SpoCo victorious at regionals

By Brooke Bullock     11/18/10 6:00pm

Spontaneous Combustion, Rice's improvisational comedy troupe, returned victorious from the Nov. 6 College Improv Tournament's Southwest Regionals in Austin. Four of SpoCo's 12 members - Hanszen College junior Josh Herzstein, Martel College freshman Matt Vale, Jones College senior Becky Hofstein and Wiess College senior Danny Shanaberger - competed against 10 other teams in the region. With their recent win, the improv comedy troupe is guaranteed a spot for four to six members to compete in the College Improv Tournament Nationals on Feb. 26 in Chicago."It went excellent for us," Herzstein said.

At the Southwest Regionals, the troupe performed a long-form skit playing off graduation, an audience-suggested theme. The skit was a huge success and earned the troupe a spot in the national competition.

If the troupe wins Nationals, they will get a spot to perform in the 14th annual Chicago Improv Festival, which will be held from April 25 to May 1, 2011.

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"We want a slot at that, to show off Rice in a cool way," Shanaberger said.

Spontaneous Combustion was started 15 years ago by Rod Sanders (Brown '95). The troupe originally only performed short-form improv comedy. Four years ago, the troupe began performing long-form as well.

"Short-form is like 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'," Shanaberger said. "Long-form tells more of a story."

Although only four to six members will compete, the entire troupe will fly out to Chicago during the National competition for workshops and classes as well as to meet other improv troupes and coaches.

"Really it's about the whole troupe. It's a commitment. We practice twice a week for two hours. We want everybody's input; we do a lot of self-critiquing," Herzstein said.

Gearing up for the tournament in the spring, the troupe will be performing in the McMurtry College Commons Nov. 18 at 8 p.m.

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