The Seaside Jesters Comedy Club hosted its traditional Valentine’s Day theme show on Feb. 13. Instead of a single host, two performers acted as the masters of ceremonies. Camron Stockford, a senior studying history from Oregon and president of the Seaside Jesters Comedy Show, acted as co-host with Brittany Wilcox, a recent alumna from Alaska. They began their Valentine’s comedy routine by announcing to the audience, “We used to date.” “She’s a vegetarian, and I wanted to eat meat,” Stockford told the crowd. “And I wanted to wear heels,” said Wilcox. She took a step closer to Stockford, proving that she is, indeed, taller than him in heels. The women in the audience roared in approval. Stockford and Wilcox bantered back and forth throughout the show. Wilcox and Stockford are familiar faces to Seaside Jesters fans. “I joined the club in Fall 2013,” said Wilcox after the show. In fact, she joined the club the very first semester it was founded. “My favorite moment? Which year? Which show? There were so many great moments!” This show marked the end of another semester for the Seaside Jesters and a time of transition. Stockford will be leaving for the Spring Semester to study abroad at the BYU London Centre. Wilcox, having finished her graduate internship as a special instructor for English, will return to Alaska. Connor Cline, an undeclared freshman from Ohio, sat in the audience watching the Valentine’s show, laughing with his friends. He had performed in a couple of shows himself since he joined last fall. Accepting an administrative role in the club, Cline helped to plan and organize the show. Next semester, he will take over as club president. Cline said, “I want everyone to know who the Jesters are and want to go to the shows. I want us to be a bigger name and have more resources to draw from.” Tyce Olavesen, a freshman studying mathematics from Idaho, made his onstage debut with Seaside Jesters at the Valentine’s Show. “I was shocked when they first asked me to be in the show,” Olavesen said later. “My friends had been part of a few shows and I thought they were marvelous... They invited me to a ‘cast rehearsal’ and I expected to give my feedback. Instead, I ended up being part of the cast.” Seasoned veterans like Stockford and Wilcox said they are searching for fresh faces like Cline and Olavesen to bring into the club. “Remember that everyone who comes to workshop is a player and a performer, whether they want to admit it or not,” said Wilcox. “Everyone has talent and needs to be recognized.” Speaking of his growth as a performer, Cline said, “I have learned the most from playing with people who are experienced and watching people who are experienced.” He offered advice for anyone who might think about joining: “Show up. You don’t have to participate the very first time. Watch, get a feel for it, get comfortable with it. That’s what I did. Once you make some friends, have some people that you trust in their ability, play with them.” Olavesen said he felt his first experience performing with the Jesters helped him a lot. “Now that I’ve performed in a show, I can see that improv is really all about relaxing and being comfortable with who I am. It was really fun, and a great confidence booster, to hear people laugh while I was doing my best to improvise a scene.” Having received a call to the The Republic of Congo Brazzaville Mission, Olavesen will not be returning next semester but hopes to return to BYUH afterwards. “Improv will most definitely help me on my mission. Before improv, I clung excessively to the framework of a script, never daring to do something that I hadn’t specifically been told to do. Improv has also made me comfortable with just talking and not having to create extensive plans before taking action. On a mission, I can’t make a plan for every conversation and every possible response. It will just have to be an as-it-happens thing.” Wilcox gave her advice for the upcoming generation of performers: “Do something that terrifies you every day. Get your blood pumping and do something that will make you feel good afterwards. Improv does that. It will make you stronger.”Uploaded March 7, 2016
Writer: Daxon Levine
