Rolling out the comedy |Penn State’s Derby: a Women’s Comedy Troupe ‘builds community’ for women, nonbinary individuals | Penn State, State College News

Comedy as a definition is funny, but Penn State’s Derby: a Women’s Comedy Troupe takes comedy to a new level.

As an inclusive all-women and nonbinary comedy group, its leaders describe it as more than just funny.

“Comedy builds confidence and speaking skills. I’ve put it on resumes before,” Derby Vice President Krista Hauseman said.

Derby President Alexis Altimont described it as a “creative space” where women and nonbinary people can come in and “try out new creative avenues.”

“It builds a lot of confidence,” Altimont (senior-media studies) said.

Lauren Langan, who is the treasurer of Derby, said one of the organization’s values is inclusivity and openness. She said one way the troupe incorporates this is “hearing ideas from everybody” — even first-timers.

“We’ve had people that have been in the club for two weeks and they’ve already written sketches,” Langan (senior-marketing and English) said. “We love to have that kindness and safe space.”

Being a “safe space” for all is a big value of the troupe’s, especially for Jillian Heilig.

Heilig (senior-film production) said the group makes a point to not include jokes that are culturally inappropriate or could make someone feel uncomfortable.

“Don’t punch down,” Heilig said. “You’re not allowed to make jokes about a minority group that you’re not a part of. Don’t be a d—. ”

Altimont wants people in the club to feel like they have a place to express themselves and emphasized “no idea is a bad idea” when creating comedy.

“We want to create a space where we can workshop ideas in a healthy way,” Altimont said.

Hauseman (senior-materials science and engineering) said bonding or “hanging out” with other group members is a factor in how they’re able to create their sketches.

“You make better comedy when you’re with people you’re comfortable with,” Hauseman said.

Heilig said regularly there are 15 members because some members just want a creative outlet but don’t necessarily want to do the shows.

The troupe is now going on five years, Altimont said, with the founding members graduating around 2019. Altimont said the club gained a lot of members but came to a halt when the pandemic hit.

Despite the pandemic, Hauseman said Derby had a “decent amount” of membership even with being completely online.

“Now we’re back to being in person,” Hauseman said. “[Derby] is back to trying to build that community.”

Even though Derby is a young club, all four members agreed that Derby has stayed consistent with its how it operates over the past five years.

“What the [founding members] established has really stayed with us,” Altimont said. “I’m sometimes kind of dumbfounded by how much [Derby has] grown while still keeping those core values.”

Langan said the process for creating sketches is basically “throwing out ideas” at the club’s “writer’s meetings.”

Heilig said it’s “interesting” to think about how people can “come up with ideas so fast.”

“Pretty much everybody in the comedy clubs has a notes list where they put every funny idea they have, and then they pitch it until something lands,” Heilig said.

What “lands” eventually gets written up into the shows.

Langan said the club’s goal is one show per month, with the next show on Oct. 28.

“We sometimes do improv shows downtown with Happy Valley Improv,” Altimont said.

Langan found Derby the “traditional way” — at the Penn State Involvement Fair.

Heilig found Derby after networking through mutual friends who knew the prior year’s president.

Hauseman initially thought Derby was a roller derby club.

“This is still good,” Hauseman said, after realizing the club focused on comedy.

Altimont got into watching sketch comedy and found Derby by searching through OrgCentral for comedy groups.

“Now I’m president, and that still boggles my mind,” Altimont said.

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