It’s Dead Week, and you know what that means: all your big projects are due. And just when you think you’re in the clear, you remember that you need to study for next week’s finals. Is there any escape from the onslaught?

**Yes!** This Friday will be the final Purdue Improv Club meeting of Spring 2006. Scientists have shown that improv comedy is more effective than placebo at relaxing, chilling, and/or chillaxing from a demanding scholastic work schedule.

Friday will be your last chance to see your favorite Fools this semester. Miss it, and you’ll need to wait until August. *August*! And nobody wants that.

Wondering where you’ll be able to see the Ship of Fools perform during April? Read on!

• Relay for Life Show (April 8 or 9, depending on what day you consider 4:00 am to fall on) - Fight cancer and your desire to sleep with us! I mean, with us, fight cancer and your desire to sleep!
• Hillenbrand Show (April 20) - Looking for something to do during Grand Alternative that doesn’t involve drinking? Well, look no further!
• Miami (OH) Show (April 22) - Looking for improv but stuck one state to far to the east? Lucky for you, we’ll be performing at an improv-filled weekend with the Tower Players of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio!

Also, thanks to everyone who came out to see the Ship of Fools / Andy Ober Orchestra Show on March 31 and helped make it one of the most phenomenal events in human — heck, mammalian — history!

There are events in this universe that are so powerful, they only dare occur once in a lifetime. The sinking of the Titanic. A total solar eclipse that’s actually in your area. Winning The Game.

Get ready to add a new one to the list: this Friday’s **Ship of Fools / Andy Ober Orchestra comedy mega-show**!

You won’t want to miss the perfect combination of improv comedy *and* the parodic musical stylings of AOO, considered by some to be Indiana’s answer to Weird Al. And best of all, the show is entirely **free**! You can’t even compute the entertainment you’re getting per dollar, because division by zero isn’t even *defined*!

That’s this Friday, March 31, starting at 8:00 pm in MTHW 210. Tell all your friends (both real friends and people on Facebook)!

And to help tide you over until then, be sure to check out the newly added bio for the latest addition to the Ship of Fools, Alex “SOG” Semchuck! (And his first public appearance^* as a Fool? This Friday!)

* Last week’s Science Olympiad show, not being open to the public, doesn’t count.

Three more shows for the Spring 2006 semester have been added to the events calendar:

• A show at McCutcheon Hall on Thursday, February 23.
• A show at Hillel’s Purim Carnival on Sunday, March 5 (a.k.a. Adar 5^*).
• A show for the Indiana Science Olympiad on Saturday, March 25.

And don’t forget the show you’ll be telling your grandkids about: the Ship of Fools / Andy Ober Orchestra double-header on Friday, March 31!

Mark your calendars accordingly. We have!

* Yes, I know Purim is Adar 14, not Adar 5. But Adar 14 falls right in the middle of Spring Break, so Hillel’s carnival is on the weekend before the weekend before Purim. Now You Know.

The Ship of Fools’ schedule for the Spring 2006 is filling up. Many things are in various stages of planning, so don’t let empty spaces on the events calendar fool you; those will fill up as details get finalized.

If you’re interested in having the Ship of Fools perform for you, now’s a great time to contact us to start working out the details. Most of February and March are still reasonably open. Don’t wait too long, or you may find that our proverbial dance card is full.

If you just want to find out when you next opportunity to see the Fools perform will be, check back here every so often to see what else has been put up on the calendar.

This **Friday, January 20**, will be the official callout for the Purdue Improv Club. Like all our usual meetings, it will be in BRNG 2280 starting at 7:00 pm.

Whether you want to get involved in improv comedy or just learn more about us, you won’t want to miss it! You’ll have the opportunity to learn about our group, see a quick performance by the Ship of Fools that runs the gamut of what we do, have an opportunity to try some improv games yourself, and finish things up with a workshop on the fundamentals of improv.

We look forward to seeing you there!

It may not look like it from the local weather, but the spring semester has arrived, and with it, more opportunities to get your weekly fill of improv, courtesy of the Ship of Fools!

That’s right: weekly meetings are back, auspiciously starting on Friday, January 13 at the usual time and place.

There’s also a couple other shows in the works for the semester; keep an eye on the calendar to find out when and where they’ll be. If you’re interested having the Ship of Fools come perform for you, now’s a great time to contact us before that calendar gets too full!

Unless you’ve been living under some sort of time-proof rock at Purdue, by now you’ve realized that the Fall 2005 semester has drawn to a close and break has begun. Accordingly, Fools and fans alike will be spending the next few weeks spending time with and/or avoiding their families. Hilarity will re-ensue on January 13, 2006, when the next weekly meeting will be held.

If you get bored, check out the crew page to read the bios of our **three newest Fools**: Scott “Klaus” Parker, John “Cowboy” Clawson, and Stuart “BO” Ogle.

But, as though Foolship were governed by some sort of law of conservation like energy is, we must also say farewell to one of our own, Scott “Klaus” Parker. Yes, he’s simultaneously an incoming *and* outgoing member, as he has left Purdue to pursue an actual “job” instead of a degree. His tenure was as memorable as it was brief.

Finally, don’t forget, as you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Festivus, Winter Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Newtonmas, and Decemberween, don’t forget to take time out to yell “HUZZAH!”

For several weeks now we’ve been holding workshop sessions in the second half of the weekly meeting, where we go over various tips and tricks to improve your improv ability.

If there is a particular topic or game you’d like to see presented on during a workshop, please let us know! You can either e-mail us or add a reply to this news post. Or confront us at the end of a meeting, if that’s more your thing.

This Friday, October 21, marks the triumphant/abundant return of workshop sessions to Friday meetings!

If you’re interested in improving your improv skills, you won’t want to miss it. We’ve done workshop sessions in the past, but we’re going to try something a little different with them now. Instead of focusing on general improv skills, each session will center around a couple of improv games.

In each session, we’ll be looking at how the games work, what makes them run well, and what traps to avoid. Of course, general skills will be brought in as necessary — after all, they wouldn’t be general if they didn’t apply to lots of things, right? In addition to discussing how to play a game well, there will be plenty of practice, to put those skills to good use!

As always, workshops are free and open to anyone who wants to attend, regardless of prior improv experience or skill level.

We look forward to seeing you there!