The beauty of the arts scene at Tufts is that it brings together students from a host of different backgrounds. This is certainly the case for The Institute, a sketch comedy group comprised of student actors, writers and filmmakers, some of whom join with no formal experience in comedy. This was certainly the case for Eran Avni-Singer, who auditioned his freshman spring. One small project changed the trajectory of his college career: After making a short film for TUTV’s HorrorFest, he was recruited by the president of The Institute to audition for the group as a filmmaker.
“I’d never really considered doing comedy,” Avni-Singer said. “I wanted to make films, so I saw this as an opportunity to get more practice with filmmaking, and I did the audition, got in, and it changed my life.”
Now a junior, Avni-Singer is the president of The Institute. Initially a computer science major, Avni-Singer is now majoring in film and media studies. This is thanks in no small part to his work with the group, which allowed him to realize filmmaking could be more than just a hobby.
“I’ve been told all my life that [filmmaking] was not something that serious people did who were trying to have a comfortable life,” Avni-Singer said. “And then I joined The Institute just for fun, just to get experience with this, and I met a bunch of other filmmakers who were in the group, who were studying film and who were serious about it. And it just inspired me so much.”
Founded in 2008, The Institute is an audition-based group that puts on six live shows a year. Most shows are split between video sketches and live sketches, many of which are inspired by pop culture, politics or whatever happens to be in the zeitgeist. Each member auditions for the group as either a filmmaker, writer or actor, but once accepted, they are still allowed to try their hand at multiple roles.
The process for each show is similar: After a preliminary pitch session, in which members will brainstorm and bounce ideas back and forth, writers will present their sketches. After reading through each sketch, the group will vote on their favorites, and then they’ll begin filming and rehearsing sketches in the weeks leading up to each performance.
While most shows follow a similar structure, the last one of each spring semester is a little different: It’s a full-fledged original musical performed alongside a live band. As you might imagine, writing an entire musical from scratch is not for the faint of heart. Avni-Singer emphasized the amount of work that goes into the process each year.
“It’s this wonderful feat that we are able to write all these original songs,” Avni-Singer said. “It’s no small task, and I think it’s good practice. It’s completely creative in a different way than working with parodies.”
Because many of the group’s members are fans of theater or performers themselves, writing a musical is a challenge that they’re willing – and often excited – to take on. While the group usually takes inspiration from popular musicals, they try to make sure that all of their music is wholly original.
“We use a lot of shorthand as references,” Avni-Singer said. “We’ll say, okay, this is the ‘I Want’ song, this a ‘Your Fault’-type song where we need everybody to get mad … we use cultural touchpoints and shorthand a lot, but we do our best, and sometimes we’ll make something like shamefully derivative. It’s important to me that for the most part, there’s no direct parody of the song, and that we are writing some original melody, even if it’s very similar to something else.”
Avni-Singer described the annual tradition as a standout memory of his time in the group. His favorite musical? The Institute’s musical version of “The Crucible,” which reimagined the famed Salem witch trials in Medford, with P. T. Barnum playing the role of the villain.
As the club’s president, Avni-Singer feels a responsibility to keep the club alive and continue to foster the same positive energy that he felt when he joined as a freshman.
“The Institute, in many ways, is my community here,” Avni-Singer said. “My social life, my closest friends, it all came from being a part of that group. It really, in many ways, saved my college experience. I probably would have found something else, but it was the thing that really has kept me coming back.”
You can watch The Institute’s spring musical on Friday, April 25, at 8 p.m. in Barnum 008.
