Toolbox- April 28, 1999
    On Wednesday, the week before exams, my roommate and a few of us from the wing went to Toolbox 99.  Now, I didn't quite know what to expect from Toolbox, given that it was advertised as improvisational comedy.  Take XU students, an exam stressed audience, and the premise of Who's Line Is It Anyway?- without the judging and winning- and basically, you've just formed Toolbox.
    I walked into Kelley Auditorium in Alter and was accosted by Maggie, this frightening girl who played snobbish bitches in every XU production this year and who scares me quite a bit.  She asked me to pull her finger, which I politely refused.  Things continued in this vein (though, not to me!) for awhile until the actual production started.  Two guys targeted a girl in the audience and sang to her and made quite obscene gestures toward her.  I had a feeling right then and there that the fact that we were a Catholic college wasn't going to stop things from getting rowdy.
    Some interesting improvisations were put on- a dream sequence based on an audience member's day, a constantly changing movie based on the experience of getting a training bra, an omelet making that originally was 2 minutes and that got shorter by a half until it got down to 7 1/2 seconds, and a party full of interesting guests (Edith- the Cafe lady, Alf, a stop light, and a tampon- don't ask) that the host had to guess.   They had also had two rehearsed performances (a spelling bee and a Dawson's Creek parody).
    I have to admit that the movie was probably my favorite.  The audience picked an experience that the actors had to play out and someone suggested getting a training bra.  Then, the audience was asked to pick genres of movies for the actors to depict.  Horror, comedy, musical, mystery, and gay Mexican porn were all tossed about (gay Mexican porn was not used in the skit, however).  After picking the movies and the experience, two pairs of actors were placed on stage, each one having to emulate what the other set was doing.  Each set, switching off, had to portray a different genre of movie.  It was truly amusing, especially the musical of the training bra.  Just when the movie had been steering away from the small training bra (there had been an attack of the big breasted woman during the horror section), the mystery people brought it back to the small breasts by asking the question, "Why would such a large breasted woman wear a training bra?"
    Okay, so, I guess you had to be there.
    For the three bucks, it was a very entertaining evening.  I would definitely like to see more of them offered throughout the year- are you listening, XU drama department?