Eastern’s comedy improvisation group Hello Dali will kick off the semester with its first show at 9 p.m. Thursday in the Coleman Auditorium.

At 9 p.m. Thursday Sept. 7 in the same location, students have the opportunity to audition to become part of Hello Dali.

Hello Dali President Gavin Peterson said the group is inspired by sketch comedies including “Whose Line is it Anyway?” He said the group has been around for decades, and members perform twice a month for an hour.

“It is probably one of the oldest, underrated RSOs we have on campus,” Peterson said.

He said the show Thursday is a performance to welcome students back to campus.

Peterson said the group is all about teaching teamwork and communication.

“We also teach you how to speak to an audience and how to be confident and loud about that,” he said.

When Hello Dali has a show, the group goes through a couple games to prepare up to an hour before, Peterson said.

He said he will create a show list based on the number of members available to perform.

The group will create scenes and play games to practice their improvisation skills.

“Based on the time of year, the audience has a sort of themed suggestion (for the sketches),” he said.

During their performance, the members explain to the audience how each game is ran so viewers are able to give better suggestions, Peterson said.

He said, if the show is around Thanksgiving, the audience may suggest turkey as a theme.

When someone drove into the side of Marty’s, Peterson said the audience suggested their theme be bad drivers.

“(The show) was solely based off of someone driving into the side of the wall,” he said.

He said he joined as a freshman, and after auditions he ended up loving being a part of the improvisation group. It is really refreshing and a lot of fun, he said.

The group needs a minimum of five members to perform sketches, so Peterson said the group holds auditions each semester to help their group grow by adding a few new members.

“Once you’re a member, you’re always a member,” he said.

During auditions, Peterson said they run the recruits through a couple shows to see how they do naturally as actors.

He said the group holds two auditions, one which was Wednesday this week and another Thursday Sept. 7.

“We usually do two days of auditions to see if they have improved in the meantime, and offer a variety of times just in case someone can’t make the first (audition),” Peterson said.

He said for students who would like to audition, having theater experience is great but not always necessary. Good qualities of potential members include being comfortable on stage, witty, creative and being a good speaker, he said.

“Someone who is not afraid to get up there and make a fool of themselves” is always a plus, Peterson said.

He said Hello Dali is like a milestone in college that everyone should participate in at least once.

“Go see a show, audition, just put yourself out there,” he said.

Kennedy Nolen can be reached at 581-2812 or kdnolen@eiu.edu.