Collegiate Times

Junior theatre arts major Will Quinn equates improv acting with talking with someone you find attractive.

"I'm not sure if I'm stealing this metaphor or not, but I think it's great. Doing improv is sort of like talking to a pretty girl -- or a handsome guy if you're a pretty girl -- in that when you're sitting there you're thinking, 'Oh, my God, this person is so good looking,' and you're thinking of how to impress them, and meanwhile all that comes out your mouth is, 'I like your hat,'" Quinn said.

Quinn is specifically interested in commedia dell'arte, a 16th century Italian art form. Commedia revolves around a group of characters who all have their quirks and back stories. Quinn said he admires commedia because it's highly theatrical, utilizing masks and grotesque characters.

He described commedia as the kind of comedy as what makes you laugh when you're with friends at 2 a.m. It might not make sense ever again, but was hilarious at the time.

"It's a form that can really handle any of the absurdity you throw at it," Quinn said of commedia. He said in a rehearsal his character briefly became a dog, and it fit well with the scene.

He said improv acting has taught him skills that actors need working in any genre.

"It teaches you to be in the moment, to react; it teaches you to play," Quinn said.

Acting on the spot with essentially nothing prepared puts added pressure on the actors, but Quinn has learned how to handle it.

"It is entirely you. If you want to do something, you can do it. There's no excuses. You're making it up. There's no reason you couldn't do something," he said. But when things don't go well, "You can't use it to beat yourself down. You have to be there for your scene partner. And if you're thinking about how terribly it went, you're not there."

Quinn loves when performances go off as planned.

"When improv is good, nothing can beat it," Quinn said.

He loves playing Arlecchino, a deviant servant character.

"Part of the fun is finding out who's coming out of me this time," he said. "It's almost an out-of-body experience."

Patty Raun, theatre department head, has noticed how Quinn has matured as a performer.

"His awareness, his understanding over the last couple of years that there is no divide between comic acting and serious acting if one does it well, has been a real growth for him. He's no longer dismissing comedy as something not worth doing. He understands that the skills are applicable to any kind of acting. Truth is truth. Whether it's comic truth or tragic truth," Raun said.

She recalled a scene Quinn performed in an intermediate performance class she taught from "Angels in America" that was detailed, truthful, and layered in a way that one would expected from a more seasoned actor.

Quinn also succeeds as an actor because of his physical skills.

"I would say he's among the most gifted physical comedians I've ever seen. It's natural to him, but he works very hard at it," Raun said. "There's a specificity of every body part that's required for very skillful, physical comedy. Will is aware of his little toe, while the audience is aware of the direction of his walk. He really is down to the smallest thing, aware of the impact and the contrast of one move into another."

In addition to expanding his definition of what acting is, his self confidence has really blossomed, she said.

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