Like most things born in the 80s, TSF has recently come of age. With regular performances for packed audiences and an ever increasing membership, TSF has become one of the largest and most popular (collegiate) improv and sketch comedy troupes in the nation. Many of our alumni have moved on to Chicago and Los Angeles, joining the ranks of some of the best improvisers in the country.
TSF has also spun off a number of long-form style improv troupes (this kind of improv is the inspiration for shows like Seinfeld and Arrested Development), including the Sunday Group and the Apprentice Group.
With over 50 shows each semester, if you're anywhere on the UF campus (or surrounding Gainesville area) there are plenty of opportunities to watch TSF do its thing.
The Class:
TPP3124 or "Improvisation and Social/Political Issues," as it stands in the UF course catalog, is a class in spontaneous performance. It serves as a humanities credit and can be taken for variable hours a semester(1-3), up to 6 credits. The class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4pm in the Fall, and it meets Mondays and Wednesday at 4pm in the Spring. The room is G15, an acting studio in the Constans Theatre at the UF School of Theatre and Dance. The class is divided into levels for beginners (T), intermediates (S), and experts (F). If you are unable to register for the official course but are able to make these times, TSF provides unregistered sections of the course that meet at the same time and place. Everyone is encouraged to come and learn improv.
The Club:
TSF may function as a performance group, but at its heart is also a completely open club. This club aspect allows for anyone open to an extracurricular interest in improv to find a way to get their performance fix. The club is free to anyone who wants to join and it is not required to have taken TPP3124 to join. In fact, like the class, you need no experience to join. All you need is a desire to have fun.
The Sunday Group is an elite, auditioned troupe of improvisers that performs long-form improv. They represent the best Strike Force has to offer. The Sunday Group performs at a wide range of events including shows on campus, at local bars, and a medley of shows at Gainesville's prestigious Hippodrome State Theatre. The Sunday Group has gained acceptance to various improv festivals, including the Chicago, Miami, Blackbox, and Dirty South festivals. They also perform regularly in the Gainesville Improv Festival, but they just might be shoe-ins to that one.
Almost everyone that has ever been in the Sunday group has learned their craft in the Apprentice Group. Also specializing in long-form, the Apprentice Group performs both with the Sunday Group and on their own. Don't let their name fool you, as these players may be apprentices of the Sunday Group style, but they've become masters of their own, quick-paced style as well.