The Plastic Shatners is one of the improvisational — or “improv” — comedy groups at the University. Improv requires its actors to come up with lines and actions on the spot instead of relying on scripts.

Sebastian “Sebo” Harshbarger, president of The Plastic Shatners, said the challenge of having to make up lines is not just a normal part of improv but also an important part of the overall experience for the audience.

“People enjoy seeing others struggle because it humanizes them. Some of our funniest scenes and shows are ones that use guessing games,” Harshbarger said. “The funniest things in life are also some of the most mundane because people really connect with those.”

Harshbarger had no involvement with live comedy before coming to college. His “preparation” for being involved with The Plastic Shatners came from being in high school plays.

“I joined my freshman year, fall of 2015, and I did a lot of theater in high school. Coming here, I knew I still wanted to dabble with that,” he said. “I didn’t want to do full shows anymore, but I still wanted to have some of those experiences.”

Choosing improv over other University organizations was not an instant choice for Harshbarger.

“I was either going to do an improv team or a cappella maybe, and my cousin suggested I do improv. I looked at all the teams, went to the auditions and got on the Shatners,” he said.

At practice, which is in Olscamp 208 Mondays and Thursdays, The Plastic Shatners play games to build character work, scene work, teamwork and environment-building skills. One game called Switcheroo involves two actors keeping each other on their toes by switching characters.

“We were playing this game in practice where we were pretending one of our team members was stranded on an island, and throughout the scene it turned out the island was Manhattan, and they had just gotten lost in Central Park. They didn’t know about Xbox One, they missed out on the Cubs winning, all these major events that happened in the last five years. It was fun to joke about some pop culture stuff,” Harshbarger said.

According to the improv group’s Facebook page, they’ve been performing for over 16 years, striving to “provide comedy, merriment, and awe to the students of BGSU and its surrounding community throughout the academic school year.”

Membership of The Plastic Shatners is primarily geared toward undergraduates according to their OrgSync page, and the opportunity isn’t meant to be available year-round, Harshbarger said.

“We have auditions at the beginning of every school year. Usually fall semester, four or five weeks into the year, but we only have auditions once per year. That way, the team can grow and bond, and our comedy can get better,” Harshbarger said.