Improvisation Club Onomatopoeia Creates Quirky Fun on Campus

If you notice some sudden, out-of-the-box activity at UT Dallas, it’s a good bet that the student organization Onomatopoeia is behind it.

You may have seen them “freeze” for a minute or two in the busy Comet Café while everyone else goes about their business around them.

Or shamble across campus dressed like zombies.

Or start a pillow fight near Spirit Rock.

Members of Onomatopoeia say the goal of their improvisational activities is to give bystanders a laugh and an experience.

“This campus is a little quiet. We do everything we can to break down barriers and get people to have some fun,” said Edward Stevenson, an interdisciplinary studies sophomore and club secretary.

Onomatopoeia was founded in 2009 by two UT Dallas students who were inspired by Improv Everywhere, a New York City-based group that stages random, unexpected events in public.

Since then, the torch for the wacky and the unexpected has been carried by a few dozen core members each year, who recruit up to several hundred more students for their improv events.

No acting or performing experience is required to join Onomatopoeia. You don’t even have to know how to pronounce the organization’s name or know what the word means. (It’s the term for naming something using words that sound like the thing itself, like “buzz,” “thud” or “hiss.”)

You just have to be able to stay in character during a “mini-stunt” on campus and not betray the fact that you’re playing a role.

“It’s pretty hard to keep a straight face,” said club vice president Dennis Kovalev, a biochemistry sophomore and a self-described nerd. “Perhaps one of the most gratifying things is when people who are not members join in.”

Jenna Bastian, an arts and technology junior, said it was love at first sight when she saw Onomatopoeia members giving away bubble wrap and Pokémon cards at Freshman Orientation.

“I thought, ‘Omigosh, that’s so great!’ I knew that they would be fun,” Bastian said.

Bastian handles publicity for the organization, making fliers and posters for events, and updating the Org Sync website and Facebook posts. Some 300 students are members of Onomatopoeia’s Facebook group.

Club members plan events that give the campus “something to talk about,” Bastian said. “Some people will look at us like we’re weird, but I don’t mind. We’re having fun,” she said.

Onomatopoeia members meet twice a week: Thursdays for club business and Sunday nights for improv sessions modeled after the popular television show Whose Line is it Anyway?

Brandi Kirkpatrick, improv chair, said students are invited to try their hand at performing a skit based on descriptions that set up the scene, like “two stuntmen filming and performing all of the high-action scenes of a movie.”

One popular skit involves two people on stage performing a scene of their choosing, when someone in the audience yells “Freeze!” Performers hold their position until the person who froze the scene comes and taps someone out, takes his or her position, then changes the scene to something else entirely.

Improv Night is a great stress-reliever and an outlet for members to practice their improv techniques, Kirkpatrick said.

Club members also dream up mini-stunts throughout the year to engage the campus at large. They have been known to hold signs saying “Free Hugs” as a way to encourage fellow students on the first day of classes.

And the annual Zombie Walk raises funds for cancer research. Students pay $5 to participate and another $5 to have zombie makeup applied. The event raised $600 last April, Kovalev said.

But mostly, Kovalev said, members enjoy just hanging out with like-minded peers.

“Most of the friends I’ve made and some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met have been part of Onomatopoeia. There’s something to look forward to every week,” Kovalev said.