05/09/08

Choosing a different take on comedy than their previous performances, Loud Noises placed emphasis on skit comedy rather than improvisation in their second performances of the year Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Last semester we just put on improv,” sophomore Bob Linebarger said. “This semester we put on skits.”

Loud Noises was created last year by then freshmen Linebarger and Denver Little, but the two men had the idea earlier.

“It was something Bob really wanted to do,” Little said. “We initially had the idea senior year of high school.”

After coming up with the idea, Linebarger and Little pursued the idea with the faculty.

“The first year we were here we were really tenacious,” Little said. “We asked faculty, filled out the paper work and formed the group.”

From the beginning, the group was meant to be an improv group.

“We really are wrestling with this,” Linebarger said. “We really want to be a comedy troupe.”

The group consists of nine members including Linebarger and Little, freshmen Aaron Schopper and Philip Schiffelbein, sophomores Josh Morgan and Justin Whittaker, junior Claire Norland and seniors Katie Bettis and Hali Jewell. Many of the group’s performers have had experience with improvisational performance before. Most of them have performed for forensics, and both Linebarger and Little have performed for comedy troupes.

“Five other members did improv and a couple of them were new to it,” Whittaker said. “Bob and Denver had been in an improv group before and wanted to bring it to Baker.”

The group added two new members this year.

“We’re trying to build it up,” Whittaker said. “It’s on its feet.”

The group began as an improv troupe. However, when trying to form a group, the members ran into many different problems. One of the main problems the group ran into was how to get everything together.

“The hardest thing to organize was the actual organization,” Little said.

The group had trouble coordinating the members to get together, so the group added more members to solve the problem.

“We added ‘roadies,’ or stage managers,” Little said. “Now, everybody has known about everything.”

Sophomore Libby Kmiec and freshman Courtney West are the stage managers for Loud Noises and coordinate the managerial aspects of the group.

The plans for the future of Loud Noises are vague, but a few things are certain.

“The overall goal has evolved,” Linebarger said. “We just really want this group to be well-established. The future’s up to (Assistant Professor of Theater Tom Heiman) and future captains.”