A Unique Type of “SKETCH” Comedy

Saturday Night Live comes to Harvard in a brand new way with “SKETCH.” Running from March 27 to 29 in the Loeb Ex, director Karen Chee ’17 offers a fresh take on Harvard theater, diverging from the plays and musicals often produced through the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club with a night of sketch comedy. This comedic production aims to bring together Harvard’s funniest and wittiest in a process that allows directors, writers, and performers to work together to find new ways to make people laugh.

This effort to creatively join forces serves as the backbone of the production’s development. “‘SKETCH’ is unique in that the idea process has been so collaborative,” assistant stage manager Cassie E. Lowell ’17 says. “Immediately after casting, the team’s writers sat down with the actors and asked them what sorts of ideas they want to see happen on stage, so everything you’ll see is original material that so many people collaborated on.” Writer and properties designer Devon M. Guinn ’17 agrees. “The best part has been the collaboration between the writers due to the way Karen sets up meetings, which involve a lot of group discussion and feedback.”

Many of those working on the production see Chee’s project, which will feature both onstage and as digital shorts, as potentially being a wild success. In fact, the project has garnered much support from some of the most prominent improv comedy groups on campus––including the Immediate Gratification Players, On Thin Ice, Three Letter Acronym, and the Harvard University Stand-Up Comic Society––who will each open one of the four performances next weekend.

Chee’s excitement for the show’s opening can hardly be contained. “It’s been amazing working with the cast. They’re all such talented and naturally funny people, and I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to get to work with them,” she says. “It’s been amazing to see what they each bring to the show and how their different skill sets mesh on stage.”