Drama Department Improv-Comedy Hit “Sense and Austensibility” Wows Crowds -

By Anthony Curioso

For the first time in quite a while, the CUA Drama department dived into the genre of improv-comedy, with the premiere of a new production called “Sense and Austensibility.” This improv-comedy performance played from October 23-26 in the Callan Theatre, the black-box theater within the Hartke Theatre drama complex.

As the title “Sense and Austensibility” suggests, the show takes place in the world created by the renowned English novelist Jane Austen; however, this production differs from other productions of Jane Austen plays in that it had no set script. Unlike a traditional production of an Austen work, such as Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, this show was 100% improvised, relying entirely on its cast to steer it in the right direction.

As audience members arrived and collected their programs for each “Sense and Austensibility” performance, they received instructions from the show’s assistant director, senior drama major Jayden Parsons, to write down two nouns on the slip of paper inside their program. Ideally, these nouns were to start with the same letter, creating a title similar to Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility for each performance.

Eventually, after Parsons collected the audience-curated titles, the inaugural narrator for each performance selected their favorite submission and read it aloud for the audience. The inaugural narrator’s favorite title submission would be the chosen title for that performance, and would shape everything that occurred over the course of the show’s 75-minute runtime.

I attended the performance on October 24, in which the audience-selected title was “Affluence and Influenza.” This performance featured hilarious attempts by the male characters to court the affluent women with varying degrees of success. The “influenza” aspect came in from the many characters contracting the disease from various sources. Additionally, “Affluence and Influenza” incorporated one character spouting much of the same anti-foreigner rhetoric that was seen at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, this show’s anti-foreigner rhetoric was directed against French people.

After the performance of “Affluence and Influenza” on October 24, the drama department organized a talk-back panel in collaboration with the student-run Improv Club, whose president is Parsons, and the English department, represented by Assistant Professor Dr. Amanda Auerbach. The panel, moderated by drama department chair Dr. Patrick Tuite, allowed audience members to ask questions of the “Sense and Austensibility” cast and creative team. Dr. Tuite also asked questions for the audience to reflect on, such as how they felt the show stayed true to the style of Jane Austen’s writing and what Austen might have thought about the improv-comedy spin on her works if she were still alive.

For the matinee performance of “Sense and Austensibility” on October 25, attended by some of my friends and one of my professors, the chosen title was “Wine and Wit.” According to multiple sources, one particularly amusing similarity between this performance and “Affluence and Influenza” the previous night was the presence of at least one inebriated character, providing comic relief. In “Affluence and Influenza,” a bumbling drunkard made awkward attempts to dance at a ball and to find a woman to court, while in “Wine and Wit,” multiple characters became wine-drunk at a picnic.

I can honestly say that I have never laughed more during a theatrical performance than I did at the October 24 performance of “Affluence and Influenza.” As a music student, I sincerely hope the drama department will consider staging more improv-comedy performances.