Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
Unbound alumnus Jeremy Schofield continues to pursue his talent for laughter with an improvisational group called 321 Improv Comedy.
Unbound, Oklahoma Christian University’s traveling comedy and drama group, consists of a group of students who spend their summers writing new material to take on the road to Bible camps, youth rallies and other youth functions across the nation.
“I never really thought of doing improv because, aside from Unbound and skits, I never had real direct improv experience,” Schofield said. “But after I’ve done it for almost a year now, it’s so much fun … it’s essentially my dream job.”
Schofield’s participation in comedy acting groups has been a lifelong pursuit.
“I’ve always been interested in acting; it has always been a passion of mine,” Schofield said. “All through middle school and high school, I used to write skits every Wednesday night for my church youth group and perform them.”
His passion for acting played a lead role in his college choices after high school.
“When I was deciding on where to go to school, I found that ACU requires you to be a theater major to be in the plays,” Schofield said. “So that was part of the reason I came to OC – to do something different and still be in plays.”
Schofield graduated from Oklahoma Christian with a Bachelor of Science in electronic media-creative media.
“I think the year I came is when they formed Unbound; it didn’t really exist before that,” Schofield said. “I thought that sounded perfect … so I auditioned for that and did it for five years here.”
Through changes in management, Schofield played an instrumental part in keeping traditions alive and maintaining order.
“I took over managing the group during Jeremy’s last year of Unbound, and he was a really great leader in that year,” Manager of Student Recruiting Groups Ben Tinius said.
Schofield believes Unbound was a good launching board into the world of improv.
“Being in Unbound didn’t directly prepare me for improv per se,” Schofield said. “During the writing process … we would come up with a general idea, we would just start coming up with a few key points and jokes and stuff. And then we would make up parts in between.”
321 Improv Comedy’s members are Carl Crispin of Boca Raton, Fla., Mike Domeny of Birmingham, Ala. and Jeremy Schofield, who lives in Oklahoma City.
“Our name means that we are three Christian guys combined into one ministry for the one who makes it all possible, who is God,” Schofield said. “Something that we really find important is that it’s not necessarily biblically-based humor but clean, wholesome and something that people as young as elementary kids to retired people can enjoy.”
According to Schofield, Crispin would hire on prayer and recommendation. Jeff Walling, the father of Schofield’s college roommate, recommended him to Crispin.
“It’s just been really amazing to see how God can work through your passions, and when you’re not even looking for something it can come out of the blue and grab you,” Schofield said. “I was working in a call center doing technical support for hard drives … and I was really missing performing and then two or three days later, Carl gave me a call and said I was recommended for the job.”
Schofield’s path after graduating from Oklahoma Christian shows the unexpected changes life can have in store.
“You never know what opportunities are going to take you somewhere or what skills are going to develop through different programs,” Tinius said. “When you find something that you love, if you really continue to pursue it, you never know where it might take you.”
Former member and current Unbound manager Jacob Shuart recalled when Schofield first got the job with 321 Improv Comedy.
“I remember when he told me that he auditioned for and got the 321 Improv, and he was so excited,” Shuart said. “I was excited for him because I knew how fitting and perfect that was for him.”
Alumni who have been involved in Unbound said they value their experience teaching about God through comedy and laughter.
“Unbound’s mission is to engage audiences in a way that gets them thinking about the Bible and interacting with it in a whole new way,” Shuart said. “We show them that there are so many ways to connect with Jesus.”
Writing and performing Unbound skits each summer requires preparation.
“Whenever I got into Unbound, I realized that it takes some work,” junior Garrett Marshall said.
This school year marks a transitional stage in Unbound with the graduation of four seniors: Ben Meaders, Kaitlyn Schmeissner, Kaleb King and Stephen Reece.
“This will be Unbound’s ninth summer,” Shuart said. “We just added four new members: Garrett McCurrach, Allyson Stewart, Ashley Stewart and Nick Thomas.”
According to Shuart, if each member stays through their senior years, the turnover rate won’t be as laborious as this year’s was in finding new members.
“At first when we thought about most of us graduating … we were a little scared for a bit,” Meaders said. “We thought if we didn’t get anyone to lead the group that … OC was going to shoot the horse. I’m excited about the new group though; everyone just blew us away.”
Each new member offers the group a different bit of personality on and off of the stage.
“Garrett McCurrach and Garrett Marshall share a name and a sense of humor,” Meaders said. “Nick Thomas is pretty laid-back and subtle and I think he’ll be a great writer too. Allyson and Ashley, being twins, balance each other out really well. One’s really good at monologue and the other is great at improv. It’s the first time we’ve had two girls in the group, so I’m interested to see how that plays out.”
Tinius sees potential in the future of Unbound.
“I’m really excited about the new path they’re going to be taking,” Tinius said.
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