Campus comedians showed their more serious side last week after rumors among them sparked an offstage drama.
The drama began after Justin Thomas, a Comedy Corner member, fired accusations against Sarah Calvert, Associated Students of the University of Arizona special events coordinator and Charles Darwin Experience producer, when she secured a $6,100 bid from ASUA for the Second City Improv group to perform at the UA on May 4.
Thomas accused Calvert of using her position in ASUA to benefit the Charles Darwin Experience, saying the Second City Improv group was asked to perform the same night Charles Darwin Experience performs.
Rumors started flying that the two groups were feuding, but directors said they quickly resolved the conflict.
After Thomas made the accusations, Matt Sanchez, director of Comedy Corner, met with ASUA to clear up the confusion.
At the meeting, he found out Calvert's bid for the Second City Improv group was completely independent of the Charles Darwin Experience and that her improv group would not perform with them.
Calvert said the accusations were just misunderstandings.
"It was a big misunderstanding that created a problem that got blown out of proportion," she said.
The money was only for a bid that the UA did not win, so the Second City Improv group will not return to campus, Calvert said.
Sanchez said the accusations made against Calvert were independent of Comedy Corner and do not reflect how the group feels about the Charles Darwin Experience.
Andrew Goldwasser, Charles Darwin Experience director, said the accusations came out of the blue.
"I don't understand why what happened happened," he said.
Goldwasser said some members of the group were upset by the comments but did not hold grudges against the other comedy group.
"It was an inaccurate attack," he said. "One opinion does not reflect how we feel toward the group, though."
Now that the groups have set the accusations and conflict aside, they are focusing on continuing the collaborative efforts they began earlier this year.
"The plan for the future is more collaboration." Sanchez said. "We want to explore every avenue to make shows as good as they can be."
Sanchez said if the groups combined their funds, they could bring bigger names and have bigger festivals.
"We want to do as much as possible and make it as big as it can be," he said.
Goldwasser said the Charles Darwin Experience, which is tentatively scheduled to perform at Comedy Corner's S.I.C.K. festival this year, is willing to perform in the future with Comedy Corner.
"The groups have no animosity," he said. "It was just an isolated incident."