Alcohol-free Fridays an option

As the lights softly dimmed over the blush-colored chalkboard, seven students tiptoed through… As the lights softly dimmed over the blush-colored chalkboard, seven students tiptoed through the arched, brown doorway. The faint hum of the heater blanketed their footsteps, and a blue screen flickered at the front of the room. Two violins harmonized during the film’s opening credits, muffling whispers at the Obscure Movie Group’s meeting. But just down the street in a warehouse-like theater, students laughed loudly. A blonde man skipped wildly across the center of the stage as a slim, brunette woman performed a cartwheel near the audience. The Friday Nite Improvs’ first skit of the evening forced cackling students to dab tears from their eyes. The Obscure Movie Group also holds meetings on Friday nights, exposing about 20 to 30 of its 350 members to relatively unknown movies from around the world. These two clubs have something in common: alcohol-free entertainment. Movies instead of parties Shanna Murphy, the vice president and co-founder of the organization, said she believes that the Obscure Movie Group is a good alternative for students who choose not to go out and party on the weekends. Students who come to the movie group have the opportunity to meet people who share similar interests. ‘I’ve met many people who have found friends through going to meetings together, and I think that’s great,’ she said. ‘Whether or not they go to parties afterwards is a different story, but if you go home after the movie, at least you did something on Friday night.’ Matt Carrick, the president and co-founder of the Obscure Movie Group, said that the movies are good despite their obscurity. ‘We show foreign movies and really horrible movies that are so bad they’re good,’ said Carrick. ‘A lot of the stuff is pretty weird, but we try to intersperse those kinds of movies with funny and cool films. Mostly, the films that we show are really good but never got the publicity that they needed to succeed in the United States.’ Before showing ‘In The Mood For Love,’ a 2000 Hong Kong film starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, Carrick quickly sorted out black and white stickers with the words, ‘OMG it’s the Obscure Movie Group!’ for the members sitting patiently in front of him. The Obscure Movie Group meets every Friday at 8 p.m., a busy time for many college students, in Room 1700 of Wesley W. Posvar Hall, but some students make it a point to see something new. ‘This is the first time I’ve been here,’ said Pitt freshman Amanda Alderfer. ‘I’m not doing anything until 11, so I decided to check it out. I always thought it would be interesting to see what kinds of people are checking out the obscure movies. Plus, foreign movies are always attractive since we don’t get to see very many of them in America.’ Carrick said the Obscure Movie Group allows students who don’t enjoy parties to find their niche in the University. ‘When people go to college, they can feel left out if they don’t have anything to do on the weekends,’ he said. ‘Our organization gives them something to do, and we encourage people to stay in and talk with the officers after the movies are over.’ Dan Wolf, a member of the group, agreed. ‘It gives even the most introverted people a good chance to meet new people and make friends,’ he said. Improvs keep the night going After the movie ended, some students visited the Friday Nite Improvs at 11 p.m. Located in the Studio Theatre in the basement of the Cathedral of Learning, the Improvs open to the public at 10:45 p.m. and usually run until 1 a.m. After paying $3 to cover the cost of renting out the theater from the University, more than 100 students and parents rushed inside the theater to claim their gray, cushioned seats. Seven rows of studio lights cast red and yellow hues against the black, wooden walls and four speakers that hung by silver chains in each corner of the room. Suddenly, a tall brown-haired man raced into the middle of the brown- and white-checkered floor and introduced himself as ‘John the host.’ Although he is usually the person who collects the money at the door, he said, he took on the task of running the show for a night. ‘Prepare for things that you’ll never see again,’ he said in a deep, commanding voice. ‘It’s wonderful and delicious, but it’s also insane.’ From acting out scenes from Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ in a morgue to deriving inner monologues for two brothers at a bachelor party, the audience engaged in a series of interactive games that tested their improvisational skills. ‘If you like to laugh, you will like our show,’ said Louis Stein, one of the executive producers of the Improvs and a former host of the show. ‘It’s a wonderful time and gives kids an alternative to going to frat parties and getting fake IDs. Having done it all when I was young, I can tell you it’s a really cool alternative to doing all of those things.’ Stein, a 40-year-old network administrator at Carnegie Mellon University, said that although he considers himself the ‘creepy old guy’ at the Improv, he has been involved with the organization for each of the 16 or 18 years it’s been in production. ‘The first time you get onstage and do something and people laugh with you, there’s nothing in the world to compare to it,’ said Stein. ‘You can’t buy it in a bag and drink it. There’s just no substitute for that kind of high.’ Stein first encountered the Friday Nite Improvs as an undergraduate at Pitt when he decided to take the Introduction to Performance course to bring up his grade point average. The class syllabus required him to visit the Improvs at least once over the course of the semester to learn about improvisation. ‘I was stomping my feet going there, but I was completely blown away by the level of comedy,’ he said. ‘These weren’t paid performers. They were people that you sat next to on the bus or passed on the street, but they were doing an exceptional level of comedy. I wanted to see it again, and I eventually worked up the courage to get onstage myself.’ Other options available In addition to the Obscure Movie Group and the Friday Nite Improvs, the Northway Oakland Christian Community, located at 120 McKee Place, hosts alcohol-free film festivals, Bible and book studies and community service opportunities for students who live in or near Oakland. ‘It’s a healthy alternative to focus on a community that’s built around something other than alcohol and destructive behaviors,’ said Mike Arnold, a pastor at the church.’ ‘Students can connect with other individuals in a much healthier way by serving their city and exploring their spirituality.’ Joe Mull, the coordinator of the Office of Health Education and Promotion and chair of the Pitt’s Alcohol Task Force, agreed. ‘As a society, we’ve been sold, almost since birth, an image of what college is supposed to be like,’ said Mull. ‘This image is that college is a student’s last chance for freedom, so they need to live life at the extreme ends of irresponsibility. This often manifests itself in the form of high-risk alcohol use.’ The Alcohol Task Force works with Pitt’s Division of Student Affairs to plan an alcohol-free, late-night social program each semester. Last spring, for example, more than 400 students attended ‘Bowling and Bingo’ in the basement of the Pitt Alumni Association where they bowled for free, played bingo, ate food and won prizes. Also, last fall, about the same number of students enjoyed ‘Karaoke and Late Night Pancakes’ at Nordy’s Place in the William Pitt Union. The Alcohol Task Force and Pitt’s Division of Student Affairs sponsored both events. ‘Students need to figure out for themselves the role that alcohol will play in their social lives,’ said Mull. ‘Unfortunately, some students come to rely on it as a catalyst for their social success, which can actually become detrimental to their success in the long run.’