Undeniably Adjacent: Pirates, Pop-Rocks, and Depression

By UPMA KAPOOR

The Undeniably Adjacent promised to continue surprising audiences at shows to come earlier this semester.

After a mere two weeks, UMW’s one and only improv comedy team graciously and successfully delivered on the promise a multitude of unconventional and colorful performances at their Pre-Valentine’s Day show.

While each performance did require one-word suggestions from the audience, the Undeniably Adjacent invited three alumnus––Andrew Mullen, Matt Czap, and Nti Aning––to compose monologues based off of the audience’s one-word suggestions. The Undeniably Adjacent thus formulated multiple impromptu pieces derived from the preceding monologues.

Mullen opened the show with an interesting and rather introspective monologue revolving around pirates, pop-rocks and depression.
The Undeniably Adjacent handled the discussion of depression lightheartedly and opted to focus on Mullen’s pirate-roommate stories and chess games. Expectedly, the audience thoroughly enjoyed the improv team’s interpretation of Mullen’s anecdotes.
Czap’s monologue, however, was the best for the Undeniably Adjacent, as the word was “softball.”

This led to elaborations of topics such as the state flag of Virginia and women’s rugby [jokingly] being “lesbian training grounds.”
The performances following Czap’s monologue proved to receive the strongest audience reception, as there was neither a dull nor silent moment during the improv team’s interpretation of the monologue.

The consistent laughing did not cease during Aning’s monologue despite the improv team initially struggled to act it out.
Aning’s one-word suggestion was “Star Trek,” but his monologue––while amusing and entertaining––was rather incoherent and confusing for both audience members and improv team members to interpret.

Regardless, the Undeniably Adjacent redeemed themselves by the end of the show and provided yet another fantastic and comical evening.

While the evening was concluded with the simple request: “please do not send us hate mail,” it should be recognized that the Undeniably Adjacent performances are not for all audiences.

Attend with an open mind, and you will certainly be pleased by the breadth and wealth of merriment that this unique troupe has to offer.