The improv group Zamboni Revolution will perform its first show of the semester Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Arnold M. Grant Auditorium. The hour-long show will have two sets based off two different words from the audience, during which the members perform long-form stand-up.

“I pick the first word that I hear. Otherwise it doesn’t seem authentic,” said Jay Kling, a senior entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major and the president of Zamboni Revolution. “I like words that are oddly specific. That makes you think of a feeling or time.”

Zamboni Revolution was created by Syracuse University students in 2001, and is now run by Kling and six other members. The group has performed together about six or seven times, Kling said, and is ready for its first spring show.

Before each performance, the group usually meets up about an hour and half before show time to “chill and vibe with each other,” said Ben Meshumar, a sophomore industrial and interaction design major who is training to be the next president. He said they spend some time warming up and then they usually rap to get each other pumped up for the show.

The group holds two-hour practices twice a week. On Thursdays, the members work with their coach, Jaime Castillo, who has worked with the group since the fall of 2012.

Castillo, who is studying to get his Ph.D. in counseling and counselor education, was a member of Full Ammo Improv Troupe at Pennsylvania State University. Castillo said when he first began working with Zamboni Revolution, he was immediately amazed by how funny the members were. But he said their funniness was uncontrolled.

“What we’ve been working on over the past couple of years is to refocus their energy, creativeness and funniness, and harness it all toward a single goal,” Castillo said. “They’ve learned that if they focus on being in the moment with each other and trusting each other, then funny things will happen.”

At practice, the group typically runs through scenes and full improv sets with Castillo, who provides them with feedback on what they did well and what the could work on.

“Improv is a lot about team chemistry. When they get to practice, some of them have had a stressful day, some have had a great day and some have had a crappy day,” Castillo said. “We always start with an activity that gets everyone grounded in the same place mentally and physically.”

In addition to practices and shows, the group spends a lot of their time together. CJ Taglione and Kling live together as roommates, and members Megan Marshall and Katherine Paszek are both sisters in the same sorority, so the group has several personal ties outside of their weekly meetings.

“We hang out a lot so we know each other’s sense of humor and how each other thinks,” Kling said. “It’s really important in improv that everyone is on the same page.”

In addition to Thursday’s show, Zamboni Revolution will also perform at the Winter Carnival’s Every 12 Months Comedy Show in Schine Underground on Feb. 27 with New York City improv groups Johnny Cash Money and Side Piece. The group will also perform in Panasci Lounge in March and will have its final show of the semester in April.

As for Thursday night, Kling said audiences should “expect to not expect anything.”

Said Kling: “You know as much about the show as we do.”

Published on February 12, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Abby: ammaddig@syr.edu