Just Add Water, sometimes abbreviated as JAW (pronounced "jaw"), is an

improvisational comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...

troupe at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Just Add Water plays both short-form and long-form games and makes frequent use of music in its performances. The group is completely student run and directed, and is also known for wearing brightly colored

jumpsuit A jumpsuit is a one-piece garment with sleeves and legs and typically without integral coverings for feet, hands or head. The original jump suit is the functional one-piece garment used by parachuters. The original skydivers' jumpsuits wer ...

s as performance uniforms.

History

Just Add Water was founded in 1986, joining the

Ex!t Players The Yale Ex!t Players, or the Exit Players, is an improvisational comedy group at Yale University in New Haven, CT, United States. The Exit Players was founded in 1984, making it the oldest improv group on Yale's campus. History The Yale Ex! ...

The Purple Crayon The Purple Crayon of Yale, or the Purple Crayon, is an improvisational theater group at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. The group specializes in longform improv, such as the Harold. The Purple Crayon is Yale's seco ...

, and The Viola Question. It was followed by the founding of

Lux Improvitas The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by the ...

, making it the second-youngest improv group at Yale. The group was allegedly formed when flyers appeared around campus soliciting interested students and the time and location of a first meeting; no one claimed credit for posting the flyers at the time, and attendees at the meeting were met only with the phrase "Do you just add water?" written on the blackboard. Jumpsuits were introduced as official uniforms in the mid-1990s. JAW has performed widely across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, including at

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, making JAW the first collegiate improv group to be invited to perform there. Membership has historically numbered between 12 and 15, usually undergraduates. Members join the group as freshmen (as sophomores on occasion) and remain with the group until graduation.

Performance

JAW is known for incorporating music into its performance, improvising songs and raps in many of its games. To facilitate musical performances, JAW has included a pianist on its roster in addition to regular players since its founding. Shows generally feature a combination of short- and long-form games, culminating in a large-scale improvised musical.

Notable alumni

Steve Bodow Steve Bodow is an American television writer and producer. Most recently he was Executive Producer and showrunner of Netflix's '' Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj''. From 2015 to early 2019 he was Executive Producer/co-showrunner of ''The Daily Show w ...

, executive producer and former head writer for ''

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'' *

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, actress *

Austan Goolsbee Austan Dean Goolsbee (born August 18, 1969) is an American economist and writer. He is the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

, Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and former Chairman of the

Council of Economic Advisors The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...

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, former writer for ''

'' and showrunner and executive producer of ''

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' is an American late-night talk and news satire television program that aired on TBS from 2016 to 2022. The show was hosted by comedian Samantha Bee, a former correspondent on ''The Daily Show''. In July 20 ...

'' * Allison Williams, actress

External links

Just Add Water's official website

References

{{authority control American comedy troupes Improvisational troupes Student comedy troupes Theatre companies in Connecticut Culture of Yale University