By John Jackson, Staff Writer
Manhattan College’s improv group, Scatterbomb, performed their second show of the Fall 2016 semester on Sept. 23. It fell on the birthday of Will Lamparelli, one of their members. It was a good time for Lamparelli and he was pleased with the results of the show.
“That was a really great show,” Lamparelli said. “It’s a different kind of team this year and I think we’re really playing to our strengths and we’re having a good time.”
The show consisted of many short skits of similar lengths. The overall theme was dedicated to Will’s birthday although most of the scenes were unique to the theme. The form and length of the whole show were slightly different from some of the past shows according to fellow Scatterbomb member Angela Benevenia.
“We went a little longer than last time, but in a good way,” Benevenia said. “Last time our show was a little short because we split up last year because we did a different form. This year we’re only focusing on one form so we can all be on stage at the same time. I liked it, it was good. Everybody did really well.”
The show was held in Hayden 100 and the seats filled up quickly. Some audience members, such as Emery Watson, came with a group of friends for both a good time and to support the cast.
“We came because we came last time and it was really, really funny,” Watson said. “Angela [Benevenia] is our RA. She had some very nice posters up in the hall and we saw them the first time.”
The first skit of the night was about a father bringing his daughter out duck hunting for her birthday. While the daughter didn’t do any shooting herself, she was chastised when bringing her birthday present (a dead duck) to school. That skit and many others put the audience in a state of hysterical laughter.
One of the most popular scenes for the members was about dares. The premise was about a parent who enjoyed taking and giving out dares. The dares were between the parent and child, as well as an estranged spouse who was only spoken to again because of a dare. The dares escalated from double dog, to triple dog, to quadruple dog and beyond. Both Lamparelli and Benevenia were fans of this skit. “I also liked the double dare mom [skit],” Benevenia said. “I liked being the dad that was double dog dared. That was a fun character to play.”
Another scenario that the group acted out fit in well to the birthday theme of the show. It was about a bowling party for a 15-year-old named Mark. Mark invited his whole class to his birthday party, but nobody showed up. His father, who often forgot his name, invited two homeless people to bowl with them so they could get a lane. A bowling alley attendant was so embarrassed for Mark that he offered all four of them a free game.
Mark was still upset, but his father was delighted to get the free game.
The show ended with a tribute to the Broadway hit “Hamilton.” Some of the cast members acted as directors of the play, looking for somebody to play Hamilton. The newly hired Hamilton character, played by Scatterbomb member Madi Blecki, displayed her rapping skills as she rapped something that was quite different from the actual play.
“We kinda set [Madi] up for [the rapping],” Benevenia said. “Because she’s actually really good at freestyle and she’s a really good rapper.” That final scene created an uproar of laughter after which the cast walked off the stage and into the hallway of Hayden 100 to greet the audience as they left.
The show was a success for all the cast members including first time member Sean Feeley.
“I think the good thing is if somebody came and that was the first time they’ve been [here], they wouldn’t know [which cast members were] new or old,” Lamparelli said.
The next Scatterbomb show is planned for Oct. 28. While the cast doesn’t know what specific skits they will do, they do know that the show will have a Halloween theme.