Pitt’s got some ‘Schmutz’

Only one person attended Schmutz’s weekly meeting last night — its founder. But she’s not too worried about the low attendance.

“People come if they feel like it,” Jessie Kast, who founded the group in January, said. 

Schmutz is an improv comedy group that meets each Tuesday at 9 p.m. in room 363 of the Cathedral of Learning to play games and practice improv. Kast, who is also a member of Hillel, said she started the group after Hillel put on a performance comedy show last November called “Mon-OY-logues,” which plays off the Yiddish expression, “oy vey.” After the show, Kast and Courtney Strauss, Hillel’s director of engagement, decided  that the Hillel students should form an improv troupe. 

Schmutz is now the second improv group currently at Pitt. Ruckus, the other group, formed in 2013. 

The word  “schmutz” is a Yiddish word that Kast said “a lot of old Jewish grandmas say” to refer to dirt on one’s face.

“We thought it was appropriate for Hillel and we thought it was funny,” Kast, a sophomore majoring in poetry and microbiology, said. 

Kast said there are about eight consistent members who come to most of the weekly meetings, but she added that the number changes depending on students’ schedules. 

Kast said the meetings are very casual and added that Schmutz is a good place for people who want to try improv, but might be nervous about performing improv in front of an audience. 

Kast said she doesn’t have any public shows or events planned for the group in the near future. 

Haley Chizever, a member of Schmutz, said she can relax at Schmutz practices, despite the mounting pressures of being a student on the verge of graduation. 

“It’s  once a week that we get to just be silly,” Chizever, a sophomore majoring in psychology, said. “It’s good to go to a place where you don’t need to be serious.”  

Ben Wahlberg, another member of Schmutz and a leader for the Reform Shabbat services at Hillel, described the members of Schmutz as “really warm.”

“Everyone is just there to have a good time,” Wahlberg, a senior majoring in psychology, said. “I hope it sticks around and gets more members. We have a solid group and it’s always awesome.” 

Although Kast said she doesn’t have any major events planned for the group, she did add that she hopes to see the membership go up. Kast said she plans to change to meetings to Sundays at 4 p.m., starting after spring break, to better accommodate members’ schedules. New members don’t have to sign up, but simply show up to the meetings when they can. 

“It’s open for everyone,” Kast said. “I just want it to be a casual thing for people to come to and get a laugh out of.”