Mission IMPROVable: secret agents on campus

Mission IMPROVable is a collaboration of secret agents of comedy based out of Chicago and Los Angeles. Two agents arrived on campus to perform on March 4 in Wickstrom Theater.

What is improv? The missionimprovable.com website says to think of the Agents as you would the cast of the improvisational comedy show, "Whose Line is it Anyway?"

Agents Slingshot and Falcon began their shenanigans by walking through the mostly student audience and shouting about walking through the audience and shouting. They were both dressed like Secret Agents in disguise; they wore collared shirts with black ties and slacks.

Skits were called secret "missions," and before each, the Agents would count down from five and then begin the mission. Some missions involved audience members onstage, and all involved audience suggestion.

One mission involved a front-row audience member named Tracy, who climbed onstage and became a contestant on a speed-dating show. Audience suggestion determined her potential suitors. Adjectives came first, then professions.

Her suitors included a cowardly lumberjack, a sketchy stripper and a lumpy adventure tour guide, but the prize of a second date went to the happy ophthalmologist.

Tracy and the ophthalmologist went out to dinner, but the evening was slightly hampered by an impromptu eye exam and fitting for new glasses.

Another mission called "Three Things" directed audience members to shout everyday activities. Agent Falcon facilitated audience suggestions and Agent Slingshot went into the hall, so he would not hear the suggestions. The audience decided on the three events quickly: brushing one's teeth, using the restroom and mowing the lawn were the lucky winners.