussions. Later, as comedic theater evolved, the Greeks moved into “New Comedy'', which later evolved into comedy as we know it today, which has the main purpose of providing entertainment. In our workshop, we also studied the Theory of Humor as taught by Noell Carroll. We also studied a few famous stand-up comedians, observed and analyzed their techniques, and students practiced applying those same techniques to their own performances. 

Methods

Kyle and Victoria began by researching the history of comedy as well as methods and techniques used in comedy. Each lesson included a lecture which addressed something from our research. This allowed students to get information and knowledge on comedy and how it is used. These lectures were different week by week. Some were more informative based and others we shared information as well as analyzed professional comedian performances. Whatever we were covering that week, we took the main idea and included it in the improv/ sketch games and activities that the class did. These activities built students confidence in performing as well as allowed them to practice and see what works and what doesn’t when trying to deliver their message. The students also received feedback from their peers which allowed them to improve their acting and public speaking skills as well as see what techniques other students were using in their performances. Right before spring break, we incorporated an open mic night. Students wrote their own stand-up routine on a topic of their choice and performed it in front of the class. It was very impressive to see how much the students improved since they started.

Audience and Impact

The  intended audience  is other students from UMD or college students in general. Since the performances will be done by students at UMD, their jokes and humor might be more appropriate or funny for an audience like them. However, since their performance is not only about telling jokes and being funny, but also about acting  anyone can enjoy the performances. We hope the audience will enjoy the performances and get a laugh, as well as appreciate the hard work the students put into their performances. In addition, we want the audience to see comedy as a way to deal with daily life stress. Having a laugh and looking at life through a comedic perspective can help with the enormous amount of stress everyone faces. Especially with the pandemic the stress levels are higher and we hope our students' performances can shine some positivity. 

References

Carroll Noël. Humour: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2014. Henderson, Jeffrey. “Three Plays by Aristophanes.” 2010, doi:10.4324/9780203861349.

Brown, P. G. Mcc. “Lionel Casson: The Plays of Menander. Pp. Xx 154. New York: New York University Press, 1971. Cloth, $17.95.” The Classical Review, vol. 24, no. 1, 1974, pp. 128–129., doi:10.1017/s0009840x00242091.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Harold, Heather, Gabi for giving me the opportunity to run a workshop and giving us advice every week on how to improve it. I would also like to thank our TA Amy who helped us lead the workshop as well as made sure everything ran smoothly. We would both like to thank each other for making this workshop possible.