I recently wrote and performed in a sketch for Dictator’s Time Machine called, Campus Cancún. The idea came up during a brainstorming session about the springtime, since the show was on March 8th, about how people treat the first warm day of the year like it’s the middle of the summer. Shorts, flip-flops, sunbathing, and scantily-cladness.
The first draft of the script was pretty well received by the group during the first read through. There were two main takeaways. One was to pile on more references
to warm weather, like having sun tan lotion and cold drinks to build up how extremely people were treating the weather. The other was to give a more defined relationship to the characters.
In the second draft of the script, Erin became the RA of the dorm where there other girls were staying. This made more sense as she was acting like the mentor to the others. After reading through this version, we determined that Brittany should have more lines and would be better served with a defined character trait. So, in the third draft, she became the dumb one. She was the lackey of the group and happy to have that role. She would shovel snow, buy supplies, etc. Which was perfect, because I would be playing her.
Here’s the sketch from that night:
If I had any regrets, it would be that it wasn’t rehearsed enough. I feel like everyone could have benefited from running through it a few more times, but otherwise I’m happy with how it came out.
Additional context: The rest of the show, sans one sketch, was completely new material (like Campus Cancún) and was performed at ImprovBoston‘s Battle Royale. (Which we won that night. That’s us holding the title belt, featured above.)
